Piacenza Liver, Italy 500 BCE

(Jan. 29, 2023, updated November 15, 2025) The text on this bronze liver is a teaching text and not some sort of divination report like everyone expected.

This bronze liver was found in the Po river valley which came under the control of a Celtic tribe known  by the Romans as the "Insubres" around 600 BCE.  They sacked Rome in 390 BCE. Yet they in turn were conquered by Rome in the battle of Clastidium (modern Casteggio) in 222 BCE. The Insubres  gained a brief period of freedom when Carthaginian general Hannibal invaded Italy during the Second Punic War (218–201 bc). The Insubres were finally subdued by Rome in 196 BCE and gradually lost their identity in the rise of municipal communities. They were granted Latin rights in 89 BCE and full Roman citizenship 40 years later.

The bronze Liver of Piacenza was found on September 26, 1877 by a farmer plowing a field. It was found at a depth of about 25 cm not far from the small village of Settima of Ciavernasco just south of Piacenza. This site is located approximately a kilometer from the right bank of the Trebbia river. The bronze liver was eventually bought by Count Francesco Caracciolo, who subsequently donated it to the Civic Museum of the Piacenza on the first of August 1894. The liver is a life sized sheep’s liver measuring 126 × 76 × 60 mm (5 × 3 × 2.4 inches) and weighing 635 grams. As far as I know the field has not been excavated or surveyed with geophysical equipment despite the significance of this find.

All cultures of the time seem to have believed that liver was the source of animal emotions. (Riva and all, 2011). It is attached to the diaphragm muscle responsible for breathing. This links the liver to breath (wind, spirit) which was the causal fluid for the motion powers. The liver is also the source of bile which was thought to be the way these motion powers affected the physical body. The other source of motion in the universe besides inner conscious emotions was the motions of the heavenly bodies. Therefore, the ancients reasoned some connection must exist between the two motion sources and that connection was the liver. The earliest Greek playwrights, the tragedians (400’s BCE), referred to the liver as the seat of emotions (Aeschylus: Agamemnon, 432; Sophocles: Aix, 938).

Fire as the inner spark of celestial light was the elemental correspondence to emotion and passion. That inner spark is what animated animal life. This association is why the Greek Titan of fire, Prometheus, had his liver continually eaten by a vulture as punishment for bringing that spark of life to humans.  

The Greek word for liver is the Indo-European derived “hepar” from which English gets the word “hepatitis” (liver disease) and hepatoscopy meaning “liver divination.” The Akkadian word for liver is similar being “Ḫarû” from which English gets “haruspicy” (liver divination) and horoscope (night sky divination).

The motivation behind creating this liver is a drought. Surviving Roman records which refer to this time period are sparce but an analysis of those shows a pattern of grain shortage by Northwood (2006) during the 400’s then no problems until the second Punic war (218 to 201 BCE). Grain shortages can be caused by drought, social instability (war), or both.

Photo too low a resolution for a good letter identification

Being in central Europe most of these seem to have been found prior to proper archaeology and are now in the hands of private collectors.

PROVENANCE: Ex- Leo Mildenberg (1913-2001) collection, Zurich

SERIAL NO: 17660

Online at: https://www.e-tiquities.com/gallery/ancient-celtic-bronze-head-of-a-bull