MEDICINE IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

ROBERT BIGGS, University of Chicago

Having no use for physicians they [the Babylonians]

carry the sick into the market-place; then those who
have been afflicted themselves by the same ill as the
sick man's, or seen others in like case, come near
and advise him about his disease and comfort him,
telling him by what means they have themselves re-
covered of it or seen others so recover.
HERODOTUS, Histories, i, 197

THE low esteem of Herodotus for Babylonian medical practice remained

unchallenged until the very end of the nineteenth century A.D. when
Assyriologists first attacked the native evidence, based on a few, mostly
fragmentary, clay tablets inscribed in cuneiform. That their first attempts
are now hopelessly out of date is due in large measure to the fact that the
discipline was new (the decipherment of Babylonian cuneiform is not
much more than a century old, even now), the technical vocabulary un-
known, and many scribal abbreviations unrecognized.
In the years since World War II, Assyriology has increasingly become
an independent branch of ancient Near Eastern studies, dominated less
and less by those scholars whose basic training and interests were biblical,
and whose approach to philological problems was often to attempt trans-
lations of even the unintelligible, and to rely on etymologies based on
related or unrelated languages. A considerable impetus to an up-to-date
approach has been the publication of two dictionaries of Akkadian (the
name given to the language group consisting of the Babylonian and
Assyrian dialects). The first, the Assyrian dictionary, published by the
Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago and modelled on the
Oxford English dictionary, gives extensive quotations with a meaningful
part of the context. The first volume appeared in 1956, and the final
volume is expected about 1980. The other dictionary, Das akkadisches
Handworterbuch, edited by W. von Soden, began to appear in fascicles in
I959 and is now half finished. Thus the vocabulary of the Akkadian
language, covering a period of approximately 2,500 years, is becoming
increasingly accessible.
In the years between the World Wars, medicine received due attention
from Assyriologists. The principal authors of general surveys during this
period were B. Meissner." whose few pages on medicine were a masterly
summation, and G. Contenau, a staff member at the Musee du Louvre
and himself a physician, who wrote an entire volume on Babylonian
94

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 MEDICINE IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA 95
medicines which contributed a number of new insights, but failed to dis-
tinguish adequately between the two disparate elements, magic and medi-
cine, which constitute "medical texts".
A great impetus to Babylonian medical studies at this time was the
publication in 1923 by R. Campbell Thompson of Assyrian medical texts,
the tablets coming from the British Museum's excavation of the library of
the Assyrian king Assurbanipal in the ruins of Nineveh. When Nineveh
was destroyed in 612 B.C., these tablets were badly broken, but as the
fragments were joined to one another, or joined to unpublished fragments
in the British Museum, it became possible to reconstruct entire tablets
dealing with such illnesses as chest diseases, intestinal difficulties, or
infections of the urinary tract. Thompson himself published translations
of many of these texts.P At approximately the same time a German
scholar, E. Ebeling, published a number of medical texts in his Keil-
schrifttexte aus Assur religiosen Inhalts (Leipzig, 1915-9). The texts
(some of them from about 1,000 B.C.) all come from the Assyrian city of
Assur. These two sites, Nineveh and Assur, have, in fact, supplied the
largest proportion of the Babylonian-Assyrian medical texts known to us.
A significant point in the general history of medicine was reached in
1951 when Henry Sigerist published the first volume of his History of
medicine, entitled "Primitive and Archaic Medicine", dealing principally
with Egypt and Mesopotamia. 4 Although modem study has fully con-
curred with Herodotus in his high opinion of Egyptian medicine, with its
many specialists, the Mesopotamian evidence is more elusive, partly be-
cause the textual material is so extensive, and so little of it is available in
competent editions. Sigerist recognized certain rational elements of
Babylonian medicine, but overemphasized and confused the magical and
religious aspects, partly because of his erroneous idea that the physician
was a priest and, in early times, a diviner (a conclusion based on an in-
correct etymology of the word for physician). Labat.f in an important
review of Sigerist's book, emphasized the necessity of distinguishing two
distinct elements in the "medical" texts, the magical (asiputu) and the
theraputic (asutu). The magician, who functioned chiefly as an exorcist,
was a member of the clergy, but the physician was not. The magician
attempted to effect his cures through incantations, prayers, libations and
the laying on of hands, while the physician employed a great variety of
potions, bandages, cataplasms, lotions, suppositories, enemas, purgatives,
etc., but never himself resorted to magic. E. Ritter has recently studied
these two approaches in some detail and has attempted to determine
under what circumstances a magical or medical treatment was considered
appropriate. 6 (Some diseases, mentioned below, were apparently con-
sidered incurable and neither treatment was applied.)
It is incorrect to assume, as has often been done, that all illness was
attributed to witches, demons, and other malevolent beings (against which

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96 HISTORY OF SCIENCE

one might consider a magical treatment particularly appropriate) or to

divine displeasure," since the effects of heat, cold, indigestion, etc., were
recognized. In recent years several scholars, notably Labat.f Oppen-
heim.P and Reiner.w all with considerable experience in dealing with
medical texts, have emphasized these points. Martin Levey'stt state-
ment that "for thousands of years objective medicine in Babylonia tried
to keep its head above water in a sea of magic" is more dramatic than
accurate, for there is evidence that both methods existed side by side and
were not in opposition to one another. The evidence shows that there
was not a gradual development from the preponderance of magic in medi-
cine in early times to its abandonment in favor of therapeutic medicine
in later periods,12 but that therapeutic medicine was a quite independent
tradition. The earliest Mesopotamian medical text so far known is in
Sumerian (the non-Semitic language for which the cuneiform script was
developed) and dates from approximately 2,000 B.C.13 It is clearly in the
same medical tradition as the later therapeutic texts. There are also
medical texts in Sumerian from about the fourteenth century B.C. found
at the Hittite capital of Hattusa (modern Boghazkoy) in Asia Minor.I!
but it is not clear whether these were originally composed in Sumerian or
were translated from Babylonian. The Hittites apparently had no inde-
pendent medical tradition, but were dependent on Babylonian medicine. 15
In fact, both Babylonian and Egyptian physicians were attached to the
Hittite royal court. Physicians are mentioned a number of times in the
royal letters of the courts. One, from the Babylonian king Kadashman-
Enlil (reigned c. 1279-1265 B.C.), requested the return of a certain physician
who had been on loan to the Hittite court for a number of years.
Although at the present time there are no published therapeutic medical
texts from the Old Babylonian period (c. seventeenth century B.C.), we
are better informed about medical practice in this period than in any other
period for a thousand years. For example, among the many hundreds of
letters recovered from the ancient city of Mari, on the upper Euphrates,
there are a number concerned with physicians.w several of whom are re-
ferred to by name and were reputed for their cures. One letter describes
the unsuccessful attempts of two physicians to cure an abcess(?) of the
ear, and requests that the king send another specified skilled physician.
In addition to the exchange of diplomatic missions, a king might ex-
change information on various medications with another king or request
permission to send his physician to learn a particular treatment from the
physician of the other court. One of these letters seems to indicate that
the principle of the communicability of certain diseases was known. It
refers to a certain lady's being ill and commands that strict orders be
given that no one drink from the same cup, sit on the same seat, or sleep
in the same bed as she, and that the other women should not go to her
quarters, "for her illness is contagious",17 That is, the fact of

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 MEDICINE IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA 97

communicability, probably attributed to magic, was known. In none of

these letters is there any reference to magical practice in connection with
treatment of any illness.
Epidemics with high death rates are sometimes reported in these letters.
Sometimes the additional information that the population has abandoned
certain towns and moved elsewhere is given, along with an enumeration of
which towns and cities have so far been unaffected.
From the Middle Babylonian period (c. fourteenth to twelth centuries
B.C.) there are a number of letters concerned with medicine, including a
series of frequent reports on the condition of young women in a music
academy. IS Some of their ailments are described in detail, and one letter
urgently requests the sending of a certain ingredient, without which the
prescription envisaged would not be effective.
In the Neo-Assyrian period (c. seventh century B.C.) there are a number
of letters from physicians to the king, often describing in detail treatments
to be administered to members of the royal household.tv There is fre-
quent mention of magical rites accompanying medical treatments in the
reign of the king Esarhaddon (reigned 680-669 B.C.), who would appear,
from evidence in his numerous letters, to have been unusually super-
stitious. In some instances the physician gives explicit instructions that
the prescription be tested on members of the domestic staff before being
given to the king or crown prince.
There are several other texts, from about the fourteenth century B.C.,
which are not generally recognized as being of relevance for the history
of medicine and which give an inventory of the stock of an apothecary's
shop, the stock consisting of items whose only known use is medicinal. 20
In an important recent article dealing with an apothecary's inventory.u
Dietlinde Goltz has given an excellent survey of the general types of
treatments and the materials utilized. She has correctly stressed that
the apothecary dealt mainly in seeds and dried products, and occasionally
in special oils, but that there were no prepared prescriptions. Thus the
apothecary was the source from which others bought some of the ingre-
dients for the pills, potions, salves, etc., which were prepared with various
liquids such as water, beer and milk. Goltz has also discussed the pharma-
ceutical texts which list and explain many names of plants and min-
erals, and which often give their names in various dialects, sometimes with
indications of which illnesses they were considered effective against. 22
In spite of all these references, however, there is little specific informa-
tion about the physician, his training, and his social position.w The
Sumerian word for physician, a.zu (asu in Akkadian), has traditionally
been etymologized as "he who knows the waters" from Sumerian a "water"
and zu "know", but it has recently been shown on the basis of writings
in the third millennium B.C. that this is incorrect.w and it can now be
said only that the etymology of this word is unknown.

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98 HISTORY OF SCIENCE

The physician was not connected in any way with the clergy, but was
considered a craftsman. In the code of Hammurapi, discussed in further
detail below, laws governing the physician's activities are included with
those of other craftsmen. Penalties for malpractice are not essentially
different from those for the mason who builds a house that collapses or a
boatwright who makes a boat that sinks.
No doubt there were various levels in the training and skill of physicians.
It is not known for certain that they were literate, but if they were
themselves able to read the medical texts, a long training in the scribal
schools before their apprenticeship would be implied. It should be
stressed, however, that we do not know to what extent the medical texts
served as handbooks for actual medical practice, since illnesses covered in
the texts are rarely referred to in letters, while wounds and broken bones,
mentioned in letters, are not included in the written medical repertory.
We also do not know what developments in medicine may have occurred
after the texts received the form in which they were transmitted unchanged
for more than a millennium.
An amusing Babylonian story of about the fourteenth century B.C.,25
which has a parallel in the Thousand and One Nights, includes a physician
who was clean-shaven and scantily clad. He carried a bag (probably
containing herbs and bandages) and a censer. More important, the
physician in the story is from the town of Isin, which is well known as the
cult centre of Gula, the goddess of healing, and of other healing dieties
associated with Gula, and which may have had an academy of medicine.
Scientific excavations have never been carried out on the site of Isin, but
they would probably yield ex votos to Gula such as have been found at
another site datable to about the fourteenth century B.C. (these usually
take the form of small terra cotta lions or dogs, Gula's sacred animal, or
human figures, often inscribed, some apparently clutching the ailing part
of the body).26
There are several texts referring to women physicians (not to be con-
fused with midwives), including one woman in Asia Minor. Veterinary
medicine is known from a few isolated references to the name of the pro-
fession, most of which are from the third millennium B.C., but a recently
published medical text mentions that a specific medication can be used
for the same ailment in horses. The Assyrian king Esarhaddon (680-
669 B.C.) mentions veterinarians among craftsmen and specialists who are
apparently deported from Egypt to Assyria.
Turning from the non-canonical sources (that is, texts outside the tra-
ditional scribal repertory and scribal curricula) to the "medical" texts
themselves, it may be said that they fall into two distinct groups, the
diagnostic and the therapeutic. The diagnostic series, a collection of forty
numbered chapters, not all of which have been recovered, has the ancient
title: enuma ana bit mar$i (WPU illaku "When the exorcist goes to the

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 MEDICINE IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA 99

house of a sick person", edited by R. Labat as Traiti akkadien de diagnos-

tics et pronostics medicaux. 27 In some cases the prognosis is based on
portents encountered by the magician en route to the patient's house.
More often, however, it is based on the magician's observations of the
patient. In general, the sequence of parts of the body observed (or rather,
the sequence in which they are treated within the whole series) is from
the top of the head to the feet. Various physical features or mental states
are described, and a brief prognosis follows, for example: "if the patient's
right ear is dark, his illness will be severe, but he will recover", "if his
right kidney hurts him and he cannot lie on that side, he will die in seven
days", "if the patient's right hand hurts him, it is the hand of (i.e., the
affliction caused by) the sun god; he will get well after saying a prayer".
This series is thus purely diagnostic, and there is no question of there being
any medical treatment involved.
It seems that about 400 B.C. this type of diagnosis and prognosis be-
came partly dependent on astrology for determining the most propitious
time for undertaking it,28 although there is a parallel in reports on
extispicy from many centuries earlier which contain such statements as,
"unfavourable for a physician to give a medical treatment".
The therapeutic texts, of which there are several hundred in various
states of preservation, are of more scientific interest. Few are yet avail-
able in up-to-date translations, but a considerable number are being pub-
lished in cuneiform copies, principally by F. K6cher,29 who plans to edit
and translate all of them after the proposed volumes of copies are pub-
lished. These texts, extant mostly in manuscripts of the Neo-Assyrian
period, would seem to be an ideal source for the study of the medical
practice which existed in the seventh century, but as Labat.s? Oppen-
heim.s! and others have stressed, these texts go back for the most part to
the Old Babylonian period (c. seventeenth century B.C.) and were copied
faithfully by generations of scholar-scribes.
There are also a great many Akkadian therapeutic texts from Anatolia
from about the fourteenth century B.C. Many of these deal with eye
diseases. With a single exception,32 they have been published only in
cuneiform copies. Many sections of these texts are found verbatim in the
medical corpus in Assurbanipal's library eight centuries later. Again,
the texts probably reflect the medical knowledge and practice of the seven-
teenth century B.C. rather than of the fourteenth century. By the
seventh century some of these texts, diagnostic as well as therapeutic,
were considered to be so difficult to understand that it was necessary to
write commentaries explaining rare words or giving more modern equiva-
lents for some of the plant names. Some remedies were accompanied by
a note saying that they are "tried and tested", and the ancient origin of
some of them seems to have been stressed, as when the scribes note that a
certain prescription comes from the time of Hammurapi.

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100 HISTORY OF SCIENCE

These medical texts are normally divided into paragraphs, each one
beginning "if a patient has such and such symptoms, to cure him you do
the following". Instructions for preparing and administering the medi-
cation are then given, sometimes followed by the prognosis "then he will
get well". The greater part of the materia medica consists of plant and
animal products, augmented by a certain number of minerals.ss Particu-
larly in the case of plants, only a very small number can be identified
plausibly, and it is rarely possible to guess what prompted the use of a
specific plant for a certain ailment, though the specific effects of a number
of them were surely known.
In spite of the references in letters and other non-medical documents and
even in the medical texts themselves, it is difficult to know what degree of
technical knowledge the Mesopotamian physicians possessed. The princi-
pal source for conjectures for the second millennium B.C. has been the
Code of Hammurapi which fixed the fees of the physician (and the penal-
ties in case of malpractice) in setting broken bones, treating wounds
and performing surgical operations. The section most often cited is that
which has been thought to refer to an operation for cataracts.ss More
recent opinion is that this identification is not justified and that the
operation was more likely scarification." There is no doubt, however,
that the physicians did lance boils and make incisions. The word used
in the Code of Hammurapi for the special surgeon's knife employed occurs
several times in the therapeutic texts, and also in a description of the
paraphernalia of the patron god of medicine. There is no specific mention
of the catheter, but various medications were introduced into the body
through tubes, usually made of reeds (mainly used for the ears and nostrils)
but also of lead and bronze (used especially for introducing medications
into the urethra).
It was probably the physician who performed castration on human
beings. The principal reliable source for the existence of eunuchs is a
series of regulations for the royal harem in the Middle Assyrian period
(c. thirteenth to tenth centuries B.C.).36 The particular type of operation
and the age at which it was performed are unknown, but it is unlikely that
it included severing the penis as well as the testicles-as was often the
practice in Turkish harems, a dangerous operation with a high rate of
mortality. The fact that a physician needed to examine men entering the
Assyrian harem may imply that the testicles were crushed or damaged in
such a way as to destroy the function of the seminal ducts.
There is no evidence in ancient Mesopotamia for any other deliberate
mutilation of the human body. Circumcision was not practised.e?
Although there are recorded cases of trepanation in Palestine in the
first millennium B.C.,3S none is attested in ancient Mesopotamia. The
Caesarean section was known in the second millennium B.C.,3D but it
was an operation of last resort to save the infant of a dying woman.

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 MEDICINE IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA 101

Present evidence is that it was performed only on slaves.

Since the highly developed practice of extispicy made use of a number
of detailed observations of a number of parts of the sheep, mainly the
liver, gall bladder, lungs, and intestines, there is at least the theoretical
possibility that physicians were aware of anatomical details of certain
internal organs, although there is no evidence for scientific collaboration
between diviners and physicians. Neither is there evidence for dissection
of human bodies. The principle of the circulation of blood was certainly
not known, although it seems that the pulse was observed (but not
countedj.w (The Babylonian word for "vein", ser'anu, can be translated
by several English words which refer to observable subcutaneous features
such as "muscle" and "tendon", so that the greatest care must be used in
the translation of the word.)
A number of Babylonian texts deal with feminine ailments, including
some which result from injuries during childbirth, but midwiferyw stands
outside the written medical tradition, although there are a few incanta-
tions whose point is that the birth should be easy.
A considerable number of texts are devoted to the treatment of skin
and eye diseases which seem to have been relatively prevalent in ancient
times. Kinnier Wilson has recently attempted to identify several of
them with modem diseases in Iraq, including cutaneous leishmaniasis
(Baghdad boil).42 A tablet bearing prescriptions for the treatment of
skin diseases has recently been found laid very carefully in a grave of the
Neo-Babylonian period (sixth or fifth century B.C.),43 but the significance
of this fact is not apparent, since there is no tradition in Mesopotamia for
putting inscriptions of any kind with a corpse.
Obviously, a very basic problem in dealing with medical texts is the
recognition of the specific disease being described. Not only are there
practical difficulties such as the fragmentary condition of many of the
sources, and the philological problems (the scribes indulged in a certain
amount of esoteric writing which is particularly frustrating in a writing
system which includes logograms and polyvalent syllabograms), but the
descriptions may not necessarily include all the elements which a modern
physician would need to make a diagnosis.
The problem of the identification of leprosy is particularly notable.s-
although there are several words which are often translated as "leprosy".
Kinnier Wilson's rejection of the Assyrian dictionary's identification of
busanu as "leprosy" in favour of "scurvy" (he also suggests "diphtheria")
is perhaps justified, though his proposal that a plant of the same name is
"wild grape" (based on a supposed cognate in Hebrew), and that the
disease is so named because wild grapes help the condition, is unconvinc-
ing.
The word generally considered the most probable name for leprosy is

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102 HISTORY OF SCIENCE

saharsubbU (from Sumerian sahar.sub.ba), literally, "fallen dust", norm-

ally interpreted as referring to the falling of scales. In a response to the
article of Kinnier Wilson, the Director of the Leprosy Study Centre in
London, Dr S. G. Browne, pointed out (apud Kinnier Wilson, Revue
d'Assyriologie, lxi, 1967, p. 190) that such a description does not fit leprosy.
True leprosy, by which is meant Hansen's bacillus, has in fact never been
identified in skeletons from the ancient Near East, though it might be
argued that if it were a disease requiring separation from the community,
bodies of victims would not be expected in the communal cemeteries which
are usually discovered. Some of the osteological changes caused by
leprosy are so strikingw that they could hardly have been missed were they
present in excavated remains. No case was found among the approxi-
mately 600 skeletons from Lachish in Palestine.w Unfortunately few
ancient skeletons are available from Mesopotamia today for pathological
study;47 a large part were excavated at a time when most anthropologists
were principally interested in racially distinctive features, so the remains
preserved in museums consist almost entirely of skulls. Our present
evidence thus does not indicate that leprosy as we now know it existed in
either ancient Mesopotamia or in ancient Palestine. Even if the word
saharsubbu does not then refer to true leprosy, however, it certainly desig-
nates a disgusting skin disease which was considered incurable (as in the
case of dropsy, aganutillu, no treatments for it are ever found in the
medical texts).
Evidence in Babylonian texts for mental illness and mental aberrations
has recently been studied by Kinnier Wilson in two closely parallel
articles. 48 It has long been recognized that certain mental conditions are
described in the texts,49 but Kinnier Wilson has gone much further than
other scholars in attempting to identify symptoms with those of schizo-
phrenia and other mental illnesses recognized by modern psychiatry. He
seems, in general, to have inferred more from the texts than warranted,
particularly in the case of the long Babylonian composition known as
Maqlu (literally: "burning");" which he characterizes as "one of the main
textbooks of Babylonian psychiatry". 51 The difficulty with his identifi-
cations is that they project quite modern concepts into remote antiquity,
and give insufficient attention to the studies of witchcraft made by social
anthropologists, 52 preferring to treat witchcraft as an almost exclusively
psychological, specifically psychotic, phenomenon.
Sexual impotence, although usually of psychic origin, was treated with
both medicine (often made up of potions including parts of male animals
noted for their sexual vigour) and with magic. 53 Cases are described in
which a man may be impotent with his wife but potent with another
woman, or in which he is impotent with both. Cases in which the loss of
potency was attributed to sorcery are as often subjected to a purely thera-
peutic treatment as are those in which it is attributed to a physiological

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cause. Many of the incantations appear to be erotic in content, and are

often ostensibly spoken by a woman to a man. Others are simply prayers
to various deities.
Supposed sexual aberrations in Mesopotamia have sometimes been
stressed.e- but most of these can be found only by reading a great deal
into the texts. Some of the supposed aberrations, such as transvestism,
are known only in the cult of Ishtar, the goddess of love, and probably
occurred only on ritual occasions in cultic mimes or the like. There was
apparently no taboo against anal intercourse of either a homosexual or a
heterosexual nature, so such activity cannot be considered a perversion.
There is no recognizable reference to fellatio or cunnilinctus, and both
were probably tabooed.
In summary, it must be said that the study of Mesopotamian medicine
has, in general, been concerned with separate textual problems considered
in isolation. Unlike Egypt, where mummified remains are normally ex-
tensively preserved for archaeologists, Mesopotamian archaeology pro-
duces a much more restricted supply of human remains of which even the
best preserved yield much less information than do the Egyptian remains.
Nevertheless, serious study of Babylonian medicine can no longer be under-
taken solely on the basis of the ancient written sources, but must utilize
all the advances of the physical and social sciences in order to provide a
background against which the texts can be studied. 55

REFERENCES
1. B. Meissner, Babylonien und Assyrien, ii (Heidelberg, 1925). 283-323.
2. Georges Contenau, La medicine en Assyrie et en Babylonie (Paris, 1938).
3. For references see ibid., pp. 223 ft.
4. Henri Sigerist, A history of medicine, i, Primitive and archaic medicine (New York, 1951).
5. R. Labat, Journal of cuneiform studies, vi (1952) 128-133.
6. Edith Ritter, "Magical-expert (=Mipu) and physician (= as'll): Notes on two comple-
mentary professions in Babylonian medicine", Studies in honor of Benno Lands-
berger (Assyyiological studies, xvi; Chicago, 1965), 299-321.
7. 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.
8. R. Labat in R. Taton (ed.), Histoire geneYale des sciences, i, La science antique et midi-
evale (Paris, 1957) 89-103; and more recently "Medicins. devins et pretres-gueri-
sseurs en Mesopotamie ancienne", Archeologia, no. 10 (May-June, 1966) II-IS.
9. A. L. Oppenheim, "Mesopotamian medicine", Bulletin of the history of medicine, xxxvi
(1962) 97-108; also in Ancient Mesopotamia: POl'trait of a dead civilization (Chicago,
1964) 289-30S·
10. E. Reiner, "Medicine in ancient Mesopotamia", Journal of the International College
of Surgeons, xli (1964) 544-550.
11. Martin Levey, "Some objective factors of Babylonian medicine in the light of new
evidence", Bulletin of the history of medicine, xxxv (1961) 61-70.
12. See, for example, E. Ebeling in Reallexikon del' Assyriologie, sub voce "Arzt", p. 165.
13. M. Civil, "Prescriptions medicates sumeriennes", Revue d'assyriologie, liv (1960)
S7-72, with further material in Revue d'assyriologie, Iv (1961) 91-94.
14. F. Kocher, KeilschYiftuYkunden aus Boghaekoy xxxvii (Berlin, 1953) nos. 19 and 30
(in cuneiform only).
15. H. G. Giiterbock, "Hittite medicine", Bulletin of the history of medicine, xxxvi (1962)
109-II3·
16. A. Finet, "Les medicins au royaume de Mari" , Annuaiye de l'Institut de Philologie et
d'Histoire Orientales et Slaves, xiv (1954-57) 123-144.
H

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104 HISTORY OF SCIENCE

17. Ibid., p. 129, now published in cuneiform in G. Dossin, La correspondence feminine

(Archives royales de Mari, x; Paris, 1967) no. 129.
18. H. Waschow, Babylonischer Briefe aus der Kassitenzeit (Mitteilungen der Altorienta-
lisohen-Gesellsobaft, x, Heft I; Leipzig. 1936) 25-40. Some are also translated by
E. Ritter. Studies in honor of Benno Landsberger. pp. 317 fl.
19. Some of these letters have been studied and translated many times. Among them
may be mentioned A. L. Oppenheim. Letters from Mesopotamia (Chicago. 1967) 155
ff., and A. Finet, op, cit .• pp. 138 fl. A recent study has concentrated on published
and unpublished letters from a particular physician; see K. Deller, "Die Briefe des
Adad-sumu-usur", Alter Orient und altes Testament. i (Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1969)
45-64·
20. A. T. Clay, 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 A. T. Clay. 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 inven-
tory. no. 163, listing medicinal supplies.
z r , Dietlinde Goltz. "Mitteilungen tiber ein assyrisches Apothekeninventar", Archives
internationales d'bistoire des sciences. xxi (1968) 95-II4.
22. Many of these have been published. in cuneiform only. by F. Kocher as Keilschrifttexte
sur assyrisch-babylonischen Drogen-und Fjlanzenkunde (Berlin, 1955). An edition
of these is expected to appear in the series Texts from cuneiform sources in 1970 or
197r.
23. A convenient source. but largely confined to materials written in Akkadian. are the
entries asu "physician" and asutu "medical practice" in the Assyrian dictionary.
24· R. D. Biggs. Revue d'assyriologie, Ix (1966) 176. n. 4.
25. 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).
26. Mohammed Ali Mustafa. "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.
27. R. Labat. Traite akkadien de diagnostic et pronostics medicaux (Collection de trauaux
de l'Academie internationale d'Histoire des Sciences. no. 7. Leiden, 1951).
28. A. Ungnad, "Besprechungskunst und Astrologie in Babylonien", Archiv fur Orient-
forschung, xiv (1944) 251-284; M. Leibovici, "Sur l'astrologie medicale neo-
babylonienne", Journal asiatique, ccxliv (1956) 275-280; also R. D. Biggs, "An
esoteric Babylonian commentary". Revue d'assyriologie, lxii (1968) 51-58.
29. Franz KOcher. Die babylonisch-assyrische Medizin in Texten und Untersuchungen
(Berlin. 1963-64) (three volumes published so far).
3 0 • Journal of cuneiform studies. vi (1952) 132 fl.
31. A. L. Oppenheim, "Mesopotamian medicine". Bulletin of the history of medicine, xxxvi
(1962) r or ,
32. F. Kocher, "Ein akkadischer medizinischer Schulertext aus Bogazkoy". Archi» fur
Orientforscbung, xvi (1952-3) 47-56.
33. The use of minerals was studied by R. C. Thompson. A dictionary of Assyrian chemistry
and geology (Oxford. 1936). the use of plants in A dictionary of Assyrian botany
(London, 1949) (published posthumously).
34. G. R. Driver and]. C. Miles. The Babylonian laws. i (Oxford. 1956) 416-421.
35. R. Labat. "A propos de la chirurgie babylonienne", Journal asiatique. ccxlii (1954)
207-218 and E. Reiner. Journal ofthe International College of Surgeons. xli (1964) 547.
36. E. Weidner. "Hof- und Harems-Erlasse assyrischer Konige aus dem 2. Jahrtausend v.
Chr-". Archiu fur Orientforschung, xvii (1956) 257-293; see also B. Landsberger
in Hebrnische Wortforschwng: Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstag von Walter Baum-
gartner [Leiden, 1967) 201 fl.
37. See. for example. J. Sasson. "Circumcision in the Ancient Near East", Journal of
biblical literature. lxxxv (1966) 473-476. A more extensive bibliography is found
in C. M. Kieffer, "A propos de la circoncision a Caboul et dans le Logar". Festschrift
fur Wilhelm Eilers (Wiesbaden, 1967) 191 ff.• n. 3.
38. J. W. Jack. "The trephined skulls from Lachish", Palestine exploration quarterly.
(1937) 62-66, and. with full technical details and photographs. D. L. Risdon. "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.
39. A. L. Oppenheim. "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.
40. A. L. Oppenheim. "On the observation of the pulse in Mesopotamian medicine",
Orientalia, n.s. xxxi (1962) 27-33.

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 MEDICINE IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA lOS
W. von Soden, "Die Hebamme in Babylonien und Assyrien", Arabi» far Orientfor-
schung, xviii (1957-8) 119-121.
42 • J. V. Kinnier Wilson, "Organic diseases of Ancient Mesopotamia" in D. Brothwell
and A. T. Sandison (eds.), Diseases in antiquity (Springfield, Ill., 1967) 191-208.
43· Mentioned by H. J. Lenzen, XXI vorlauftger Bericht Uhlir die. . . Ausgrabungen inUruk-
Warka (Berlin, 1965) 32. A photograph is published in Archiv jur Orientjorschung,
xxi (1966) 147, but it is not sufficiently clear to permit confident decipherment.
44· J. V. Kinnier Wilson, "Leprosy in ancient Mesopotamia", Revue d'assyriologie, lx
(19 66) 47-5 8.
45· V. Meller-Christensen, "Evidence of leprosy in earlier peoples" in D. Brothwell and
A. T. Sandison (eds.), Diseases in antiquity, pp. 295-306.
4 6. tus., p. 302.
47· The paucity of preserved remains is stressed by Hans Grimm, "Einige friihgeschicht-
liche Menschenreste aus Assur", Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Uniuers-
itm zu Berlin, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschajtliche Reihe, vi (1956-57) no. 4, pp.
367-371.
J. V. Kinnier Wilson, "An introduction to Babylonian psychiatry", Studies in honor
oj Benno Landsberger (Chicago, 1965) 289-298, and "Mental diseases of Ancient Meso-
potamia", in D. Brothwell and A. T. Sandison (eds.), Diseases in antiquity, pp. 723-
733·
49· See, for example, the article "Geisteskrankheiten" in Reallexikon der Assyriologie.
50. G. Meier, Die assyrische BeschwOrungssammlung Maqlu (Archiv fur Orientforschung,
Beiheft ii; Berlin, 1937).
51. J. V. Kinnier Wilson, "An introduction to Babylonian psychiatry", Studies in honor
of Benno Landsberger (Chicago, 1956) 293·
52. See, as an example, John G. Kennedy. "Psychological and social explanations of witch-
craft", Man, n. s. ii (1967) 216-225.
53· R. D. Biggs, SA.ZI.GA: Ancient Mesopotamian potency incantations (Texts from cunei-
form sources, ii; Locust Valley, New York, 1967).
54· H. W. F. Saggs, The greatness that was Babylon (London, 1962) 186, and following
Saggs, A. T. Sandison in "Sexual behavior in ancient societies", in D. Brothwell and
A. T. Sandison (eds.), Diseases in antiquity, p. 751.
55· 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.

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