The signs are everywhere

In chapter 3 of Baharani’s book, Rituals of War, she discusses what is basically divination through the liver of sheep and through human bodies. Apparently, the ancient Near East was filled with signs that could be spotted anywhere. Peoples bodies were even marks of signs, some that could show evidence of events that could affect entire socities. Its clear that such interpretations were very important to every day life during that time, even if some of the interpretations (to me at least) seemed almost too ridiculous. For example, the interpretation of dreams: there are simply way too many detailed explanations of what a dream could mean if a man had a dream urinating on some specific body part.

What I was most amazed about while reading through this chapter is how could anyone really believe that these interpretations are actually permissible. Besides religious legends that legitimizes the practices, there does not seem to be that much else about the matter. It could be possible that the people of Mesopotamia simply did not have any other method of guessing what future events could occur. It does make sense for people of that time to be as concerned about the future like we are today. Just look at how many people look up weather forecasts (which we know are not always 100% true) or the number of different fortune telling stores that are scattered around Berkeley. The future is a mystery to all, and if times were rough or unclear for the civilizations of the Near East, then maybe their best “scientific” tool was the use of body/animal signs.

But what evidence did they have that actually convinced them that doing such rituals actually worked? Baharani did state that that they would base their interpretation type encyclopedia off of past correlation with events and the markings that were present at that time…but did they truly repeat? It truly is amazing how much the culture relied on such interpretations, because these interpretations ended up causing many events that shaped their world.