RALPH: The Ancient Romans believed that the gods would get involved in human life.  Whether it was good fortune, like falling in love or getting rich, or bad fortune, like losing your crops or being conscripted for war  -- the gods had something to do with it.

SERVILIA: In Roman religion, sacrificing animals was thought to be a way of keeping the gods happy.  The Romans also thought that you could find out what the gods had in store for the future by reading certain signs.  These signs were called omens.

RALPH: One source of omens was the appearance of birds in the sky.  The kind of birds, how many there were, and the direction of their flight, were all important parts of the omen.

SERVILIA: Another common source of omens was unusual weather… or events in the night sky, like a comet. Because the Romans didn’t have a scientific understanding of storms and comets, it’s easy to understand how violent flashes of lightning or a fiery ball in the night sky could be seen as a sign that the gods were not happy.

RALPH: As we see in the play, the reading of omens was part of the daily functioning of the government. Before holding elections or calling the Senate into session, experts in reading signs, known as augurs, read the guts of a slaughtered chicken or sheep to determine if the omens were favorable. Shakespeare calls the augur in the play a Soothsayer.

SERVILIA: During Caesar’s time, these practices were more political than religious. If, for example, it was proclaimed that the omens were not favorable for a meeting of the Senate, that probably meant that the official charged with reading the omens had been bribed by someone wanting to delay a vote in the Senate.  

RALPH: And in the play, there’s quite a bit of discussion about whether to trust omens or not. This discussion might be religious or philosophical - but it might also reflect some skepticism about how omens were used politically.