Sourcebook for ancient Mesopotamian medicine 9781589839717, 9781589839694, 9781589839700

Table of contents :
Frontmatter
Series Editor's Foreword (page ix)
Preface (page xi)
Abbreviations (page xv)
Introduction (page 1)
Part 1: Foundations
General Remarks (page 7)
Chapter 1: The Diagnostic and Prognostic Series (page 13)
Chapter 2: Pharmacology (page 273)
Chapter 3: The Therapeutic Series (page 295)
Chapter 4: Medical Text Commentaries (page 337)
Part 2: Therapeutics
Chapter 5: Eyes, Ears, Nose, and Mouth (page 361)
Chapter 6: Fever (page 407)
Chapter 7: Skin and Bones (page 429)
Chapter 8: Heart and Lungs (page 463)
Chapter 9: Gastrointestinal Tract (page 489)
Chapter 10: Genitourinary Tract (page 537)
Chapter 11: Neurology (page 555)
Chapter 12: Obstetrics and Gynecology (page 571)
Chapter 13: Pediatrics (page 621)
Chapter 14: Poisoning, Imaginary and Otherwise; Endocrine Disorders (page 631)
Part 3: Holistic Healing
Chapter 15: Prayers and Stone Charms (page 649)
Chapter 16: Healing Rituals (page 669)
Source List (page 705)
Text Bibliographies (page 713)
Bibliography (page 741)
Index of Texts (page 751)

Citation preview

SOURCEBOOK FOR ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE

Writings from the Ancient World Theodore J. Lewis, General Editor Associate Editors

Daniel Fleming Theo van den Hout Martti Nissinen William Schniedewind Mark S. Smith Emily Teeter Terry Wilfong

Number 36 Sourcebook for Ancient Mesopotamian Medicine Volume Editor: Marten Stol

SOURCEBOOK FOR ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE by JoAnn Scurlock

SBL Press

Atlanta, Georgia

SOURCEBOOK FOR ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE Copyright 2014 by SBL Press

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions Office, SBL Press, 825 Houston Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Scurlock, Jo Ann, 1953Sourcebook for ancient Mesopotamian medicine / by JoAnn Scurlock. pages cm. — (Writings from the ancient world ; number 36) ISBN 978-1-58983-969-4 (paper binding : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-58983-971-7 (electronic format) — ISBN 978-1-58983-970-0 (hardcover binding : alk. paper) 1. Medicine, Assyro-Babylonian—Sources. I. Title. R135.3.S287 2014 610.935—dce23

2014013642

Printed on acid-free, recycled paper conforming to ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) and ISO 9706:1994 standards for paper permanence.

CONTENTS

Preface XI Abbreviations XV

Series Editor’s Foreword 1X

Introduction 1 PART 1: FOUNDATIONS

General Remarks 7

Chapter 1: The Diagnostic and Prognostic Series 13

A. Head to Toe: DPS 3-14 13

B. Time: DPS 15-17 140 C. Fever/No Fever: DPS 18-23 173

D. Neurology: DPS 26—30 196

E. Enteric fever: DPS 31—32 225

F. Skin: DPS 33-34 231 G. Obstetrics and Gynecology: DPS 36—37, 39 245 H. Pediatrics: DPS 40 258

Chapter 2: Pharmacology 273 A. Vademecum (Pharmacist’s Companion) (Text 1) 273 B. Sammu SikinSu (“The Nature of Plants’) (Text 2) 281 C. Abnu Sikinsu (“The Nature of Stones”) (Text 3) 283 D. URU.AN.NA, An Ancient Plant Glossary (Texts 4—5) 289

Chapter 3: The Therapeutic Series 295

A. UGU Catalog (Text 1) 295 B. UGU Tablets (Text 2) 306 C. UGU Extract Series (Text 3) 329

Chapter 4: Medical Text Commentaries 337 A. Therapeutic Series Commentary (Text 1) 337 B. Practical Individual Text Commentary (Text 2) 339 C. Esoteric Individual Text Commentaries (Texts 3-4) 346 Vv

V1 ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE PART 2: THERAPEUTICS

Chapter 5: Eyes, Ears, Nose, and Mouth 361

A. Eye Treatments (Texts 1-2) 361

B. Ear Treatments (Text 3) 367

C. Ear and Nose Treatments (Texts 4-5) 387 D. Bu?sanu (Text 6) 389 E. Teeth Treatments (Texts 7-9) 398

Chapter 6: Fever 407

A. Treatments for Fever in General (Texts 1-3) 407 B. Treatments for Specific Fever Categories (Texts 4-6) 421

Chapter 7: Skin and Bones 429

A. Skin Eruptions on the Head (Texts 1-2) 429

B. Saharsubbi (Text 3) 432 C. Wound Treatments (Texts 4-5) 438 D. Surgical Draining of an Abscess (Text 6) 44] E. Mycetoma (Text 7) 443 F, Setting Bones (Text 8) 453

Chapter 8: Heart and Lungs 463

B. Lungs 465 1. Cough (Text 2) 465 2. Sick Lungs (Text 3) 469

A. Heart (Text 1) 463

3. Tuberculosis (Text 4) 480

4. Anaerobic Lung Abscess (Text 5) 483

5. Surgical Draining of Empyema (Text 6) 484

Chapter 9: Gastrointestinal Tract 489

A.1. Digestive Tract 489 Ghost Stomach (Text 1) 489 2. Ulcers (Text 2) 492 3. Intestinal Worms (Text 3) 495 4. Horse Indigestion (Text 4) 498

5. “Wind” (Text 5) 499 6. DUR.GIG (Text 6) 501

B. Liver and Gall Bladder (Texts 7-8) 504

C. Spleen (Text 9) 531

Chapter 10: Genitourinary Tract 537

A. Urinary Tract (Text 1) 537 B. Penis and Testicles 544

CONTENTS Vu 1. General (Text 2) 544 2. Priapism (Text 3) 546 3. Impotence (Text 4) 548

4. Sexually Transmitted Diseases (Text 5) 550

Chapter 11: Neurology 555 A. Headaches (Text 1) 555 B. Seizures (Text 2) 559

C. Strokes (Text 3) 561 D. Peripheral Neuropathy (Text 4) 566

A. Gynecology 571

Chapter 12: Obstetrics and Gynecology 571 1. Irregular Bleeding; Venereal Disease (Text 1) 571

2. Pregnancy Tests (Text 2) 582 B. Obstetrics 585 1. Miscarriages (Texts 3-5) 585

2. Difficult Childbirth (Texts 6—7) 592 3. Postpartum Complications (Texts 8-9) 604

Chapter 13: Pediatrics 621 A. Infantile Seizures (Texts 1-3) 621 B. Choking (Text 4) 627

Disorders 631 A. Poisoning 631 1. Kispu (Texts 1-2) 631

Chapter 14: Poisoning, Imaginary and Otherwise; Endocrine

2. Alcohol (Text 3) 634

(Texts 4-7) 637

B. Endocrine Disorders: Graves’ Disease and Hypothyroidism

PART 3: HOLISTIC HEALING

Chapter 15: Prayers and Stone Charms 649

A. Specific Medical Problems (Text 1) 649

B. Divine Favor (Texts 2-3) 650

Chapter 16: Healing Rituals 669

A. Teeth (Texts 1-2) 669 B. Fevers (Texts 3-6) 675 C. Miscellaneous (Texts 7-9) 684

Source List 705

Vill ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE

Text Bibliographies 713 Bibliography 741

Index of Texts 751

SERIES EDITOR’S FOREWORD

Writings from the Ancient World is designed to provide up-to-date, readable English translations of writings recovered from the ancient Near East. The series 1s intended to serve the interests of general readers, students, and educators who wish to explore the ancient Near Eastern roots of Western civilization or to compare these earliest written expressions of human thought and activity with writings from other parts of the world. It should also be useful to scholars in the humanities or social sciences who need clear, reliable translations of ancient Near Eastern materials for comparative purposes. Specialists in particular areas of the ancient Near East who need access to texts in the scripts and languages of other areas will also find these translations helpful. Given the wide range of materials translated in the series, different volumes will appeal to different interests. However, these translations make available to all readers of English the world’s earliest traditions as well as valuable sources of information on daily life, history, religion, and the like in the preclassical world.

The translators of the various volumes in this series are specialists in the particular languages and have based their work on the original sources and the most recent research. In their translations they attempt to convey as much as possible of the original texts in fluent, current English. In the introductions, notes,

glossaries, maps, and chronological tables, they aim to provide the essential information for an appreciation of these ancient documents. The ancient Near East reached from Egypt to Iran and, for the purposes of our volumes, ranged in time from the invention of writing (by 3000 BCE) to the conquests of Alexander the Great (ca. 330 BCE). The cultures represented within these limits include especially Egyptian, Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Hittite, Ugaritic, Aramean, Phoenician, and Israelite. It is hoped that Writings from the Ancient World will eventually produce translations from most of the many different genres attested in these cultures: letters (official and private), myths, diplomatic documents, hymns, law collections, monumental inscriptions, tales, and administrative records, to mention but a few. Significant funding was made available by the Society of Biblical Literature for the preparation of this volume. In addition, those involved in preparing this

1X

X ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE volume have received financial and clerical assistance from their respective institutions. Were it not for these expressions of confidence in our work, the arduous tasks of preparation, translation, editing, and publication could not have been accomplished or even undertaken. It is the hope of all who have worked with the Writings from the Ancient World series that our translations will open up new horizons and deepen the humanity of all who read these volumes. Theodore J. Lewis The Johns Hopkins University

PREFACE

I would like to thank the late, much missed, Raymond Westbrook for asking me to do a volume of medical texts for the WAW series. I would further like to thank Ted Lewis for his support as this volume has proceeded. Marten Stol is to commended for taking on the Herculean task of reading through this volume as the volume editor. His input is much appreciated and has resulted in many valuable corrections and suggestions. Any mistakes that remain are, of course, my own. My husband, Richard H. Beal, helped with planning museum visits, collations, and photography. He also has spent many months of evenings and weekends as we jointly reference checked the transliteration. I] wish to thank the Trustees of the British Museum for permission to transliterate and translate unpublished tablets in their collection. Cuneiform tablet curator Jon Taylor has always been a joy to work with during our visits to the museum. His predecessor Christopher Walker and his wife Marie-Christine Ludwig, besides being always helpful in the museum, made us feel at home with a number of delicious dinners and wonderful conversation. Finally, | wish to thank the National Endowment for the Humanities (a US government agency) for aiding research on Assyrian and Babylonian medicine through the grant “Ancient Mesopotamian Medical Therapies” (2000-2003) paying my way to photograph and collate tablets in European and American museums and to make preliminary transliterations of all the known medical texts from ancient Mesopotamia, a selection of which are included here.

A NOTE ON CONVENTIONS

For those unfamiliar with conventions in the field of Assyriology, a few notes here should be useful. The scribes wrote the words of the texts both syllabically in Akkadian (Assyro-Babylonian) and using word signs derived from the Sumerian language. In transliterating the text, we write the syllabically written Akkadian in lowercase italics, while the Sumerian derived word signs are written in capital letters. Sumerian word signs would have been read as the underlying

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Xl ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE Akkadian word. So, for example, the Sumerian word DINGIR would have been read as the Akkadian word i/u, just as the Arabic numeral | is read as English “one.” Akkadian signs attached to a Sumerian word sign aid in the reading of the underlying Akkadian word, so DINGIR-/i provides the last consonant of i/u and the genitive case ending -7. Hyphens divide individual signs making up an Akkadian word, and periods divide individual signs making up a Sumerian word sign. Some word signs, called “determinatives,” tell the class that a particular thing belongs to, such as GIS “wooden object” or SEM “an aromatic.” These word signs, which were unpronounced, are written in modern scholarship as superscripts. Since there are often homophonous signs, scholars today differentiate these with accents and subscript numbers: sig = sig,, sig = Sig, sig = sig3, then Sig,, Sigs, etc. The most recent and thorough signlist is Rykle Borger, Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon, 2nd ed., AOAT 305 (Miinster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2010). In transliterating and translating tablets, the following conventions are followed:

[ | indicates damage to the clay tablet. Any signs or words within [ | are missing on the tablet and are restored by the modern editor.

[( )] indicates that while the signs are missing in a hole on the main tablet, another tablet allows the modern editor to know what is missing in the damaged section.

indicates that the modern editor thinks that the ancient scribe has omitted something, which the modern editor has supplied within < >

indicates that a tablet duplicating the passage in question contains information that is not in the text at hand and that the modern editor has supplied.

I | surrounds signs or words that are damaged, but still readable. ( ) indicates information supplied by the modern editor to make something clearer for the reader.

! indicates that a sign is miswritten by the ancient scribe or miscopied by the modern copiest. used in the tranliteration to indicate a Glossenkeil, a wedge or two used by the ancient scribe to indicate glosses or variants.

X illegible sign O space within a lacuna for a sign

§ new paragraph /| parallel or duplicate # number missing col. column coll. collated

PREFACE Xill Medical texts are identified by their publication or, if unpublished, by their museum number.

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ABBREVIATIONS

4R2 H. C. Rawlinson, The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia vol. 4, 2nd ed. London: Lithographed by R. E. Bowler, 1891

A museum number of cuneiform texts in The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago

ABRT James A. Craig, Assyrian and Babylonian Religious Texts. Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1895—97

AfO Archiv fur Orientforschung AfOB Archiv fiir Orientforschung Beiheft AfOB 3 F. R. Kraus, Texte zur babylonischen Physiognomatik. Berlin, 1939

AfOB 11 Erica Reiner, Surpu: A Collection of Sumerian and Akkadian Incantations. Graz: Weidner, 1958

AHw Wolfram von Soden, Akkadisches Handworterbuch 3 vols. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1965-81

AJSL American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature

AMD Ancient Magic and Divination AMD 8/1 Tzvi Abusch and Daniel Schwemer, Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-Witchcraft Rituals. Leiden: Brill, 2011

AMT Reginald Campbell Thompson, Assyrian Medical Texts from the Originals in the British Museum. London: H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1923

AO museum number of a cuneiform text in the Louvre AOAT Alter Orient und Altes Testament

AOS American Oriental Series

ArOr Archiv Orientalni AS Assyriological Studies

ASJ Acta Sumerologica (Japan) AUAM museum number of the Andrews University Archaeological Museum

AuOr Aula Orientalis AUWE Ausgrabungen in Uruk-Warka—Endberichte

XV

XVI ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE BA Beitrage zur Assyriologie und semitischen Sprachwissenschaft BAM Franz Kocher, Die babylonisch-assyrische Medizin in Texten und Untersuchungen. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1963—80

BAM VII Mark Geller, Renal and Rectal Disease Texts. Vol. 7 of Die babylonisch-assyrische Medizin in Texten und Untersuchungen. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2005

BE The Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania—Series A: Cuneiform Texts

BiOr Bibliotheca Orientalis BM museum number of cuneiform tablets in the British Museum BPOA Biblioteca del Proximo Oriente Antiguo BRM Babylonian Records in the Library of J. Pierpont Morgan CAD The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1956-2010

CBS cuneiform tablet in the collection of the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania

CM Cuneiform Monographs CM 37 Annie Attia and Giles Buisson, editors. Advances in Mesopotamian Medicine from Hammurabi to Hippocrates: Proceedings

of the International Conference “Oeil Malade et Mauvais Oeil,” Collége de France, Paris, 23rd June 2006. Leiden: Brill, 2009

CT Cuneiform Texts in the British Museum CTN Cuneiform Texts from Nimrud CTN 4 D. J. Wiseman and J. Black. Literary Texts from the Temple of Nabi.The British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 1996

DPS the Diagnosic and Prognostic Series of tablets, edited in this volume 1.1.3 to 1.1.40

FAS Freiburger Altorientalische Studien GCCI Goucher College Cuneiform Inscriptions

Hg the ancient lexical series HAR.gud = imrii IM museum number of cuneiform texts in the Iraq Museum

ICS Journal of Cuneiform Studies JEOL Journal Ex Oriente Lux JMC Le Journal des Médecines Cunéiformes JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society K museum number of a cuneiform tablet in the Kuyunjik collection of the British Museum

ABBREVIATIONS XV KADP Franz Kocher, Keilschrifttexte zur Assyrisch-Babylonischen Drogen- und Pflanzenkunde. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1955

KAL Keilschrifttexte aus Assur literarischen Inhalts

KAL 2 Daniel Schwemer, Rituale und Beschworungen gegen Schadenzauber. Keilschrifttexte aus Assur literarischen Inhalts 2, WVDOG 117

KAL 4 Stefan M. Maul and Rita Straub, Ritualbeschreibungen und Gebete, vol. 1. WVDOG 133. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2011

KAR E. Ebeling, Keilschrifttexte aus Assur religidsen Inhalts. WVDOG 28 and 34. Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1915—23

KMI Erich Ebeling, Keilschrifttexte medizinischen Inhalts, Berliner Beitrage zur Keilschriftforschung, Beiheft 1-2. Berlin: Erich Ebeling, 1921-22

KUB Keilschrifturkunden aus Boghazk61 LKA Erich Ebeling and Franz Kocher, Literarische Keilschrifttexte aus Assur. Berlin: AKademie-Verlag, 1953

LKU Adam Falkenstein, Literarische Keilschrifttexte aus Uruk. Berlin: Vorderasiatische Abteilung der Staatlichen Museen, 1931

MLC cuneiform tablet in the J. Pierpont Morgan Library Collection, now asiglum of the Yale Babylonian Collection, New Haven

MVEOL Mededelingen en verhandelingen van het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap “Ex Orient Lux”

MZL Rykle Borger, Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon, 2nd ed. AOAT 305. Minster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2010

NABU Notes assyriologiques bréves et utilitaires ND cuneiform tablet excavated at Nimrud (ancient Kalhu) Ni. cuneiform tablet from Nippur in the Istanbul Museum OECT Oxford Editions of Cuneiform Tablets

Or Orientalia

OrAnt Oriens Antiquus PBS Publications of the Babylonian Section, University Museum, University of Pennsylvania

RA Revue d'assyriologie

RIA Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archdologle

Rm cuneiform tablet in the Russam collection of the British Museum

RS cuneiform tablet from Ras Shamra/U garit

RSO Revista degli studi orientali

XVill ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE SBH George Reisner, Sumerisch-babylonische Hymnen nach Thontafeln griechischer Zeit. Berlin: Spemann, 1896.

Sm cuneiform text in the Smith collection of the British Museum

SpTU Spatbabylonische Texte aus Uruk SpTuU 1 Hermann Hunger, Spdtbabylonische Texte aus Uruk I. Ausgrabungen der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft in Uruk-Warka 9. Berlin: Gebr. Mann, 1976.

Spru 2 Egbert von Weiher, Spdtbabylonische Texte aus Uruk 2. Ausgrabungen der deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft in Uruk-Warka 10. Berlin: Gebr. Mann, 1983

SpTu 3 Egbert von Weiher, Spdtbabylonische Texte aus Uruk 3. Ausgrabungen der deutschen Forscungsgemeinschaft in UrukWarka 12. Berlin: Gebr. Mann, 1988

SpTU 4 Egbert von Weiher, Uruk: Spdtbabylonische Texte aus dem Planquadrat U 18. SpTU 4. AUWE 12. Mainz: von Zabern, 1993

SpTU 5 Egbert von Weiher, Uruk: Spdtbabylonische Texte aus dem Planquadrant U 18. SpTU 5. AUWE 13. Mainz: von Zabern, 1998

StBoT Studien zu den Bogazk6y Texten StBoT 36 Gernot Wilhelm, Medizinsche Omina aus HattuSa in akkdischer Sprache. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1994

STT O. R. Gurney and J. J. Finkelstein, The Sultantepe Tablets. Occasional Publications of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara 3 and 7. London: British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, 1957, 1964

Surpu Erica Reiner, Surpu: A Collection of Sumerian and Akkadian Incantations. AfOB 11. Graz: Weidner, 1958

TAPS Transactions of the American Philosophical Society TBP Fritz Rudolf Kraus, Texte zur babylonischen Physiognomatik. AfOB 3. Berlin: Ernst Weidner, 1939

TCL Textes Cunéiformes du Louvre TCS Texts from Cuneiform Sources Labat, 7DP René Labat, Traité akkadien de diagnostics et pronostics médicaux. Paris: Academie Internationale d’histoire des sciences, 1951.

TUAT Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments Neue Folge

UET Ur Excavation Texts

Uruanna ancient pharmacological plant-list VAT museum number of tablets in the Vorderasiatische Abteilung of the Berlin Museum

ABBREVIATIONS X1X VS Vorderasiatische Schriftdenkmaler W museum number of tablets from Uruk/Warka WME Wiirzburger medizinhistorische Forschungen

WO Die Welt des Orients

WVDOG Wissenschaftliche Ver6éffentlichung der Deutsche Orient Gesellschaft

WZKM Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes

YOS Yale Oriental Series, Babylonian Texts

ZA Zeitschrift fiir Assyriologie

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OO e—SSCSC‘Ciés INTRODUCTION

Ancient Mesopotamia, the “cradle of civilization,” preserves a surprisingly large and comprehensive set of medical texts. Unfortunately, physicians, medical specialists, historians of medicine, or just interested laymen with an interest in exploring ancient Mesopotamian medicine soon discover that most of this fascinating material is essentially inaccessible to the uninitiated. Even those who can read cuneiform well find medical texts difficult, and those attempting to learn to read them for the first time are risking a white-knuckle experience. The technical vocabulary used to describe signs and symptoms, procedures, and plants is unfamiliar to nonspecialists, and enlightenment is in many cases less likely to be found in the dictionary than in one of a growing number of scattered articles to be found in a bewildering variety of specialist medical journals. What is needed is an introductory study guide that will allow interested persons at whatever level of proficiency in cuneiform to get a basic working knowledge of ancient Mesopotamian medical texts either as an end in itself or as a foundation for further research. This book aims to fill this need. It includes transliterations and translations of individual tablets representing the full range of developed Mesopotamian medicine both in time (from Middle Babylonian and Middle Assyrian to Seleucid periods), in space (texts from Assur, Nineveh, Sultantepe, Nippur, Sippar, Babylon, and Uruk), and by type (diagnostic, therapeutic, and pharmacological) to serve as an introduction to the study of these very difficult but ultimately extremely rewarding texts. These transliterations and translations are intended not just for the specialized reader but also for interested public (as, for example, medical doctors and specialists in the history of medicine). Therefore, philological commentary has been kept to a minimum. For the convenience of those who might wish to use this book as an introductory textbook to learn how to read ancient Mesopotamian medical texts, two source lists have been provided. Source List 1 contains a complete listing of all known duplicates of the Diagnostic and Prognostic Series. Source List 2 provides a basic bibliography of editions and translations of each of the texts treated in the volume, as well as a listing of the most significant duplicates, both published and unpublished.

1

2 ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE A handful of Old Babylonian (1792-1595 BCE) incantations and the largely unpublished therapeutic texts from the Ur III (2112-2004 BCE) and Isin-Larsa (2017-1763 BCE) periods do not yet allow for any real attempt to understand the development of this medical tradition over the full course of ancient Mesopotamian history. When, as the Mesopotamians did, you do not record things simply to record them but “in order not to be forgotten,” what gets recorded is what cannot easily be remembered. As time goes on and knowledge accumulates, more and more will consequently need to be written down. This factor provides an obvious explanation for why, despite the fact that we have therapeutic texts already in the Ur III period, there are so many recitations and so few treatments from the Old Babylonian period. At this point, there were probably already many treatments, but since ancient Mesopotamian plant mixtures rarely contain more than ten ingredients (and earlier treatments often simply one or two), there were probably not so many that a practicing doctor could not remember them all. He also will have known which recitation to use with which treatment. The exact

text of these recitations (and in particular the lengthy sections in Sumerian) are the only feature of his practice where a written copy might have come in handy. By the Neo-Assyrian period, by contrast, when there could be hundreds of treatments for any given condition, writing everything down in a convenient handbook form will have become a desideratum. Forerunners from the Ur III to the Old Babylonian periods are of interest mainly in terms of the developments that preceded systemization, and will not be dealt with here.! Similarly omitted are medical omens (the first two tablets of the Diagnostic and Prognostic Series plus scattered sections within this corpus), the physiognomic omens, the malformed birth omens and astrological medicine (which develops in the late periods).2 These are subjects which were peripheral to the medical duties of the scholar-physician and/or would deserve a study in their own right.

THE PRACTITIONERS (ASU AND ASIPU)

As I have argued elsewhere,° the asii was a close equivalent of the European pharmacist. The pharmacological texts outlined in chapter 2 will have been his primary responsibility, along with generally unrecorded information on exactly where medicinal plants grew, when to pick them, and how to store them. Like his modern counterpart, the “pharmacist” will have been a medical expert of first 1. Interested persons are referred to translations of selections of the most important of these texts in TUAT 5 (HeeBel 201 1a and 201 1c). 2. For sample texts of this type, see HeeBel 201 1b, texts 5.1-2. 3. Scurlock 1999, 69-79. No better suggestion for differentiation exists to date.

INTRODUCTION 3 resort, particularly for simple problems like headaches and upset stomachs, and there is no doubt that these pharmacists were perfectly capable of devising their own treatments using the plants at their disposal. The asipu’s job was to diagnose and treat diseases, as these were understood by ancient Mesopotamians. For only a little over half of the syndromes recognized by ancient physicians could a plausible connection be made with already known spirits as potential causal agents. The remaing syndromes were either attributed to a malfunctioning body part, for instance “sick gall bladder” or given a name based on some characteristic, for instance “stinking” (bu ¥anu)* for syndromes involving foul smell and grayish lesions in the mouth. For more details on the diagnostic system, see Scurlock and Andersen 2005, ch. 19. The diagnostic and prognostic handbook translated in chapter 1 was certainly intended exclusively for the use of the @sipu, as were the commentaries in chapter 4. In short, he was the equivalent of our physician, or would be if there were a less stringent division of labor between modern physicians and pharmacists. In ancient Mesopotamia, medicine was a team effort, and the therapeutic texts appearing in part 1, chapter 3 and parts 2 and 3, although provably intended for the use of the aSipu also, again provably, contained a fair amount of material that was originally intended for the use of the asi, and collected (sometimes with attribution) from that source. Identifying pharmacists’ treatments in the mass of texts stemming from physicians’ archives is a bit troublesome, but not impossible. Texts almost certainly to be assigned to the asipu are medical texts with the recitation, label and “its ritual” format typical of “magical” texts. This leaves two major categories of text which give clear indications as to the purpose for which they were intended, those that a) list symptoms after which the treatment is described, and those that b) begin with a list of plants, followed by a label (either immediately after the plants or at the end after preparation instructions) that indicates that the treatment is to be used for such-and-such a problem. As I have argued elsewhere,” only the dSipu would have had any use for type a), leaving type b) as the prime candidate for origination with the asi, particularly those with labels formulated “‘it 1s good for such-and-such a problem,” a phraseology that is typical of pharmacological texts. In the translations that follow, note has invariably been made of such potential pharmacists’ treatments.

As for what these bits of pharmacists’ lore are doing in the archives of asipus, the obvious suggestion is they were intended to be used as what we call a prescription, a type of text which the physician (asipu ) had to be able to generate

4. See chapter 5, text 6. 5. Scurlock 2005, 302-15.

4 ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE (and hence would have been found in great numbers in his archive) but which was actually intended for the use of the pharmacist (asi).

PART 1 FOUNDATIONS

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GENERAL REMARKS

Before the ancient physician could treat his patient he had to know what was wrong with him. The problem presented by the divine language of medical signs and symptoms was to determine which combinations of animal products, minerals, and plants and which recitations were effective for which medical problems. To answer this question, the ancestor of the dsipu began by carefully observing his patients and deriving a vocabulary to describe their signs and symptoms so that any treatments that might subsequently be devised could be applied consistently, past successes reproduced, and repetition of past failures avoided.

As in our own medical tradition, it was sometimes sufficient to institute symptomatic treatment, but in other cases it was found helpful to attempt to identify the causal agent behind the observed symptoms. The polytheistic religions of the ancient world provided a ready made and very flexible explanatory system that allowed for both “natural” (that is, internal) causes and “supernatural” (that

is, external) causes for disease. So, the patient might be diagnosed as having “sick liver” or as being the victim of an attack by a god, ghost, demon, or sorceror. For more details on the diagnostic system of ancient Mesopotamia, see Scurlock and Andersen (2005, ch. 19). Over the course of time, careful observation and a pooling of knowledge

allowed ancient physicians to recognize which set of signs and symptoms belonged to a single syndrome, then to watch the progress of easily recognizable syndromes, and finally to be able to recognize favorable and grave signs so as to be able to prognosticate as well as diagnose. In the course of this process of accumulation of knowledge, it first became necessary to record, and subsequently not merely to record, but also to organize the recorded information in some logical fashion. Scholarly tradition held that a scholar-physician by the name of Esagil-kinapli, patronized by the Babylonian king Adad-apla-iddina (1068-1047 BCE), made a complete reorganization of then-current medical knowledge into a diagnostic and prognostic handbook consisting of a series of forty tablets, the number apparently being chosen because it was associated with a god of healing, Ea,

lord of the sweet waters so important in purificatory rites. In this handbook, the patient’s symptoms were listed, and the physician directed to the correct ancient diagnosis. Since indexes are a modern invention, any entry of relevance 7

8 ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE to more than one context had to be repeated. So, for example, references to infants appeared scattered throughout the corpus, but were also collected into a dedicated tablet. This practice produced a certain amount of dittography, which occasionally allows for the restoration of broken passages, as noted in the footnotes to individual tablets. What remains of the diagnostic and prognostic handbook (excluding purely divinatory material contained in the first two tablets) is given in this chapter in its entirety. The text is a combined edition, based, with a few corrections, on the scored edition of HeeBel 2000 for tablets 15—23, 26—31 and 33 and, for the remaining tablets, on an unpublished scored edition by Scurlock starting from the list of duplicates generously provided by HeeBel 2000 (for a full list, see app. 1). A German translation of selected parts of tablets 1, 4, 9, 13, 16, 26, 33, 36, and 40 appear as HeeBel 201 1a, nos. 1.4.1-9.! Earlier bibliography for individual entries is given in Scurlock and Andersen 2005, but special mention should be made of the pioneering work of Labat 1951 for the whole series, of Stol 1993, 56-909 for tablets 26—30, of Stol 2000, 194—202 for tablets 36—37 and of Cadelli 1997, 11-33 and Volk 1999, 1—30 for tablet 40. Besides this diagnostic handbook, there are also isolated diagnostic texts, in

addition to fragments of what was apparently an earlier attempt at a systematic organization of diagnostic material. So, inter alia, an early pre-Esagil-kin-apli version of the Diagnostic and Prognostic Handbook was found in the Hittite capital Hattusa,2 Middle Assyrian fragments have turned up at Assur,? and an almost complete text of tablet 24(?) of an outlying version was discovered at Sultantepe.* For more details on these matters, the reader is referred to Heefel 201 1a, 8-31, Fincke 201 1a, 472-76 and Rutz 2011, 294-308. The Diagnostic and Prognostic Handbook was divided into six subseries. The first subseries (DPS 1—2) contained all of the ominous occurrences that might take place as the dsipu was on his way to the patient’s house. This is fascinating material, but belongs to the study of divination, along with scattered references in the Diagnostic and Prognostic Series to the ominous significance of the patient’s dreams or noises made by him/her in the course of her/his illness. The second subseries was organized around an anatomical principle. Since neither the surviving forerunners nor the outlying diagnostic texts are organized

in this fashion, this schema would appear to be the contribution of Esagilkin-apli. The sequence begins at the top of the head with DPS 3 and proceeds 1. To be precise, DPS 1 lines 1-25, DPS 4 lines 1-27, DPS 9 lines 1-30, DPS 13 11 9-31, DPS 16 lines 41’—74’, DPS 26 lines 12’—26', DPS 33 lines 19-32, 97-108, DPS 36 lines 1-12 and DPS 40, lines 1—20.

2. This is edited in Wilhelm 1994. 3. See HeeBel 2010, 168-87. 4. This is edited in Stol 1993, 91-98.

FOUNDATIONS 9 systematically down the body to the blood vessels of the feet in DPS 14. Signs and symptoms were also grouped by broad categories, usually in the order: fever, pain, and varying color or consistency with references to trauma listed at the end of each anatomical section. This subseries appears to indicate the presence in ancient Mesopotamia of what we would now call primary care physicians or GPs. In addition, some of the individual tablets in the series and elsewhere in the Diagnostic and Prognostic Series may represent potential subspecialties. The large number of therapeutic texts containing treatments exclusively for the eyes would seem to suggest that there were ophthalmologists in ancient Mesopotamia. Similarly, women’s diseases are to be found in discrete texts and have their own dedicated subseries, suggesting the presence of gynecologists. The first section of the third subseries was organized in accordance with

time factors. Many of the entries duplicate those of the second subseries as noted, but are differently arranged. DPS 15-16 contained entries mentioning the number of days the patient had been sick, whereas DPS 17 was concerned with phases of illness and times of day. This organization facilitated the addition of later material as when, in DPS 16, a section organized by the number of five-day weeks a patient had been sick (“one to two five-day weeks, one to four five-day weeks”) was apparently inserted, set off by paragraph lines, into the appropriate slot (between “‘more than five days” and “more than six days’’).

DPS 18 began a section which was designed to introduce the student to febrile diseases, and to make him aware of signs and symptoms, other than elevated temperature, which he might expect to encounter. DPS 22 and 23 were organized in accordance with the god or goddess or demon whom the @sipu held

responsible for the disease. These tablets most closely resemble the outlying and precursor texts, which similarly organize their material in accordance with the causal agent held responsible for the observed symptoms. The system by which the ancient physician assigned diseases to causal agents is exhaustively discussed in Scurlock and Andersen, 2005, ch. 19.

The fourth subseries (DPS 26-30) collected together entries relating to neurology, an apparent subspecialty of the asipu’s craft. Since neurology 1s still largely a clinical science, this is probably the area of ancient medicine in which it is easiest to make correlations with modern practice, and the correlation is a striking testimonial to the skill of pre-modern physicians to observe without the advantages of modern technology, but unblinded by theory.

DPS 31 of the fifth subseries dealing with infectious diseases judges the number of days a patient has been sick with some form of enteric fever by the symptoms which have to that date appeared (e.g., chills on the third day and nosebleeds on the seventh). DPS 33 dealt with skin lesions but also covered flesh wounds and soft tissue infections including tetanus.

10 ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE The sixth and final subseries was devoted to Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Infant Diseases. Thus, DPS 36 attempts to predict whether the unborn child is a boy, girl, a single child or twins and whether it is alive or dead in the womb and needing to be removed to save the life of the mother. The unfortunately fragmentary DPS 37 and missing DPS 38 can be somewhat filled in by the therapeutic texts of which a number deal exclusively with female problems such as irregular menstruation (treated with plant estrogens) and puerperal fever. Last but not least is the baby tablet, DPS 40. Most helpful to the ancient student of medicine were two overarching principles of organization for individual entries in the diagnostic/prognostic handbook.

There are places where a series of entries with only one or two signs or symptoms and the same diagnosis are listed one after the other. These “sequenced references” were probably intended to provide the physician with an understanding of the variations in signs and symptoms that may be seen in a particular disease. They also allowed him/her to prescribe specific treatments for the specific symptoms presented by a patient at a particular stage of her/his illness. So, for example, there are sections in DPS 11 discussing the progression of arthritis from pain to swelling and sluggishness to immobilization of the joints, for all of which separate symptomatic treatments were available. Another important use of this ancient textbook was for comparisons between different diseases with overlapping signs or symptoms. By placing these references side by side (“contrasted references’), the physician was able to easily make comparisons and to understand significant differences with important implications for treatment. So, for example, there are sections of DPS 13 that attempt to explain the difference between gastro-intestinal ulcers and obstruction on the one hand and between bleeding ulcers and liver problems on the other. This was to know whether it was appropriate to try one of the available treatments for peptic ulcers or one of those for “sick liver.” Texts with differing signs and symptoms and degrees of severity were also juxtaposed to illustrate how these differences affected prognosis. For example, DPS 16 explains which signs and symptoms in biphasic fever are grave and which are not. For a helpful chart outlining the contents of this diagnostic and prognostic handbook in detail, see Scurlock and Andersen 2005, 577-677.

An interesting aspect of ancient Mesopotamian medicine that is often ignored, or even denied, is the close relationship between diagnosis and treatment. Therapeutic texts of the developed tradition list the symptoms and/or disease to be treated using the same technical terminology to describe symptoms, the same grouping of symptoms into syndromes and the same ancient diagnoses as are to be found in the diagnostic texts. All that 1s, for obvious reasons, missing from the therapeutic texts are the prognostics and treatments for fatal syndromes for which no treatment was available.

FOUNDATIONS 11 In the tablets that formed part of the therapeutic series known to us as UGU (see below, part 1, ch. 3), a particularly close relationship is evident between diagnosis and therapy. This is striking in the case of DPS 4 and BAM 482 and its duplicates, long known to represent tablet 2 of the first subseries of UGU. In therapeutic BAM 482, symptomatic treatments for headache alternate with over thirty specific treatments for the very types of headache described in diagnostic and prognostic DPS 4, and BAM 482 ends with a citation of untreatable fatal headaches drawn directly from DPS 4. Similarly, CTN 4.72 1 3'-14' and vi 1'-8' provide treatments for entries preserved in DPS 27:1—17 and DPS 30:1, respectively. DPS 33, the skin tablet (for which see below), is positively bursting with therapeutic text correlations. Another practice, typified by texts such as CT 53.1—2 and BAM 578 (also known to be part of the UGU series), is the direct citation of entries from the diagnostic and prognostic series by way of introduction to a series of treatments for the condition that is described in the diagnostic and prognostic entry. Thus, CT 53.1-2:1 introduces its section on sagallu with a direct citation from DPS 33:98. Similarly, BAM 578 111 7 and iv 26, cited from DPS 33:92-93, introduce sections of treatments for the two types of jaundice recognized by ancient phy-

sicians. The section then finishes (BAM 578 iv 43-46) with an enumeration of the symptoms marking fatal cases of jaundice clearly drawn from diagnostic material that is no longer elsewhere preserved for us, and may have originated in one of the outlying tablets not incorporated into Esagil-kin-apli’s Diagnostic and Prognostic series. AMT 77/1 i 1-10 (perhaps, to judge from this format also originally part of UGU) summarizes the opening section of DPS 27 (1-13 omitting 2—4) to introduce the subject of treatments for stroke, and so on. Even more interesting 1s Middle Assyrian BAM 66, which seems to have

had a close relationship with a pre-Esagil-kin-apli precursor of DPS 31 from which at least two entries made it into the canonical series. In this text, a lengthy citation of diagnostic and prognostic material of the “sequenced reference” type (BAM 66 obv. 1-rev. 3’) serves as an introduction to treatments for sétu (rev. 4'_25') that have duplicates in purely therapeutic texts (AMT 14/7:1-2; BAM 174:21'-24'YAMT 45/1:2'-5'JAMT 14/7:3-6; AMT 45/1:6'—-15'JAMT 14/7:7-11).

Unfortunately fragmentary, BAM 146 seems to have had a similar format, beginning with DPS 31-type material, proceeding to therapeutic text material and ending with a citation of the incipit of the next tablet in the series, DPS 32:1. Extract text K 3628+4009+Sm. 1315 not only cites four lines from DPS 40 (obv. 6-9) by way of introduction to proffered treatments for “hand” of Ishtar (obv. 11-16), but even gives us the ancient equivalent of a footnote reference to the source from which these entries had been copied (obv. 10). And, this overview does not include isolated therapeutic texts with treatments for conditions

12 ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE described in the Diagnostic and Prognostic Series, for which partial references are given in the footnotes. What all of these therapeutic texts make explicit is what should never have required proof, and that is the close relationship between ancient Mesopotamian diagnostic and therapeutic material. Texts phrased as “if your patient has such and such symptoms, it is such and such a disease” were, a priori, meant to be consulted first, as necessary, to diagnose illness. This having been accomplished, texts phrased as “if your patient has such and such a disease, you are to institute such and such treatment” were, @ priori, meant to be consulted, as necessary, to provide treatment. The fact that we have texts in which the two stages (diagnosis and treament) are both given, and in that sequence, should leave no lingering doubts on this subject!

(SS THE DIAGNOSTIC AND PROGNOSTIC SERIES

A. HEAD TO TOE: DPS 3-14 DPS TABLET 3 1. [ana G]IG ina TE-ka EN E[N ana NI-ka] SUB-ii ana G[IG NU TE-hi] 2. DIS anaIGI GIG A.MES SUB-ma NU [MUD 1 [u ZU-Su Ia ti-dd-da S[U? ...] (NUT D[IN]

3. DIS ana UGU-St%i A.MES SUB-ma GABA-su u SAG SA-Si i-nar-lrul-[bu DIN]

4. DIS ana KA-Sti AMES SUB-ma A.MES ina [K]A-Sa ti-kal [DIN] 5. DIS UGU-s4 KUM-em u !SAGLKI-s% ne-eh-a Uy.1.KAM GIG-[ma ...] 6. DIS UGU-si KUM-em u SAG.KT-s% KUM la-ah-ha-ha-5d U,.1.KAM GIG-[ma ...] 7. DIS [U]GU-s%@ KUM-em u SAG.KT-Sti KUM-ma U,.2.KAM GIG-ma [...] 8. DIS [UG]U-s% KUM-em u SAG.KID-4 KUM wu IR ti-kal-la U,.3..KAMI1 GIG-ma [...] 9. DIS [UG]JU-[sa] KUM-em SAG.KUL¥4 u bir-ti AU-%4@ KUM wu IR ti-kal-la

U,.5..KAM GIG1-[ma ...] 10. [DIS UGU-Ss] KKUM.KUM1-im SU 4Nusku! 11. [DIS UGU-s# GA]BA-su u Sa-Sal-la-su KOM.KUM IUS, ,.ZU1 DIB-su 12. [DIS UG]U-s# [GAZ.ME SA]G.DU-su TAB-su SA-Sti i-ta-na-Si GIN, Sd ana UGU MUNUS SUB-tu IL SA TUKU-Si SU KI.SIKIL.LIL.LA.EN.NA 13. [DIS UGU-S#] ka[l U, GJAZ.ME SA-Sii! i-ta-na-d5-Si-ma KI.NA it-ta-naas-har!-su GIN, ‘4 ana UGU MUNUS SUB-tu IL SA TUKU-Si 14. SU K[L[SIKIJL.LIL.LA.EN.NA

15. [DIS UGU-S]u 'GAZ.ME] hi-hi-en KA/KIR.-Sti i-ras-si-sti SIG GALa. LA-sa@ TAB-su SU-s%@ BAR.ME-Su

16. [U]GU-lsa NU1 [SUB-ma] si-hur? ina Gl, DIB.DIB-su u LUH(!).MES SU Ur-bi-li-ti 17. DIS UGU UGU GU.GU-si SU 460 AS DINGIR sd SA 13

14 ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE 18. DIS ina U[G]U-su SIG-is SU 4Papsukkal KI.MIN SU 4{...] 19. DIS ina U[G]U-s4 SIG-ma GESTUL-s NU SE.GA-a SU 415 ana AS-tim 20. DIS ina UGU-Sti SIG-ma kin-sa-a-svi TAV.MES-Sti u SA-Si DIB.DIB-su DIB-it [...] 21. DIS ina U[G]U-sé SIG-ma SA.MES-s% MU.MU-hu DIB-it [...]

22. DIS TA MURUB, UGU-sé TAG-su-ma Su-ru-?-5ti SAG.KI-sé IGI-si UNU-Si GU-su GABA-su Ftul-[Tu?-[Sti ...] 23. kin-sa-a!-Su ki-sal-la-Sui 1-ni§ GU>.ME-Sti u ina IGI MAS.MAS NU DU, GIDIM, DIB-su-ma !US1.[US-su] 24. DIS si-bit SAG.DU-Sti pat-rat [GAM] 25. DIS Ssi-bit SAG.DU-Sti tur-ru-rat : pat-rat [GAJ]M 26. DIS Si-bit SAG.DU-Sti Sal-mat [DIJN?

27. DIS a-ru-uh SAG.DU-Su bé-e-er [...] 28. DIS a-ru-uh 2-sui bé-e-er SU 4...] 29. DIS a-ru-uh -sui bé-e-er si-bit [...] 30. DIS d-ru-uh SAG.DU-Si bé-e-er [...] 31a. DIS d-ru-uh SAG.DU-Sti Sd-lim DIN 31b. DIS MUNUS d-ru-u[h] SAG.DU-S4 Ix]...] 32a. DIS kal-li SAG.DU-Si sa-hir : is-sah-har GAM 32b. DIS bi-rit SAG.DU-Sti sa-mi ina [EDIN TAG-it] 33. DIS SAG.DU-su 1-nis TUKy-as hi-hi-en KIR,-St i-ras-si-Sum-ma TAB-su tu-! gun|-s4 TAB-su K[I.NA NU IL ...]

34. DIS SAG.DU-su i-sa-dd u kin-sa-a-sti ka-sa-a SU 4...] 35. DIS SAG.DU-su i-ta-mu GIR-Sti 84 15 ti-kan-na-an-ma NU LAL u-Sapsag-ma |... ] 36. DIS SAG.DU-su i-ta-mu GIR-si $4 150 t-kan-na-an-ma NU LAL SU

dr]

37. DIS SAG.DU-su i-zag-gat s-su SAG.DU-su i-Sag-gim GESTULL-su GU.DE.ME U.ME-Si Ii-zagq-qd)-t[a-si DIB GIDIJM-3 38. DIS SAG.DU-su ana Suk-lul-ti-’i SA uk-tal-lim TI 39. DIS SAG.DU-su ana Suk-lul-ti-’i SA NU TUKU US

40. DIS SAG.DU-su ti-ik-ka-Si u Sd-Sal-la-§i 1-ni§ GU,>.MES-Si SA.DUGUD4

41. DIS SAG.DU-su DIB.DIB-su GU-su TAG.TAG-su GABA-su GU,. MES-Sii SA-Sti GAZ.MES-Sti pi-gam la pi-qam i[t-ta-na-ad-la]h5

42. GU, u NAG NU GUR-ma GU, u NAG 415 MU E/ SILA er-bet-tim US.ME-sti_ §d-nis ana MUNUS MU a-rin u sa-ma-li (ana) MUNUS. LUGAL u ana KI.SIKIL.BAN.DA MU ki-gul-lim u 4s-tam-mi® 43. DIS SAG.DU-su DIB.DIB-su u KUM SUB.SUB-su SU 415

CHAPTER 1: DPS TABLET 3 15 44. DIS SAG.DU-su DIB.DIB-su u KUM NU TUKU SU 415

45. DIS SAG.DU-su DIB.DIB-su u KUM TES.BI UNU-su (coll.) GIG-su TAK,-sum,-ma NIG.NIGIN TUKU-!ma i-ra-?u)-ba !¥um-ma KY) LAL-si LAL-Si

46. US,-s% KUR-Sum-ma ina NU ZU-i ti-rap-pad GIN, DIB-it GIDIM, dDIM,,.ME !DIB1-[su us]-te-zib(coll.) 47. DIS SAG.DU-su TES.BI DIB.DIB-su SU SAG.HUL.H[A.ZA DIN? : SU d1115(2)1 (coll.)

48. DIS SAG.DU-su i-tar-ru-ur GU-su u GU.MUR--sti ka-pi-ip KA-sti Fat)ma te-ba-a NU ZU 49. ina KA-sti UH.ME-si DU.MES SU!-sti kin-sa-a-sti u GIRU-8u 1-ni¥ i-tarru-ra ina DU-su ana IGI-su n[a-du-u ... -mja |NUI.DIN(coll.) 50. DIS SAG.DU-su SULLS4é u GIRI-8i i-tar-ru-ra KA-St ana a-ma-ti da-aan i-na 'KA\[Sd it-te-ne-et-bu-vi DIJB-tum DIB-su/ 51. DIS SAG.DU-su SU"-S% u GIRU-Svi 1-ni¥ i-tar-ru-ra ina KA-sti Gt-mu-sti it-te-né-ep-r[ik-ku NA BI lu-?-tug ana ma-al-tak-ti §\u-kul® 52. DIS SAG.DU-su SU!-Sé u GIRU-¥i i-ra-?-u-ba KA-Sti ana at-me-e il-la-a UL[...]?

53. DIS SAG.DU-su SU-s u GIR"U-sti 1-ni¥ i-ra-?-u-ba SA-sti ana BURUg i-te-ne-il-la-a-ma 'mim+ma\ [’é4 GU, SA-sti GUR SU 4]20? 54. DIS SAG.DU-su SU!-s# u GIRY-S% i-rat-tu-ta KA-Sti ana DU 9 da-an itte-né-ep-rik(coll.) TNA?! [BI lu-?-a-ti Su-k]ul!®

55. DIS SAG.DU-su KUM ha-has!! U,.1.KAM TAK,-sum-ma U,.2.KAM DUGUD-su 1-re-hi-[Sum-ma]|

56. A.UR.MES-Si 1-nif GU;.ME-Si u A ana NAG APIN SU [...] 57. DIS SAG.DU-su KUM ha-has Uy.1.KAM TAK,-Sum-ma U,.2.KAM DUGUD-su i-re-eh-hi-Sum-ma DIB-i!t] GIDIM, G1[IR"-s4 SED,?]

58. ina BAR-si SU-s4 u GIR"U-Sti KUM-ma u IR SED, SUB.SUB-su GIN, DIB-it GIDIM, 4(DIM.ME.LAGAB U,-me-st GI[D]-m[a GAM]

59. DIS SAG.DU-su KUM ha-ha¥ SA.ME SAG.KTI-s ZLMES KUM-im u SED, SU DINGIR-S{u]

60. DIS SAG.DU-su KUM-em SAG KIR,-st SU!-Sti u GIRU-s4 SED, DIH KUR DIB-su KI.MIN kis-pi DIB.MES-[3% ...]

61. DIS SAG.DU-su KUM-em SA SAG.KI-sa SUIS u GIRU-sa 1-ni¥ ZI.MES GIR!-s EN kin-si-sti SED,-lal

62. SAG KIR,-sé GI, SE U.MES-sa SIG, SUB-i SA IGII-sui SIG, u BABBAR SUB PA IGI-§# 2.TA.AM DIB.DIB (hi-p/) x[...] 63. na-pi-is-su ina KIR,-su DIB-ma ina KA-si GARZA usS-ti-si mu-tim ana Z]-su u-Sel-la-a x x|...]

16 ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE 64. DIS SAG.DU-su KUM-em SA SAG.KUL Sa SUU-sé u GIRU-sa 1-ni¥ ZI.MES SA; u i-mim SU [DINGIR DIN] 65. DIS SAG.DU-su u SA-sti KUM-em SA SAG.KIL-s4 SUL-s4 u GIRE- si [1-n]is [ZI.MES ...] S[U ...] 66. DIS SAG.DU-su u SA-S4% KUM-em SA SAG.KEL-3 SULTS uw] [GIRU-S 1-ni§ ZI.MES]

67. SAG SA-St na-si HAS-su da-an SE[D, ...] 68. DIS SAG.DU-su KUM-em (hi-pi) ha-ha[S...] 69. DIS SAG.DU-su KUM-em NUNDUN.MES-3Sii : hi-ip KA-ti BABBAR. MES S[U?...] 70. DIS SAG.DU-su KUM UH IGI.MES-sv SA;.PMES1[...] 71. DIS SAG.DU-su KUM UH IGILMES-sa SA; u [...] 72. DIS SAG.DU-su AD,-sti u SAG KIR,-s SIG.SIG-su NUND[UN.MES-Sii i-ta-na-zu]!2 73. uZILIR.MES ina ni-su-ti-Svi GIDIM, S4 ina su-um-m[a-mi US DIB-su] 74. DIS SAG.DU-su AD,-s% SAG KIR,-sé SIG.SIG-su NUNDUN.MES-[Sii i-ta-na-zu|13 75. ina ni-Su-ti-8ti man-ma Sa ina su-ma-mi-ti US DIB-s[u] 76. DIS SAG.DU-su ADg-sti KUM UH u i-ta-na-Su- SU (MAS.TAB.BA DIN stim-ma lina DUR|-[sa ZE SUR ...]

77. DIS SAG.DU-su KUM NAR#4 ina KUM-3i LUH.ME SU ¢MAS.TAB. BA DIN sum,-ma ina DUR-Sé ZE SUR u ZE i-ta-n[a-hu ...] 78. DIS SAG.DU-su KUM UH ina UD.SA>.AM TAK,-sum-ma A ana TUs! UL,.GAL APIN.ME DIB {{...]

79. DIS ina SAG.DU-s% KUM UH U,y.1.KAM TAK,-sum-ma U4.2.KAM DUGUD-su i-re-eh-hi-Sum-ma DIB-i[t GIDIM.] KI.TA! GIR!-s4 SED,

80. ina BAR-svi SU"-s4 u GIRU-si IKUM-mal GIN, DIB-it GIDIM, «DIM. ME.LAGAB 1-sa-dir-[ma DIN]

81. DIS ina SAG.DU-Sti SIG-is SU [x] 82. DIS ina SAG.DU-Sui Sa 15 SIG-is SU “IM 83. DIS ina SAG.DU-Sti §4 150 SIG-is SU 4UTU AL.GAM 84. DIS ina SAG.DU-Sti SIG-is-ma IGI-s4 ur-ru-pa SU 4N[IN].GIR.SU 85. DIS ina SAG.DU-sé SIG-is-ma A.UR.MES-si 1-ni¥ GU7.ME-si SU 415 ana BUR ii-gat-ti(coll.) ni-si 86. DIS ina SAG.DU-Ssui SIG-is-ma u i-ta-mu pu-qud-de-e 415 ana SMAS. TAB.BA 87. DIS ina SAG.DU-su% SIG-is-ma u MUD MUD SUB.SUB-a SU 4MAS. TAB.BA GAM 88. DIS ina SAG.DU-%é SIG-is-ma u MUD i-ha-hu SU 4IMAS.TAB.BA GAM

CHAPTER 1: DPS TABLET 3 17 89. DIS ina SAG.DU-Ssu SIG-is-ma ha-si-si-Sti sa-bit TA KUM lam GUR-ma DIB-bat t?-i DUG,.GA SU DINGIR sag-e[a]§-si na-kud GAM

90. DIS ina SAG.DU-sé SIG-is-ma SA SAG.KI-sa@ SU[]-sa u [GIRS 1-ni§ ZI.MES !SA;1 u i-mim SU DINGIR TI 91. DIS ina SAG.DU-si SIG-is-ma MIR.SES SUB.SUB-su IGI.MES-Ssii SA; u SIG, GIN, DIB-su SUB-si 92. US,-s% KUR-Sum-ma i-ta-mu DIB-it (DIM, ,.ME.LAGAB U,-me-si GID. DA.MES-ma GAM 93. DIS ina SAG.DU-Sti u MURUB,-Ssti SIG-is SU 415 ana NASNUNUZ.MES 94. DIS TA SAG.DU-Sid EN Suk-lul-ti-8i SA.MES-Su i-nu-us-Su NU DIN 95. DIS !TA1SAG.DU-sa@ EN MURUB,-3@ KUM TA MURUB,-31i EN GIRI‘4 SED, SAG.KI-su !SIG1.SIG-su!5

96. Alsi t-na-as-Sak ina SISMA ik-rig DINGIR ka-a-ri DIB-su BUR-ma DIN 97. [DIS T]JA SAG.DU-s% EN MURUB,-sti SIG, TA MURUB,-sti EN GIREsul [SA