In ancient Mesopotamia it was thought that gods and demons caused illness. If one angered or sinned against a god, a demon as the instrument of punishment, would torment the person and make them sick. Actually, contaminated canals and waterways resulted in chronic digestive ailments. Fever and exhaustion accompanied the high temperatures of summer months and eye inflammations were common due to the dust and frequent sand storms. Cold winter nights led to respiratory difficulties, coughs and colds.
Healing by Magic
Doctors called Ashipus studied the patient's symptoms then performed rituals and incantations to drive out the visiting demon. These exorcists referred to medical texts outlining ways to get rid of the demon responsible for their patient's condition.
Difficult cases required complex treatment. One remedy suggested that after examining the patient and declaring the sickness to be brought by a demon from the lower world ("the house whose entrance allows no exit"), the doctor first described to the gods the patient's pitiable state. He then pronounced his treatment would be made in the name of the divine masters of exorcism - the gods Ea and Marduk. A special prayer was said and seven small loaves of bread rubbed all over the body of the patient. The patient spit on the remaining bread crumbs and was taken to a specific isolated high place where the sickness would then be passed on to small wild rodents when they were permitted to eat the bread.
Healing with Medicines
Doctors called Asus were more practical and consulted texts listing medications for treating hundreds of ailments. Remedies were derived mainly from herbs and other plants, used fresh and whole or dried into powder and usually combined to make them more effective. Also utilized were things like snake skin, milk and turtle shell.
An asu applied his medicine in ointment form, dressings and potions accompanied by various gestures and manipulations. Bad-tasting medicines were often dissolved in beer.
The Ancient Doctor's Practice
Although most Mesopotamian doctors were men, female midwives normally assisted in pregnancy and childbirth. During a difficult delivery, a midwife might massage the mother's belly with a rolling pin made of magic wood. The midwife also chanted incantations to the gods. One such petition to the god Marduk ended, "Bring forth that sealed-up one, a creature of the gods, as a human creature, let him come forth! Let him see the light!"
Some professional healers worked exclusively for palaces or temples while others treated ordinary citizens.
The Code of Hammurabi
The Babylonian king, Hammurabi, claimed to be chosen by the gods to deliver the law to his people and in 1790 BC developed what became known as The Code of Hammurabi. This ancient law code outlined medical service fees according to a patient's social status. A doctor who healed "the broken bone or diseased soft part" of an upper-class citizen could charge five shekels. A commoner paid three shekels for the same service. The owner of a sick slave paid only two shekels.
The code also laid out rewards and penalties for doctors who practiced surgery. A surgeon who "opened an eye-infection with a bronze instrument and so saved the man's eye" was entitled to receive ten shekels but if he "thereby destroyed the man's eye, they shall cut off his hands."
Related Article: Food in Ancient Babylonia: The Cuisine of Old Mesopotamia - Written evidence from the 3rd millennium provides us with the oldest systems of tastes and traditional means of transforming raw materials into delectable dishes.
Resources:
Ancient Mesopotamia: the Sumerians,Babylonians and Assyrians by Virginia Schomp Scholastic Inc., 2004
Everyday Life in Ancient Mesopotamia by Jean Bottero The John Hopkins University Press, 2001
The Babylonians by Gwendolyn Leick Routledge, 2003
Linnea Heinrichs - After years of extensive research into the medieval period, Linnea's debut novel, The First Vial, was published in 2005 by Thistledown ...
