ABSTRACT
Among the Roman Aruspices, or Haruspices, i.e. the diviners who made known to the people the will of the gods by means of their arts, was a class of experts who specialized in the art of prognosticating by the appearance of the entrails of the animals which were offered in sacrifice. This class of men was called Extispices and the art of divining by means of the intestines of animals was known as extispicium (Cicero, De Divinatione, ii. 11). This art was introduced into Rome by the Etrurian envoys who were sent to the city on the business of the Government, and according to Cicero (De Div. ii. 23) was invented by the Etruscan Tages. And the Haruspices of Etruria were sent for from many distant places to interpret the sacrifices and the oracles of the gods (Livy, v. 1, 6 ; xxvii. 37, 6). There is, however, now reason to believe that extispicium was not an indigenous art in Etruria, but was introduced there as a result of the wellknown connection between Etruria and the East which existed in prehistoric times.
