Auguraculum

From the steep staircase, you step onto a wide platform open to the sky; in a corner you see a hut designed to resemble those from the earliest Roman settlements. You are awed by the sacredness of the place, for this is where the college of augurs takes the auspices, reading the signs in the sky--the flight and calls of birds, lightning and thunder--that communicate to the city the wishes of the gods who protect it. The Auguraculum is located near the temple of Juno Moneta on the summit of the Arx, a high point that affords a magnificent view of the sky and the city.

The Romans believed that augury was practiced by the Latin peoples even before the foundation of Rome; indeed Livy tells us that Romulus and Remus consulted the auspices in their dispute about which of the brothers would found and rule the new city. When the Senate selected Numa Pompilius as the second king of Rome after the death of Romulus, Numa insisted that the augurs ask the gods to confirm his selection, which happened here on the Auguraculum when the flight of birds indicated divine approval of his kingship. In this Republican coin of 97 BCE, King Numa is shown holding the lituus, the augur's staff curved at the top like a question mark, as he presides over the sacrifice of a goat.

The augurs were priests who belonged to a collegium, an official state guild; the college of augurs ranked second highest (after the pontifices) among the priestly colleges. From the time of Julius Caesar there were 16 augurs in the college; these were not full-time religious professionals but rather men of high rank and social standing who devoted some of their time to learning the traditions of augury and carrying out augural functions. It was not only augurs who took the auspices; as soon as a Roman magistrate took up his office he also received the right and duty to take the auspices (he was "inaugurated," providing the etymology of our modern term). The lituus was thus a symbol of legally conferred authority, as shown on this denarius issued by Octavian in 28 BCE where the augur's staff appears behind Octavian's head. Augurs assisted the magistrates, offered official opinions when consulted about how to interpret bird signs and phenomena such as lightning, and gave rulings when questions arose about whether proper ritual procedures had been followed when auspices were taken.

No significant public action could be initiated until the auspices were taken by the presiding magistrate. The most basic method to take the auspices was to mark off a section of the sky using the lituus and then to observe the flight patterns and calls of birds in this section (called a templum). Sacred chickens could also be used in auguries; their behavior was observed after their cage was opened and food thrown to them. This altar depicts Augustus taking the auspices (note the chicken at his feet). If the signs were judged favorable the action could proceed; if unfavorable, it had to be postponed to another day. Livy sums up the significant role that the Roman state gave to augury:

Auguriis certe sacerdotioque augurum tantus honos accessit ut nihil belli domique postea nisi auspicato gereretur, concilia populi, exercitus vocati, summa rerum, ubi aues non admisissent, dirimerentur.

In fact, such great honor was added to auguries and the priesthood of the augurs that nothing in war or in the city could be carried out unless approved by the auspices. Assemblies of the people, mustering of the army, the highest events would be broken off when the birds did not allow them. (Ab Urbe Condita 1.36)