Diagnoses in Assyrian and Babylonian Medicine: Ancient Sources, Translations, and Modern Medical AnalysesTo date, the pathbreaking medical contributions of the early Mesopotamians have been only vaguely understood. Due to the combined problems of an extinct language, gaps in the archeological record, the complexities of pharmacy and medicine, and the dispersion of ancient tablets throughout the museums of the world, it has been nearly impossible to get a clear and comprehensive view of what medicine was really like in ancient Mesopotamia. The collaboration of medical expert Burton R. Andersen and cuneiformist JoAnn Scurlock makes it finally possible to survey this collected corpus and discern magic from experimental medicine in Ashur, Babylon, and Nineveh. Diagnoses in Assyrian and Babylonian Medicine is the first systematic study of all the available texts, which together reveal a level of medical knowledge not matched again until the nineteenth century A.D. Over the course of a millennium, these nations were able to develop tests, prepare drugs, and encourage public sanitation. Their careful observation and recording of data resulted in a description of symptoms so precise as to enable modern identification of numerous diseases and afflictions. |
Contents
The Ancient Mesopotamian Context | 1 |
General Health and Public Health Practices | 13 |
Infectious Diseases | 26 |
Sexually Transmitted Diseases STDs | 88 |
Genitourinary Tract Diseases | 98 |
Gastrointestinal Diseases | 116 |
Metabolic and Nutritional Diseases | 155 |
Heart Circulatory System and Lungs | 165 |
Obstetrics and Gynecology | 259 |
Neurology | 284 |
Trauma and Shock | 345 |
Poisons | 354 |
Mental Illness | 367 |
Pediatrics | 386 |
Dental and Oral Diseases | 418 |
Prognostics | 529 |
Eyes Ears and Nose | 185 |
Skin and Hair | 208 |
Bones and Joints | 247 |
DiagnosticPrognostic Series | 575 |
778 | |
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Common terms and phrases
abdomen Adad Adamson Akkadian AN.TA.ŠUB.BA ana TI-šú anus AOAT arthritis āšipu Augenleiden bleeding bloated blood vessels bubu'tu cause Chapter continually hurt dark death described diagnosis DIB-su DIB.DIB-su DINGIR DIŠ GIG DIŠ ina DIŠ LÚ.TUR DIŠ NA disease DPS XIV DPS XL DPS XXXVI DÚR.GIG ears enteric fever epigastrium Epilepsy eyes fever Fincke following reference GAM DPS ghost GIDIM GIG-ma GIG-su GÌR"-šú head headache Heeẞel IGI.MEŠ-šú IGI"-šú illness infant infection insides Ištar KA-šú KI.MIN Kinnier Wilson KÚ.MEŠ-šú KÚM Labat Leichty leptospirosis lesions liver Marduk meningitis mouth MÚD MUNUS MUNUS Ù.TU-ma muscles NINDA Ninurta ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE pain patient rābiṣu recovery šá ŠÀ.MEŠ-šú SAG ŠÀ-šú SAG.DU-su SAG.KI-šú Šamaš seizures sētu SÌG-iş signs and symptoms Sîn skin StBoT Stol stomach suggests Šumma Izbu swollen syndrome temples texts trauma twin gods upper abdomen epigastrium urine vomits woman gives birth wound wound yellow