Babylonian-Assyrian Birth-Omens and Their Cultural Significance

by Morris Jastrow

V

If, now, we turn to birth-omens in the case of infants, we find in the omen texts the same two classes, those in which all kinds of abnormalities and malformations are registered, and such in which the fancied resemblance of the new-born infant to some animal, or of some features of an infant to those of an animal is introduced as a factor. The principles underlying the interpretation, so far as they can be recognized, are naturally the same as in the case of birth-omens for the young of domesticated animals. A few illustrations will make this clear.

A text[89] dealing with twins, and passing on to multiple births up to eight, reads in part as follows:

If a woman gives birth to two boys, famine will prevail in the land, the interior of the country will witness misfortune, and misfortune will enter the house of their father[90].

If a woman gives birth to two boys with one body—no union between man and wife, [that house will be reduced][91].

If a woman gives birth to two boys of normal appearance, that house[92] ...

If a woman gives birth to a boy and a girl, ill luck will enter the land, the land will be diminished.

If a woman gives birth to twins united at the spine, with the faces [back to back ?], the gods will forsake the country, the king and his son will abandon the city.

If a woman gives birth to twins without noses and feet, the land [will be diminished][93].

If a woman gives birth to twins in an abnormal condition, the land will perish, the house of the man will be destroyed.

If a woman gives birth to twins united at the sides[94], the land ruled by one will be controlled by two.

If a woman gives birth to twins united at the sides, (and) the right hand of the one lying to the right is missing, the weapon of the enemy will kill me, the land will be diminished, weakness will bring about defeat and my army will be destroyed.

If a woman gives birth to twins united at the sides, and the left hand of the one lying to the left is missing[95] ...

If a woman gives birth to twins united at the sides and the right hands are missing—attack, the enemy will destroy the produce of the land.

If a woman gives birth to twins united at the sides, and the left hands are missing, [the produce of the enemy’s land will be destroyed][96].

If a woman gives birth to twins, united at the sides, and the right foot of the one lying to the right is missing, the enemy will abandon the rest of my land, the land will be captured.

If a woman gives birth to twins united at the sides, and the left foot of the one lying to the left, is missing, I will [abandon] the rest of the enemy’s land, [and the land of the enemy will be captured[97]].

If a woman gives birth to twins united at the sides, and the right feet are missing, the seat of the country[98] will be overthrown and captured.

If a woman gives birth to twins united at the sides and the left feet are missing, the seat of the enemy’s land [will be overthrown and captured].

If a woman gives birth to two girls, the house will be destroyed.

If a woman gives birth to two girls and they die[99] ...

If a woman gives birth to three well developed girls, the land of the ruler will be enlarged.

If a woman gives birth to two girls with one body, [no union] between man [and wife, the land will be diminished][100].

If a woman gives birth to two girls of normal appearance ...[101].

If a woman gives birth to three boys, distress will seize the land ...

If a woman gives birth to [four (?)] boys, [destruction in the land][102].

Through another fragment[103], the list of multiple births is carried up to eight—a perfectly safe procedure on the part of the bârû-priests, since it is unlikely that the case of more than four births at one time ever occurred in the whole scope of Babylonian-Assyrian history. The interpretations in the case of more than triplets appear to have been consistently unfavorable. Even twins, as is apparent from the above entries, were generally regarded as unfavorable, because of the deviation from the normal involved; and this was certainly the case when monstrous factors were connected with the double birth—the two united at the backs or at the sides—or when the twins lacked a part of the body such as noses, hands or feet. The fundamental distinction between the right side as representing your side and the left as the enemy’s side intervenes to differentiate between the application of the omen to the king or to the country on the one hand, and to the enemy or his country on the other.

Corresponding to the text above discussed[104], in which interpretations are offered for all kinds of malformations or peculiarities, in connection with the ears of newly-born animals, we have a text[105] furnishing omens in the same way in the case of human births.

If a woman gives birth, (and the child has) a lion’s ear, a powerful king will rule in the land.

If a woman gives birth, and the right ear[106] is missing, the life of the ruler will come to an end.

If a woman gives birth, and the left ear is missing, the life of the king will be long.

If a woman gives birth, and both ears are missing, famine will prevail in the country, and the land will be diminished.

If a woman gives birth, and the right ear is small, the house of the man will be destroyed.

If a woman gives birth, and the left ear is small, the house of the man will be enlarged.

If a woman gives birth, and both ears are small, the house of the man will be overthrown.

If a woman gives birth, and the right ear is detached[107], the house of the man will be destroyed.

If a woman gives birth, and the left ear is detached, the house of the opponent will be destroyed, the house of the man[108] will be enlarged.

If a woman gives birth, and both ears are detached, the house of the man will encounter misfortune.

If a woman gives birth, and the right ear reaches to the cheek, a weakling will be born in the man’s house.

If a woman gives birth, and the left ear reaches to the cheek, a strong one will be born in the man’s house[109].

If a woman gives birth, and both ears reach to the cheek, that land will be destroyed, protection will be withdrawn.

If a woman gives birth, and the right ear is deformed, a weakling will be born in the man’s house.

If a woman gives birth, and the left ear is deformed, a strong one will be born in the man’s house[110].

If a woman gives birth, and the right ear of the child lies at the lower jaw[111], the son of the man will destroy the man’s house.

If a woman gives birth, and the left ear lies at the lower jaw, the son of the man will encircle the man’s house[112].

If a woman gives birth, and there are two ears on the right side and the left ear is missing, the angry gods will return to the land and the land will have peace.

If a woman gives birth, and there are two ears on the left side and the right ear is missing, the counsel of the land will be disturbed.

***

If a woman gives birth, and both ears are flattened,—revolt.

The principle consistently applied throughout these omens is that a defect or deformity on the right side is an unfavorable sign, and that the same phenomenon on the left side is unfavorable to the enemy, or favorable to you. A large ear—suggesting that of a lion—points by association to enlargement and increased strength.

The text then passes on to other peculiarities.

If a woman gives birth, and (the child has) the mouth of a bird, that land will be destroyed.

If a woman gives birth, and the mouth is missing, the mistress of the house will die.

If a woman gives birth, and the right nostril is missing,—injury.

If a woman gives birth, and both nostrils are missing, the land will experience distress, the house of the man will be destroyed.

If a woman gives birth, and the jaws are missing[113], the days of the ruler will come to an end, the house will be destroyed.

If a woman gives birth, and the lower jaw is missing, the enemy will take the boundary strip of my land.

If a woman gives birth, and the arms (?) are missing, the house of the man will be destroyed.

If a woman gives birth, and the arms (?) are short, he will attain favor.

***

If a woman gives birth, and the upper lip rides over the lower one[114], he will attain favor.

If a woman gives birth, and the lips are missing, the land will encounter distress, the house of the man will be destroyed.

If a woman gives birth, and one arm is short, that man will be preferred[115].

If a woman gives birth, and the right hand is missing, that land will suffer destruction.

If a woman gives birth, and both hands are missing, the enemy will conquer the city of the new-born[116].

If a woman gives birth, and the fingers of the right hand are missing, the ruler will be hemmed in by his enemy.

If a woman gives birth, and there are six fingers on the right hand, misfortune will seize the house.

If a woman gives birth, and there are six toes on the right and on the left foot, the children[117] will encounter misfortune.

If a woman gives birth, and there are six toes on the right foot, there will be injury[118].

***

If a woman gives birth, and the genital member is missing, the master of the house will be weakened, drying up of the field.

If a woman gives birth, and the genital member and the testicles are missing, the land will encounter misfortune, the woman[119] will suffer pain, the house[120] will control the palace[121].

If a woman gives birth, and the anus is closed[122], the land will suffer famine.

If a woman gives birth, and the anus [is missing ?], the king will be restrained in his palace.

If a woman gives birth, and the right thigh is missing, the land of the ruler will go to ruin.

If a woman gives birth, and the left thigh is missing, the enemy’s land will go to ruin.

***

If a woman gives birth, and both feet are missing, the course of the land will be checked, that house will be destroyed.

If a woman gives birth, and the right foot [of the child] is like that of a turtle[123], the enemy will destroy the property of the land.

If a woman gives birth, and hands and feet are like those of a turtle, the ruler will destroy the product of his land.

If a woman gives birth, and the feet are attached to the belly (?)[124], the possession of the house will be destroyed.

If a woman gives birth, and the child has only one foot, which is attached to the belly (?) and does not [touch] the ground[125] the land will suffer misfortune, the house will be destroyed.

If a woman gives birth, and it has three feet of which two are entwined in one another[126] with the body, destruction will prevail in the land.

If a woman gives birth, and it has four feet and genital member and pudenda are there, the land will suffer misfortune, a strange ruler will appear on the scene.

If a woman gives birth, and the right leg is missing, the land of the ruler will go to ruin.

If a woman gives birth, and the left leg is missing, the enemy’s land will go to ruin.

In general, malformations are looked upon as unfavorable, as are also excess organs or parts e. g. six fingers or six toes; and it is only occasionally that a peculiarity such as shortened arms or a protruding upper lip, receives a favorable interpretation. The variations in the interpretations themselves are not numerous, and for the most part are probably selected in an entirely arbitrary fashion, though here, too, as has been pointed out several times, association of ideas enters as a factor, as, e. g., where large ears are made to point to increased power. At the same time, it is also clear that the great majority of the malformations and abnormalities in the text that we have just discussed are such as actually do occur and with the help of medical works on human malformations[127], many of the omens described in this and in other texts can be identified. There can, therefore, be no doubt that the collections of the bârû-priests dealing with birth-omens observed in infants, likewise, rest upon actual observations, though the field was extended by passing on from actual to purely fanciful and impossible abnormalities. The extent to which this attempt to provide for all kinds of contingencies was carried in the collections is illustrated by a portion of the first tablet of a series[128] dealing with human birth-omens. This section treating in part of the birth of shapeless abortions reads as follows:

If a woman gives birth to pudenda[129], the royal dynasty will be changed.

If a woman gives birth to a head[130], the land will encounter distress.

If a woman gives birth to a form of some kind[131], king against king,—his rival, will prevail.

If a woman gives birth to a foetus[132], the land will encounter distress.

If a woman gives birth to a foetus in which there is a second, the rule of the king and of his sons will come to an end ... the power of the land [will dwindle].

If a woman gives birth to a mass of clay[133], the king’s land will oppose him and cause terror.

If a woman is pregnant with a mass of clay and gives birth to a mass of clay, misfortune will come, the mother will close off her gate against the daughter, there will be no protection, the man[134] will go to ruin, the produce of the field will not prosper.

If a woman gives birth to a male still-birth, Nergal[135] will destroy, the man[136] will die before his time.

If a woman gives birth to a weak boy, distress, destruction of the house[137].

If a woman gives birth to a weak girl, that house will be destroyed by fire.

If a woman gives birth to a lame boy, distress, that house [will be destroyed].

If a woman gives birth to a lame girl, ditto.

If a woman gives birth to a cripple, that house will be plundered.

If a woman gives birth to a crippled girl, that house [will be destroyed ?].

***

If a woman gives birth to something that has no face[138], the land will experience sorrow, that house will not prosper.

If a woman gives birth to a weakling, that city[139] [will experience misfortune ?].

If a woman gives birth to a crippled being, the land will experience sorrow, that house [will not prosper].

If a woman gives birth to a deaf mute, the house will be shut in.

***

If a woman gives birth to a dwarf[140] of a half-shape, that city will be opposed.

If a woman gives birth to a half-shaped being with bearded lips[141], talking[142], and that moves about, and has teeth[143]—hostility of Nergal, the crushing force of a powerful attack on the land, a god[144] will destroy, streets will be attacked, houses will be seized.

One may question whether all of such monstrosities actually occurred, though they are all possible, if we add the factor of fancy to account for some of the descriptions. The conventional character of the interpretations and the constant repetition of the same prognostications likewise indicate the desire on the part of the bârû-priests to exhaust their medical knowledge of monstrosities and malformations that could occur, in order to swell the collections to the largest possible proportions. The first tablet of the series[145] of which an extract has just been given, begins with an enumeration of various animals to which a newly born infant bears a resemblance and which is expressed, similarly to what we found in the animal birth-omens, by the phrase that the woman gives birth to the animal in question. The series begins as follows:

If a woman gives birth, and the offspring cries in the womb, the land will encounter sickness.

If a woman gives birth, and the offspring cries in the womb and it is distinctly heard, a powerful enemy will arise and overthrow the land, destruction will sweep the land, the enemy will destroy the precious possession, or the master’s house will be destroyed.

If a woman gives birth to a lion, that city will be taken, the king will be captured.

If a woman gives birth to a dog, the master of the house will die and that house will be destroyed, confusion, Nergal will destroy.

If a woman gives birth to a pig, a woman will seize the throne.

If a woman gives birth to an ox, the king of universal rule will prevail in the land.

If a woman gives birth to an ass, the king of universal rule will prevail in the land.

If a woman gives birth to a lamb, the ruler will be without a rival.

If a woman gives birth to a Sâ[146], the ruler will be without a rival.

If a woman gives birth to a serpent[147], I will surround the house of the master.

If a woman gives birth to a dolphin (?)[148], the house of the [man will be enlarged ?].

If a woman gives birth to a fish-being[149], the rule of the king will prosper, the gods [will return to the land].

If a woman gives birth to a bird[150],...

These examples will suffice to show the part played by the supposed resemblance of a new-born infant with one animal or the other in the Babylonian-Assyrian birth-omens; nor is it difficult to see how the thought of such resemblances should arise, for, as a matter of fact, the shape of the head of an infant easily suggests that of a dog or a bird. The ear if unusually large might recall a donkey’s ear; a small eye, that of a pig, and a large one, that of a lion[151]. The association of ideas with the various animals no doubt suggests the interpretation in most cases, though in others the interpretation appears to be of a purely conventional type and as a rule favorable.

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