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[German version] Technical term in Roman divination (VII.) (augury: e.g. Serv. Aen. 2,453; interpretation of thunder and lightning: schol. Veronensia Verg. Aen. 2,693). PA describes the two spatial semiotic units ( partes, spatia: Serv. Ecl. 9,15) of the field of observation in front of the diviner, PP the two behind, constructed with the help of a system of rectangular co-ordinates ( Templum ). This system of spatial orientation, which was also the basis of Roman surveying, with rules for drawing boundaries ( constitutio limitum: Hyginus p. 166f. Lachmann) is traced by Varro …

('Age'). [German version] I. General Censorinus [4] takes up ancient theories on saeculum in ch. 17 of De die natali (AD 238) in the framework of chronographic remarks. His sources include Varro, who, according to Serv. Aen. 8,526, was the author of a text, De saeculis. Censorinus, DN 17,2, defined saeculum as 'the length of the longest possible human lifetime' ( spatium vitae humanae longissimum partu et morte definitum). Censorinus makes a clear distinction between Etruscan (17,5-6) and Roman traditions (17,7-15; Roman(or)um saeculum: 17,7): the ritual staging of the beginn…

[German version] (ὀρνιθομαντεία/ ornithomanteía 'bird divination' or ὀρνιθοσκοπία/ ornithoskopía 'bird watching', also ὀρνιθεία/ ornitheía 'bird (art)'; Latin auspicium 'bird watching', augurium; cf. Augures ; cf. Umbrian aves anzeriaom). Method of divination; the interpretation results from the configuration of visual and aural signs (bird species, motion [in flight]; bird noises) and from its arrangement into a space defined by boundaries and divided into meaningful sections (Latin templum ; Limitation [I], Pars antica, postica ). The tradition of the theory of aug…

[English version] I. Alter Orient s. Divination. II. [English version] A. Einleitung und Definition H. ist die lat. Bezeichnung für Eingeweidebeschauer und -deuter (bei Tieren) verschiedener ant. Kulturkreise, v.a. aus Etrurien (Cic. div. 1,3). Die Etym. des ersten Wortgliedes ist ungeklärt; man hat u.a. hira (“Gedärm”) und hostia (von haruga, “Opfertier”) angenommen [1. 45]. Die Eingeweideschau ( haruspicina) galt in republikanischer Zeit in Rom als ars, eine auf Beobachtung beruhende “Erfahrungswiss.” (Cic. div. 1,24f.), deren Beherrschung und Pflege versc…