Chapter I: Front Matter

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Babylonian-Assyrian
Birth-Omens

And
Their Cultural Significance

by
Morris Jastrow, jr.
Ph. D. (Leipzig) Professor of Semitic Languages in the University
of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)

Gießen 1914
Verlag von Alfred Töpelmann (vormals J. Ricker)

=Religionsgeschichtliche
Versuche und Vorarbeiten=

begründet von
Albrecht Dieterich und Richard Wünsch
herausgegeben von
Richard Wünsch und Ludwig Deubner
in Münster i. W. in Königsberg i. Pr.

XIV. Band. 5. Heft

To

SIR WILLIAM OSLER

Regius Professor of Medicine
Oxford University

This volume is dedicated
as a mark of esteem and admiration.

"Most fine, most honour'd, most renown'd."
(King Henry V, 2d Part, Act IV, 5, 164.)

=Analysis=

Divination in Babylonia and Assyria 1

Three chief methods: hepatoscopy, astrology and birth-omens 1-6

Spread of Hepatoscopy and Astrology to Hittites, Etruscans,
Greeks and Romans and to China 3-4

The Transition motif in religious rites and popular customs 5-6

Omen collections in Ashurbanapal's Library 6-7

Birth-omen reports 9-12

Animal Birth-omens 12-28

Double foetus 13-16

Principles of interpretation 14-15

Multiple births among ewes 17-18

Malformation of ears 19-22

Excess number of ears 20-22

Ewe giving birth to young resembling lion 23-26

Ewe giving birth to young resembling other animals 27-28

Human Birth-omens 28-41

Twins 29-30

Monstrosities 30

Multiple births 31

Malformation of ears 32-33

Malformation of mouth, nostrils, jaws, arms, lips, hand 33-34

Malformation of anus, genital member, thigh, feet 35-36

Principles of interpretation 36

Misshapen embryos 37

Weaklings, cripples, deaf-mutes, still-births, dwarfs 38-39

Talking infants, with bearded lips and teeth 39

Infants with animal features 32. 33. 35-36. 40-41

Study of Human Physiognomy among Greeks and Romans 43-44

Resemblances between human and animal features 45

Porta's and Lavater's Views 45-48

Study of Human Physiognomy based on birth-omens 49-50

Birth-omens in Julius Obsequens 50-52

Birth-omens in Valerius Maximus 52

Cicero on birth-omens 53-54

Macrobius on birth-omens 55

Birth-omens among Greeks and in Asia Minor 56-58

Birth-omens as basis of belief in fabulous and hybrid
beings 59-62

Dragons, Hippocentaurs and hybrid creatures in
Babylonian-Assyrian Literature and Art 63-64

Fabulous creatures of Greek Mythology and Birth-omens 64-66

Egyptian sphinxes 67-70

Totemism 70

Metamorphosis of human beings into animals and vice versa 70-72

Talking animals in fairy tales 71

History of monsters and persistency of belief in monsters 72-78

Lycosthenes' work 73-75

Summary 78-80

Index 81-86

"... they do observe
unfather'd heirs and loathly births of natures"
(King Henry V. 2nd part