who could also understand what he saw--held in his hands
the key that would unlock the secrets of the future. He possessed the
means of forecasting events.

Apart, then, from the interpretation of omens in connection with
sacrifices and incantations, the individual had to be on the outlook at
all times for signs and portents. To neglect them would entail serious
consequences.

This wider aspect of omens accounts for the extensive omen literature
that arose in Babylonia and Assyria. Fully one-fourth of the portion of
Ashurbanabal's library that has been discovered consists of omens,[548]
tablets of various size in which explanations are afforded of all
physical peculiarities to be observed in animals and men, of natural
phenomena, of the position and movements of the planets and stars, of
the incidents and accidents of public and private life,--in short, of
all possible occurrences and situations.

As yet but a small proportion of this literature has been published, and
a thorough understanding of it is impossible until systematic
publications shall have been issued. Meanwhile it is safe to assert
that, as in the case of incantations and prayers, the omens were
generally combined into series by the Babylonian and Assyrian scribes.

Omens From Planets and Stars.

Ihering observes[549] that the stars were observed by the Babylonians in
the interest of navigation. While this is true, yet the chief motive in
the development of astronomy in the Euphrates Valley was the belief that
the movements of the heavenly bodies portended something that was
important for man to know. That the stars served as guides to the
mariner was only an additional reason for attaching great importance to
the heavenly phenomena. Scientific observations were but means to an
end; and the end was invariably the derivation of omens from the
movements and position of the planets and stars. When, therefore, we
find the astronomers sending reports to their royal masters apparently
of a purely scientific character, we may be certain that although no
omens are mentioned, both parties had omens in mind. The astronomical
reports, of which quite a number have already been published,[550] may
therefore be reckoned as part of the omen literature. The vernal equinox
was a period of much significance. The astronomer royal accordingly
reports:[551]

On the sixth day of Nisan,[552]
Day and night were balanced.
There were six double hours of day,
Si