Enciclopedia Cattolica Vol. II, 1949 Non-Christian religions Particular topics

Bărů

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BĂRŮ. - Name of an important class of Babylonian and Assyrian priests, whose main function was to establish the will of the gods, that is, the future. The b. was the divining and prophesying priest, the one who questioned the gods and in the first place the sun god Šamaš and the storm god Adad about what the gods had decreed. The b. established the future primarily by means of the examination of the liver of animals sacrificed for this purpose, "hepatoscopy," much in use among the peoples of the ancient East. The mantic science, the bărûtu, was believed to have been revealed by the god Ea. The b. concisely formulated the question put directly to the god, and the latter answered yes or no. Before beginning the divinatory ceremony the b. had to purify himself.

Giuseppe Furlani

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By Giuseppe Furlani

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Translated from the Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II (1949), col. 934.

More by Giuseppe Furlani: Babylonians · Avicenna · Bogazköy · Arabs, Philosophy of the · Abubacer (Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad ibn Tufail)

Cite this article

Chicago

Furlani, Giuseppe. “BĂRŮ.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, col. 934. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949. https://azioneromana.com/article/baru.

MLA

Furlani, Giuseppe. “BĂRŮ.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949, col. 934. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/baru.

BibTeX

@incollection{ec2_baru,
  author    = {Furlani, Giuseppe},
  title     = {BĂRŮ},
  booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
  volume    = {II},
  pages     = {934},
  note      = {Cited by column},
  publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
  address   = {Città del Vaticano},
  year      = {1949},
  url       = {https://azioneromana.com/article/baru}
}

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