Counsellors

Curious is the list of King Ashurbanipal's court scholars, found in British museum:

7 - astrologers
9 - exorcists
5 - experts on liver omens
9 - physicians
6 - chanters
3 - experts on foretelling the future through the movements of birds
3 - interpreters of dreams
3 - Egyptians.

This recalls me the "Emporio celestial de conocimientos benévolos", the encyclopaedia Borges quoted on his essay "El idioma analitico de John Wilkins", which divides the animals in the following categories:

(a) pertenecientes al Emperador, (b) embalsamados, (c) amaestrados , (d) lechones, (e) sirenas, (f) fabulosos, (g) perros sueltos, (h) incluidos en esta calcificación, (i) que se agitan como locos, (j) innumerables, (k) dibujados con un pincel finísimo de pelo de camello, (l) etcétera, (m) que acaban de romper el jarrón, (n) que de lejos parecen moscas. [english, here.]

Foucault said on the beginning of his thesis "Les Mots et les Choses" that it only existed because of this previous passage. Imagine if he has gotten in touch with King Ashurbanipal's list...