BARÙ

BARÙ. - Name of an important class of Babylonian and Assyrian priests whose principal duty was to ascertain the will of the gods, that is, the future. The b. was the diviner and soothsayer, the one who consulted the gods, and in the first place the sun-god Šamaš and the storm-god Adad, concerning what the gods had decreed. The b. determined the future chiefly by examining the liver of animals sacrificed for this purpose, a practice known as hepatoscopy, which was widely used among the peoples of the ancient East. The science of divination, the bārûtu, was believed to have been revealed by the god Ea. The b. would concisely formulate the question directed to the gods, and the gods would answer yes or no. Before beginning the divinatory ceremony, the b. had to purify himself.