Abstract
The paper deals with the cultural technique of divination, its development in the Ancient Near East and the possible influence of this craft on the Etruscan diviners and augurs. It presents the major characteristics of the different divination techniques starting with their documentation at the beginning of the second millennium BCE and reaching as far as the last centuries of the first millennium BCE. It shows that divination was a highly professionalized and specialized discipline with a scientific spirit where not only the communication with the gods but also writing and the interpretation of divine signs were looming large. In the course of centuries a vast array of companions and manuals, commentaries and excerpts has been created. The diviners were distinct by their education and were regarded to dispose of secret knowledge. Haruspicy (extispicy) played a major role in this context. The paper discusses the henneneutics and techniques of the discipline and puts the craft into an intercultural context.
