During the
history of
Mesopotamia the
practice of
medicine was considered a sub-
specialty of the
scribal arts. The goddess concerned with healing was
Ninkarrak whose city was Isin, famous for its
medical school. Most of the medical
texts were written in
Akkadian and many of them were found in
Assurbanipal's
library in
Nineveh. Internal evidence points to origins in the Old
Babylonian
period. Only one text from the earlier
Sumer period has been found, but it shows that the Sumerians had quite a large
arsenal of medicines used to treat
illness.
It was generally thought that illness was caused by angering the gods, by demon possession and the like. To treat this kind of sickness the asipu was called in to pacify the gods or drive away the demon. The asipu was skilled in divination and the interpretation of omens. His treatments included conjurations, magical rituals and incantations.
In contrast, another kind of physician, the asu, attempted cures with truly medical preparations, which included herbals, beer, wine, poultices and oil massage. As an example, a Sumerian tablet from the end of the 3rd millennium BC, probably the first pharmacopeia in the world, prescribes the following:
Pour heated water over a dried and powdered watersnake, the amamashumkaspal-plant, roots of the thorn plant, powdered naga (an alkali-yielding plant), powdered turpentine and faeces of bat. After having lathed the affected area, rub with oil and cover with shaki(?)
As we've seen
healing took off into two
directions: the
asu, dating back to
Sumerian times, and the
asipu, arising later from
Akkadian and
Amorite sources.
The
asu's
Materia Medica included:
- Herbs
Plants were so closely associated with healing, that the word for plant, sammu, also meant medicine. Several narcotics were known, like opium, hemp, belladonna, madragore and the water-hemlock. Camomile was prescribed for upset stomach and mustard seed as a laxative.
- Animals
For the most part these were not effective and probably were used for their magical properties, like dried watersnake, powdered tortoiseshell and the like.
- Minerals
It is doubtful that minerals had any influence on a cure, but they were included for their magical properties. Examples of minerals included powered copper and lapis lazuli, salt and bitumen.
- Liquids
Frequently specific liquids were prescribed as the medium for other ingredients, like milk, honey, wine and beer. Oil was often used for enemas.
Social Position
In spite of the number of medical texts that have been discovered, it is doubtful that
physicians
enjoyed the
exalted position they did in either
Egypt,
Greece or in our own time. Of course, the
status of the
clients they
managed to
attract rubbed off on the
doctor. Consequently
court physicians were held in high
esteem and were sometimes sent to
foreign courts on
special missions.
Fees, as now, varied with the status of the client and with the kind of
service rendered. Members of the
upper class were expected to pay from 5 to 10
shekels while
commoners might pay from 3 to 5 shekels. In those days the
asipu visited the home of the
patients and quite likely also the
asu.
Reference
Hawkes, Jacquetta. The first great civilizations. 1973, Knopf, NYC.