diviners were crucial because the King consulted them before making any major decision military or otherwise their ancient science revealed the will of the gods to go against an omen or an oracle would be just as foolish as to swear a false oath it could only lead to disaster omens might sound like superstition to modern people but to the Assyrians they were regarded as reliable and infallible they had been recorded and used for thousands of years when a remarkable event took place like an eclipse or a planetary movement or like the occurrence of an unusual shape in the liver of a sacrificial animal then diviners took note and then they observed subsequent political events and they saw those two as completely bound together the omen and the political event this is a model liver made from clay from Mari it dates to around the 19th to the 18th century BC the liver was believed to be an essential organ and it was thought to be the location of thoughts and feelings in the body diviners predicted the future by the examination of the livers of sacrificial animals usually sheep play livers like this one may have served as a teaching tool used in the training of diviners the astronomical sign or the abnormal liver had a message from the gods about political events these messages from the gods were regarded as completely certain like science if the same sign was later observed in a comparable political event was certainly also going to the firm belief was that a deep knowledge of davin ation could help the king maintain his power and also expand his empire at one point in the seventh century BCE a diviner wrote a letter to the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal about a number of signs that had been observed and among them the appearance of the planet Mars the diviner in each case quoted an omen relevant to the sign and sometimes he added notes to show how this was relevant to the Kings situation he wrote that one old omen read if Mars appears in the month of a jar ooh there will be hostilities affliction of the Ummah and Monda the chyme Aryans meaning if Mars appears in the month of a jar ooh then the chyme Aryans will lose in battle