Roman tradition credited the discipline of augury, and by extension the lituus itself, with Etruscan origins, absorbed into Roman practice during the city's formative period and, in the foundation legend, present at Rome's very beginning: Romulus is said to have taken the auspices before founding the city, and the augural college itself was counted, alongside the pontiffs, among the priesthoods Numa Pompilius later formalised. The augurs formed one of Rome's most prestigious priestly colleges throughout the Republic, its membership drawn from the political elite, since holding augural office carried real influence over which public actions could proceed on any given day.
Beyond its practical religious function, the lituus became a durable visual shorthand for Roman religious authority more generally, recognisable enough that later observers, including early Christian writers hostile to Roman religion, singled it out along with the priest's cap and other insignia as emblematic of a discredited pagan priesthood. Its curved profile, echoing a shepherd's crook, is often read by scholars of Roman religion as reinforcing the pastoral, guiding character the office claimed: the augur, like a shepherd, watched over the community's safe passage by reading signs the ordinary citizen could not.