Löjeväckande spåmän eller tillförlitligt prästerskap - Haruspices i Etrurien och Rom

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this paper is to penetrate the attitude amongst the Romans towards the consultation of the haruspices, Etruscan experts on divination, who consulted entrails, thunderbolts and other prodigies. The Romans incorporated the tradition in their cult and the haruspices were consulted by the senate and by private people to answer questions about portents sent by the gods. The paper is limited to the republic and the early empire due to the difficulty of the definition of haruspices after the first century A.D. The purpose is, besides a discussion on the attitude amongst the Romans, to see how this attitude changed over time – from republic to early empire – how it differed in the public compared to the private sphere and what could be gained by a positive attitude.