Extispex

The Aruspices, or rather Haruspices, were those priests whose chief business it was to inspect the entrails of beasts offered in sacrifice; and hence they were sometimes called extispices.

As the same person might be both extispex and fulgurator, it is not astonishing to find them both called haruspices.

A further function of sacrificial integration illustrates another significance of the extispex for the confirmation of the political hierarchy and, above all, of the Roman emperor and his communication with the gods.

The Sun-god was believed to have arranged the entrails of the sacrificial lamb in such a way that they would indicate to men the will of the gods, and, moreover, that he set marks upon them which could not be mistaken by the skilled extispex.