Medicine in Ancient Mesopotamia

Meissner B. , Babylonien und Assyrien, ii (Heidelberg, 1925), 283–323.

Contenau Georges , La médicine en Assyrie et en Babylonie (Paris, 1938).

For references see ibid., pp. 223 ff.

Sigerist Henri , A history of medicine, i. Primitive and archaic medicine (New York, 1951).

Labat R. , Journal of cuneiform studies, vi (1952) 128–133.

Ritter Edith , “Magical-expert (= šipu) and physician (= asû): Notes on two complementary professions in Babylonian medicine”, Studies in honor of Benno Landsberger (Assyriological studies, xvi; Chicago, 1965), 299–321.

Meissner , op. cit., p. 321, cites a physician's letter to the king rejecting the king's suggestion that his illness may be due to wrongdoing.

Labat R. Taton R. , (ed.), Histoire générale des sciences, i, La science antique et médiévale (Paris, 1957) 89–103; and more recently “Médicins, devins et prêtres-guérisseurs en Mesopotamie ancienne”, Archeologia, no. 10 (May-June, 1966) 11–15.

Oppenheim A. L. , “Mesopotamian medicine”, Bulletin of the history of medicine, xxxvi (1962) 97–108; also in Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a dead civilization (Chicago, 1964) 289–305.

Reiner E. , “Medicine in ancient Mesopotamia”, Journal of the International College of Surgeons, xli (1964) 544–550.

Levey Martin , “Some objective factors of Babylonian medicine in the light of new evidence”, Bulletin of the history of medicine, xxxv (1961) 61–70.

See, for example, Ebeling E. in Reallexikon der Assyriologie, sub voce “Arzt”, p. 165.

Civil M. , “Prescriptions médicales sumériennes”, Revue d'assyriologie, liv (1960) 57–72, with further material in Revue d'assyriologie, lv (1961) 91–94.

Köcher F. , Keilschrifturkunden aus Boghazhöy xxxvii (Berlin, 1953) nos. 19 and 30 (in cuneiform only).

Güterbock H. G. , “Hittite medicine”, Bulletin of the history of medicine, xxxvi (1962) 109–113.

Finet A. , “Les médicins au royaume de Mari”, Annuaire de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales et Slaves, xiv (1954–57) 123–144.

Ibid., p. 129, now published in cuneiform in Dossin G. , La correspondence féminine (Archives royales de Mari, x; Paris, 1967) no. 129.

Waschow H. , Babylonischer Briefe aus der Kassitenzeit (Mitteilungen der Altorientalischen-Gesellschaft, x, Heft 1; Leipzig, 1936) 25–40. Some are also translated by Ritter E. , Studies in honor of Benno Landsberger, pp. 317 ff.

Some of these letters have been studied and translated many times. Among them may be mentioned Oppenheim A. L. , Letters from Mesopotamia (Chicago, 1967) 155 ff., and Finet A. , op. cit., pp. 138 ff. A recent study has concentrated on published and unpublished letters from a particular physician; see Deller K. , “Die Briefe des Adad-šumu-usur”, Alter Orient und altes Testament, i (Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1969) 45–64.

Clay A. T. , Documents from the temple archives of Nippur dated in the reigns of Cassite rulers (University of Pennsylvania Museum, Publications of the Babylonian Section, ii, no. 2; Philadelphia, 1912) no. 107; also Clay A. T. , Documents from the temple archives of Nippur dated in the reigns of Cassite rulers (The Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania, xiv; Philadelphia, 1906) has a section of an inventory, no. 163, listing medicinal supplies.

Goltz Dietlinde , “Mitteilungen über ein assyrisches Apothekeninventar”, Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences, xxi (1968) 95–114.

Many of these have been published, in cuneiform only, by F. Köcher as Keilschrifttexte zur assyrisch-babylonischen Drogen-und Pflanzenkunde (Berlin, 1955). An edition of these is expected to appear in the series Texts from cuneiform sources in 1970 or 1971.

A convenient source, but largely confined to materials written in Akkadian, are the entries asû “physician” and asûtu “medical practice” in the Assyrian dictionary.

Biggs R. D. , Revue d'assyriologie, lx (1966) 176, n. 4.

The text was first translated by O. R. Gurney in Anatolian studies, vi (1956) 145–164. It is conveniently retold by E. Reiner in an article referred to above (see n. 10).

Mustafa Mohammed Ali , “Kassite figurines”, Sumer iii (1947), especially figures 2, 4, and 5. The inscriptions, mostly very difficult to read even on the originals because of the poor quality clay, have never been translated.

Labat R. , Traité akkadien de diagnostic et pronostics médicaux (Collection de travaux de l'Académie internationale d'Histoire des Sciences, no. 7, Leiden, 1951).

Ungnad A. , “Besprechungskunst und Astrologie in Babylonien”, Archiv für Orientforschung, xiv (1944) 251–284; Leibovici M. , “Sur l'astrologie médicale néobabylonienne”, Journal asiatique, ccxliv (1956) 275–280; also Biggs R. D. , “An esoteric Babylonian commentary”, Revue d'assyriologie, lxii (1968) 51–58.

Köcher Franz , Die babylonisch-assyrische Medizin in Texten und Untersuchungen (Berlin, 1963–64) (three volumes published so far).

Journal of cuneiform studies, vi (1952) 132 ff.

Oppenheim A. L. , “Mesopotamian medicine”, Bulletin of the history of medicine, xxxvi (1962) 101.

Köcher F. , “Ein akkadischer medizinischer Schülertext aus Bogazköy”, Archiv für Orientforschung, xvi (1952–3) 47–56.

The use of minerals was studied by Thompson R. C. , A dictionary of Assyrian chemistry and geology (Oxford, 1936), the use of plants in A dictionary of Assyrian botany (London, 1949) (published posthumously).

Driver G. R. Miles J. C. , The Babylonian laws, i (Oxford, 1956) 416–421.

Labat R. , “A propos de la chirurgie babylonienne”, Journal asiatique, ccxlii (1954) 207–218 and Reiner E. , Journal of the International College of Surgeons, xli (1964) 547.

Weidner E. , “Hof- und Harems-Erlasse assyrischer Könige aus dem 2. Jahrtausend v. Chr.”, Archiv für Orientforschung, xvii (1956) 257–293; see also Landsberger B. in Hebräische Wortforschung: Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstag von Walter Baumgartner (Leiden, 1967) 201 ff.

See, for example, Sasson J. , “Circumcision in the Ancient Near East”, Journal of biblical literature, lxxxv (1966) 473–476. A more extensive bibliography is found in Kieffer C. M. , “A propos de la circoncision à Caboul et dans le Logar”, Festschrift für Wilhelm Eilers (Wiesbaden, 1967) 191 ff., n. 3.

Jack J. W. , “The trephined skulls from Lachish”, Palestine exploration quarterly, (1937) 62–66, and, with full technical details and photographs, Risdon D. L. , “A study of the cranial and other human remains from Palestine excavated at Tell Duweir (Lachish)….”, Biometrika, xxxi (1939) 116 and plates IV and V.

Oppenheim A. L. , “A Caesarian section in the second millennium b. c.”, Journal of the history of medicine, xv (1960) 292–294. Further examples have been noted since.

Oppenheim A. L. , “On the observation of the pulse in Mesopotamian medicine”, Orientalia, n.s. xxxi (1962) 27–33.

von Soden W. , “Die Hebamme in Babylonien und Assyrien”, Archiv für Orientforschung, xviii (1957–8) 119–121.

Wilson J. V. Kinnier , “Organic diseases of Ancient Mesopotamia” in Brothwell D. Sandison A. T. (eds.), Diseases in antiquity (Springfield, Ill., 1967) 191–208.

Mentioned by Lenzen H. J. , XXI vorläufiger Bericht über die… Ausgrabungen in Uruk-Warka (Berlin, 1965) 32. A photograph is published in Archiv für Orientforschung, xxi (1966) 147, but it is not sufficiently clear to permit confident decipherment.

Wilson J. V. Kinnier , “Leprosy in ancient Mesopotamia”, Revue d'assyriologie, lx (1966) 47–58.

Møller-Christensen V. , “Evidence of leprosy in earlier peoples” in Brothwell D. Sandison A. T. (eds.), Diseases in antiquity, pp. 295–306.

Ibid., p. 302.

The paucity of preserved remains is stressed by Grimm Hans , “Einige frühgeschichtliche Menschenreste aus Assur”, Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe, vi (1956–57) no. 4, pp. 367–371.

Wilson J. V. Kinnier , “An introduction to Babylonian psychiatry”, Studies in honor of Benno Landsberger (Chicago, 1965) 289–298, and “Mental diseases of Ancient Mesopotamia”, in Brothwell D. Sandison A. T. (eds.), Diseases in antiquity, pp. 723–733.

See, for example, the article “Geisteskrankheiten” in Reallexikon der Assyriologie.

Meier G. , Die assyrische Beschwörungssammlung Maqlû (Archiv für Orientforschung, Beiheft ii; Berlin, 1937).

Wilson J. V. Kinnier , “An introduction to Babylonian psychiatry”, Studies in honor of Benno Landsberger (Chicago, 1956) 293.

See, as an example, Kennedy John G. , “Psychological and social explanations of witchcraft”, Man, n. s. ii (1967) 216–225.

Biggs R. D. , Š À.GA: Ancient Mesopotamian potency incantations (Texts from cuneiform sources, ii; Locust Valley, New York, 1967).

Saggs H. W. F. , The greatness that was Babylon (London, 1962) 186, and following Saggs, Sandison A. T. in “Sexual behavior in ancient societies”, in Brothwell D. Sandison A. T. (eds.), Diseases in antiquity, p. 751.

For example, it has been shown that the snail which serves as the intermediary for schistosomiasis occurred in Mesopotamia at least as far back as the middle of the second millennium B.c., which has prompted Kinnier Wilson (in “Gleanings from the Iraq medical journals”, Journal of Near Eastern studies, xxvii, 1968, pp. 245 ff.) to identify as schistosomiasis the disease formerly thought to be gonorrhoea. The case of leprosy has been mentioned above. The question of intestinal parasites is another case in point, where examination of coprolites or deposits in ancient sewers could produce relevant information.