In the religions of ancient Rome, an omen, plural ''omina'', was a

sign A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...

intimating the future, considered less important to the community than a ''

prodigium The vocabulary of ancient Roman religion was highly specialized. Its study affords important information about the religion, traditions and beliefs of the ancient Romans. This legacy is conspicuous in European cultural history in its influence on ...

'' but of great importance to the person who heard or saw it. Omina could be good or bad. Unlike prodigies, bad omina were never expiated by public rites but could be reinterpreted, redirected or otherwise averted. Some time around 282 BC, a diplomatic insult formally "accepted as omen" was turned against

Tarentum Tarentum may refer to: * Taranto, Apulia, Italy, on the site of the ancient Roman city of Tarentum (formerly the Greek colony of Taras) **See also History of Taranto * Tarentum (Campus Martius), also Terentum, an area in or on the edge of the Camp ...

and helped justify its

conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

. A thunderclap cost Marcellus his very brief consulship (215 BC): thereafter he traveled in an enclosed litter when on important business, to avoid seeing possible bad omens that might affect his plans. Bad omens could be more actively dealt with, by countersigns or spoken formulae. Before his campaign against

Perseus of Macedon Perseus ( grc-gre, Περσεύς; 212 – 166 BC) was the last king ('' Basileus'') of the Antigonid dynasty, who ruled the successor state in Macedon created upon the death of Alexander the Great. He was the last Antigonid to rule Macedon, af ...

, the consul L Aemilius Paullus was said to have heard of the death of Perseus, his daughter's puppy. He interpreted this as a favourable omen and defeated King Perseus at the

Battle of Pydna The Battle of Pydna took place in 168 BC between Rome and Macedon during the Third Macedonian War. The battle saw the further ascendancy of Rome in the Hellenistic world and the end of the Antigonid line of kings, whose power traced back to ...

(168 BC). Some evidently took omens very seriously, others did not, or failed to avert bad omens and were thought to have paid the ultimate price. In 217 BC, the consul Gaius Flaminius "disregarded his horse's collapse, the chickens, and yet other omens, before his disaster at Lake Trasimene".

Licinius Crassus Licinius Crassus may refer to: * Lucius Licinius Crassus, Roman orator * Marcus Licinius Crassus (disambiguation), Romans ** including, Marcus Licinius Crassus * Publius Licinius Crassus (disambiguation), Romans See also * * Licinii Crassi T ...

took ship for Syria despite the ominous call of a fig-seller – ''"Cauneas!"'' ("Caunean figs!"), which might be heard as ''"Cave ne eas!''" ("Beware, don't go!") – and was killed on campaign.

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

saw these events as merely coincidental; only the credulous could think them ominous. though by his time, politicians, military magnates and their supporters actively circulated tales of excellent omens that attended their births and careers. In Roman histories and biographies, particularly

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...

's ''Lives of the Caesars'', the lives, personal character and destinies of various emperors can be read in reported portents, omens and dreams; the emperor

Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germanicu ...

, for example, dreamt that he stood before the throne of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

, king of the gods, and Jupiter kicked him down from heaven to earth; Caligula ignored the premonition and was assassinated the next day.Harrison, Juliette, ''Dreams and Dreaming in the Roman Empire'', Bloomsbury, 2013, pp. 99 - 110

Notes and references

{{paganism Ancient Roman augury