Magico-Medical Means of Treating Ghost-Induced Illnesses in Ancient Mesopotamia

Magico-Medical Means of Treating Ghost-Induced Illnesses in Ancient Mesopotamia
Author: JoAnn Scurlock
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 800
Release: 2005-12-01
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 9047404173

This work explores the interaction between magic and medicine in ancient Mesopotamia, as applied specifically to ghosts. Included is a discussion of sin and natural causes in Mesopotamian medicine. Additionally, it transliterates and translates 352 prescriptions designed to cure psychological and physical ailments thought to be caused by ghosts.

Sourcebook for Ancient Mesopotamian Medicine

Sourcebook for Ancient Mesopotamian Medicine
Author: JoAnn Scurlock
Publisher: Society of Biblical Lit
Total Pages: 785
Release: 2014-07-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1589839714

!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" html meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type" body An introductory guide for scholars and students of the ancient Near East and the history of medicine In this collection JoAnn Scurlock assembles and translates medical texts that provided instructions for ancient doctors and pharmacists. Scurlock unpacks the difficult, technical vocabulary that describes signs and symptoms as well as procedures and plants used in treatments. This fascinating material shines light on the development of medicine in the ancient Near East, yet these tablets were essentially inaccessible to anyone without an expertise in cuneiform. Scurlock’s work fills this gap by providing a key resource for teaching and research. Features: Accessible translations and transliterations for both specialists and non-specialists Texts include a range of historical periods and regions Therapeutic, pharmacological, and diagnostic texts

Magic and Divination in the Ancient World

Magic and Divination in the Ancient World
Author: Leda Ciraolo
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2021-10-01
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 9004497366

This collection of essays focuses on divination across the Ancient World from early Mesopotamia to late antiquity. The authors deal with the forms, theory and poetics of this important and still poorly understood ancient phenomenon.

Ancient Babylonian Medicine

Ancient Babylonian Medicine
Author: Markham J. Geller
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2015-07-21
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1119062543

Utilizing a great variety of previously unknown cuneiform tablets, Ancient Babylonian Medicine: Theory and Practice examines the way medicine was practiced by various Babylonian professionals of the 2nd and 1st millennium B.C. Represents the first overview of Babylonian medicine utilizing cuneiform sources, including archives of court letters, medical recipes, and commentaries written by ancient scholars Attempts to reconcile the ways in which medicine and magic were related Assigns authorship to various types of medical literature that were previously considered anonymous Rejects the approach of other scholars that have attempted to apply modern diagnostic methods to ancient illnesses

Ancient Medicine

Ancient Medicine
Author: Laura M. Zucconi
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 424
Release: 2019-08-13
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1467457515

This book by Laura Zucconi is an accessible introductory text to the practice and theory of medicine in the ancient world. In contrast to other works that focus heavily on Greece and Rome, Zucconi’s Ancient Medicine covers a broader geographical and chronological range. The world of medicine in antiquity consisted of a lot more than Hippocrates and Galen. Zucconi applies historical and anthropological methods to examine the medical cultures of not only Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome but also the Levant, the Anatolian Peninsula, and the Iranian Plateau. Devoting special attention to the fundamental relationship between medicine and theology, Zucconi’s one-volume introduction brings the physicians, patients, procedures, medicines, and ideas of the past to light.

Divination as Science

Divination as Science
Author: Jeanette C. Fincke
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 187
Release: 2016-06-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 157506426X

There is no doubt that Ancient Near Eastern divination is firmly rooted in religion, since all ominous signs were thought to have been sent by gods, and the invocation of omens was embedded in rituals. Nonetheless, the omen compendia display many aspects of a generally scientific nature. In their attempt to note all possible changes to the affected objects and to arrange their observations systematically for reference purposes, the scholars produced texts that resulted in a rather detailed description of the world, be it with respect to geography (the urban or rural environment on earth, or celestial and meteorological phenomena observed in the sky), biology (the outer appearance of the bodies of humans or animals, or the entrails of sheep), sociology (behavior of people) or others. Based on different divination methods and omen compendia, the question discussed during this workshop was whether the scholars had a scientific approach, presented as religion, or whether Ancient Near Eastern divination should be considered purely religious and that the term “science” is inappropriate in this context. The workshop attracted a large audience and lively discussion ensued. The papers presented in this volume reflect the focus of the sessions during the workshop and are likely to generate even more discussion, now that they are published.

Psalm 91 and Demonic Menace

Psalm 91 and Demonic Menace
Author: Gerrit C. Vreugdenhil
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 507
Release: 2020-07-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004427899

In Psalm 91 and Demonic Menace Gerrit Vreugdenhil offers a thorough analysis of Psalm 91, a text that already in its earliest interpretations has been associated with the demonic realm.

Diagnoses in Assyrian and Babylonian Medicine

Diagnoses in Assyrian and Babylonian Medicine
Author: Jo Ann Scurlock
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 916
Release: 2010-10-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0252092384

To 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.

The Routledge History of Disease

The Routledge History of Disease
Author: Mark Jackson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 889
Release: 2016-08-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1134857942

The Routledge History of Disease draws on innovative scholarship in the history of medicine to explore the challenges involved in writing about health and disease throughout the past and across the globe, presenting a varied range of case studies and perspectives on the patterns, technologies and narratives of disease that can be identified in the past and that continue to influence our present. Organized thematically, chapters examine particular forms and conceptualizations of disease, covering subjects from leprosy in medieval Europe and cancer screening practices in twentieth-century USA to the ayurvedic tradition in ancient India and the pioneering studies of mental illness that took place in nineteenth-century Paris, as well as discussing the various sources and methods that can be used to understand the social and cultural contexts of disease. Chapter 24 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315543420.ch24

The Routledge Handbook of the Senses in the Ancient Near East

The Routledge Handbook of the Senses in the Ancient Near East
Author: Kiersten Neumann
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 770
Release: 2021-09-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 100043642X

This Handbook is a state-of-the-field volume containing diverse approaches to sensory experience, bringing to life in an innovative, remarkably vivid, and visceral way the lives of past humans through contributions that cover the chronological and geographical expanse of the ancient Near East. It comprises thirty-two chapters written by leading international contributors that look at the ways in which humans, through their senses, experienced their lives and the world around them in the ancient Near East, with coverage of Anatolia, Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Persia, from the Neolithic through the Roman period. It is organised into six parts related to sensory contexts: Practice, production, and taskscape; Dress and the body; Ritualised practice and ceremonial spaces; Death and burial; Science, medicine, and aesthetics; and Languages and semantic fields. In addition to exploring what makes each sensory context unique, this organisation facilitates cross-cultural and cross-chronological, as well as cross-sensory and multisensory comparisons and discussions of sensory experiences in the ancient world. In so doing, the volume also enables considerations of senses beyond the five-sense model of Western philosophy (sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell), including proprioception and interoception, and the phenomena of synaesthesia and kinaesthesia. The Routledge Handbook of the Senses in the Ancient Near East provides scholars and students within the field of ancient Near Eastern studies new perspectives on and conceptions of familiar spaces, places, and practices, as well as material culture and texts. It also allows scholars and students from adjacent fields such as Classics and Biblical Studies to engage with this material, and is a must-read for any scholar or student interested in or already engaged with the field of sensory studies in any period.