Haruspicy
Reading omens in the livers of sacrificed animals, a priestly craft of the Etruscans and Romans.
Also: haruspex, liver reading, Etruscan divination, hepatoscopy
Haruspicy was the study of the entrails, above all the liver, of sacrificed sheep. It was the speciality of the Etruscans, whose priests were respected across Italy, and the Romans brought haruspices to the city to read portents that others could not explain. The Piacenza Liver, a bronze model found in 1877 and dated to about 100 BCE, is divided into regions named for gods, and was likely a teaching aid. Haruspices advised the Senate on prodigies such as lightning strikes and deformed births. Cicero wondered how two haruspices could meet without smiling, which shows that Romans too were sceptical. The practice declined with the rise of Christianity and ended under the late Roman emperors.