Comparative Guts

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„Die Leber von Piacenza“ Das Foto zeigt einen nahezu ovalen metallenen Gegenstand mit einer Auswölbung an der linken Seite. Er steht vor einem orangefarbenen Hintergrund auf einem Stab. Bei dem Gegenstand handelt es sich um eine Schafsleber in Originalgröße aus Bronze. Sie ist etwa 12 Zentimeter lang, 7 Zentimeter breit und 6 Zentimeter hoch. Auf der linken Hälfte treten drei Formen hervor. Eine erinnert an eine Pyramide, eine andere an eine Pastinake. Die dritte hat die Gestalt eines Ovals. Eingravierte Linien und Erhebungen teilen die gesamte Oberfläche in ungleich große Felder. Die Felder sind mit Worten in etruskischen Schriftzeichen versehen, die ebenfalls graviert sind. Das anatomische Votiv galt als Modell für Hieroskopie, die so genannte Leberschau. Aufgrund des Zustandes der Schafsleber wurde im etruskischen Raum die Zukunft geweissagt. Gleichzeitig bildeten die einzelnen Abschnitte das Weltverständnis der Etrusker und ihre Vorstellung vom Universum ab. Die Besonderheit dieses Modells liegt darin, dass ein inneres Organ dargestellt ist. Griechische Modelle zeigten nur das Äußere eines Körpers. Die „Leber von Piacenza“ wird im Municipale Museum von Piacenza, Italien, aufbewahrt. — — "The Liver of Piacenza" The photo shows an almost oval metal object with a bulge on the left side. It stands on a stick in front of an orange-coloured background. The object is a life-sized sheep's liver made of bronze. It is about 12 centimetres long, 7 centimetres wide and 6 centimetres high. Three shapes stand out on the left half. One is reminiscent of a pyramid, another of a parsnip, and the third has the shape of an oval. Engraved lines and elevations divide the entire surface of the object into fields of unequal size. The fields are inscribed with words in Etruscan characters, which are also engraved. The anatomical votive was regarded as a model for hieroscopy, the so-called liver examination. In the Etruscan region, the future was prophesied based on the condition of the sheep's liver. At the same time, the individual sections depicted the Etruscans' understanding of the world and their concept of the universe. The special feature of this model is that an inner organ is depicted. Greek models only showed the exterior of a body. The "Liver of Piacenza" is kept in the Municipal Museum of Piacenza, Italy.

The ‘Piacenza Liver’

Municipale Museum of Piacenza
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)

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This Etruscan bronze life-size model of a sheep’s liver was discovered in a field near Gossolengo in Piacenza in Italy in 1877 and is thought to date from the late second or early first century BCE. Although its precise purpose is not fully understood, it is considered to provide important information about the Etruscan practice of haruspicy, specifically the type known as hepatoscopy, which predicted the future using the shape and position of the liver lobes of a sheep. It offers a different yet complementary perspective on the fragmentary references to the practice found in ancient Latin literature (most Etruscan literature has not survived). The model liver is inscribed on the front and the back, and since the inscriptions are oriented away from rather than towards the haruspex, it may, in fact, have been a teaching model for students of haruspicy. It is divided into sixteen sections reflecting and representing the Etruscan cosmological system, first into quadrants, and then with each quadrant then further divided into quadrants, each one corresponding to one of the gods, whose name is engraved within it. For the haruspex examining the liver, if the right god were to be present in the right place, the outlook would be favourable.
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