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Teaching and Learning Medicine and Exorcism at Uruk During the Hellenistic Period

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Scientific Sources and Teaching Contexts Throughout History: Problems and Perspectives

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science ((BSPS,volume 301))

Abstract

Mesopotamian societies in the first millennium BCE left traces of learning and teaching activities and provide evidence of both a theoretical pedagogical program and practical exercises.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Assyriologists used to translate ummânu by scholar. It is this habit that we will follow here.

  2. 2.

    There are no attestations of girls being trained in scholarly disciplines in the first millennium BCE.

  3. 3.

    It is still possible to work on virtual archives or libraries using the names of the main owner of a group of texts but this method is not as good as the one consisting of studying a collection of texts which were found together and thus kept together.

  4. 4.

    āšipu.

  5. 5.

    Line 1 of the obverse and 7 of the reverse (Appendix 1).

  6. 6.

    Oelsner (1986, 77–97) and Pedersén (1998, 207).

  7. 7.

    For the excavations, see (Schmidt 1972, 56; Hoh 1979, 28). The excavations took place between 1969 and 1972.

  8. 8.

    Indeed, the only other Šangu-Ninurta family known is attested in Babylon from Nebuchadnezzar to Xerxes (Jursa 2005, 71–72). It is possible, even if it is only an hypothesis, that the family moved from Babylon to Uruk because of the trouble occurring to the old Babylonian notability during the reign of Xerxes. For the question of revolts at the beginning of the Xerxes’ reign, see (Waerzeggers 2003–2004).

  9. 9.

    Clancier (2009a, 59).

  10. 10.

    See the complete genealogy in Appendix 2.

  11. 11.

    Tablet SpTU 4, 157.

  12. 12.

    Clancier (2009a, 60–61).

  13. 13.

    Indeed, while legal tablets regularly refer to legal texts and letters on leather (written in Aramaic or Greek script), this is not the case for scholarly tablets. This last category depended heavily on cuneiform writing and so, the clay or wax media was better suited to this than the flatter ones. However, two scholarly texts in cuneiform on magallatu (leather scrolls) are attested to: BM 41548 edited by (Leichty 1970, 200–201) and (Weidner 1966, 46). The colophons mention the fact that the end of both texts are on magallatu. This only concerns divination.

  14. 14.

    For the question of writing media in the late Babylonian period, see (Geller 1997; Clancier 2005; Westenholz 2007).

  15. 15.

    For the identification of the collections of the Āšipu’s houses as the remains of practices of training at home, see (Clancier 2009a, 81–101).

  16. 16.

    This step is not well attested in the āšipu’s houses and will not be discussed here.

  17. 17.

    An exemplar of the “handbook” was found in the library of the Šangu-Ninurta family (SpTU 5, 231) and is translated in the appendices.

  18. 18.

    Line 7 of the reverse. The texts listed in the “handbook” are usually called “canonical series” by modern scholars and iškāru by the ancient scribes. The “handbook” is thus partly a kind of “bibliography”.

  19. 19.

    SAA 10, 58 for example, a letter from Balasî to the Assyrian king referring to bird omens taken from a series. Perfect examples of the real importance of the texts themselves are the incantations which were to be said without changing a single word.

  20. 20.

    āšipūtu is the discipline of the āšipu – mainly medicine and exorcism.

  21. 21.

    For a general introduction to the phenomenon, see (Lambert 1957).

  22. 22.

    Such as line o.17. Sakikkû, the main series of exorcism-medicine.

  23. 23.

    Competences differ from series as it is not texts that are said to be known but practices such as “Cures of epilepsy” (line r.12.) or even “the cures of the totality of illnesses” (line r.14.).

  24. 24.

    See Jean (2006, 72–75) for a more complete commentary on the plan.

  25. 25.

    There were two professions that could be designated as medical: āšipūtu and asûtu. The latter was that of the asû, mostly translated as “physician”. The asû had disappeared by the end of the first millennium at least from the written documentation. For the relation between asû and āšipu cf. (Finkel 2000, 146; Abrahami 2003; Geller 2007).

  26. 26.

    Obverse l. 1.

  27. 27.

    The Sakikkû (“Ailment”) is a compendium of around 3,000 omens on 40 tablets which form the canonical series Enūma ana bīt marṣi āšipu illaku. The series is divided into six sub-series: 1. Interpretation of observations made by the exorcist-doctor walking to the patient’s house; 2. head-to-toe observation of the patient with symptoms and origins of the illness; 3. duration of the illness; 4–6. specific illnesses. The structure of the series shows the exorcist’s view of a patient (Heeßel 2000: 19). For further details, see (Robson 2008, 458).

  28. 28.

    Enūma ana bīt marṣi āšipu illaku. (Labat 1951; Heeßel 2000).

  29. 29.

    Esagil-kin-apli, in an Urukean text from the Rēš temple, is said to be the scholar of a descendant of Hammu-rabi whose name is broken (BaM 2, 89, text dated from 165 BCE). This scholarly tradition of attributing scholars to famous Kings was highly developed in Uruk (see infra).

  30. 30.

    For the question of the historicity of Esagil-kin-apli, see (Robson 2008, 458).

  31. 31.

    As in lines 8–9 of the reverse: “All existing against evil spell, namburbi (A kind of exorcism), signs from heaven and earth”.

  32. 32.

    Lines r.12-r.13: “Cures for epilepsy, (Against the demon) Master-of-the-roof, The hand of a god, the hand of Ištar and the hand of a ghost”. Epilepsy appears in the Sakikkû (Stol 1993) but the series is not cited here. The hand of a god, a goddess or a demon is a designation for illnesses appearing in different series.

  33. 33.

    išippūtu is here the word used for āšipūtu, “exorcism-medicine”.

  34. 34.

    Line 18 of the reverse.

  35. 35.

    For example: SpTU 5, 277 written exercise of the signs “diš bad” (Van Buylaere 2009). For the first steps of the curriculum, cf. (Gesche 2001).

  36. 36.

    Lexical texts are documents organising knowledge through lists and tables. Most of the time, Sumerian and Akkadian appear in the texts giving the translation of each term in both languages.

  37. 37.

    Clancier (2009a, 86–90). Kalû’s library at the Rēš temple is not the result of the training of the lamentation-priests but is the result of their professional activities inside the temple. Consequently, the large majority of the collection is religious texts with divinatory documents (especially astrology) in second position. There are no medical texts, just one incantation and only three lexical texts which are, in fact, more lists than true lexical documents.

  38. 38.

    “DN” is for Divine name. Numerous illnesses were designated by the name of a god, a goddess or a demon.

  39. 39.

    Labat (1951, 44–45).

  40. 40.

    PN: personal name. The name is given with the name of the father, sometimes the grandfather and the ancestor. For the exorcists of Uruk, the ancestor is most often Ekur-zakir during the Hellenistic period. In the first library we can see this was also the case for the Babylonian Šangu-Ninurta family.

  41. 41.

    SpTU 1, 2.

  42. 42.

    Anu and Antu were the main divinities of Uruk in the late Achaemenid period and during the Hellenistic time.

  43. 43.

    The literal translation is “big brother”. It is a very high function of priesthood.

  44. 44.

    The Rēš, sanctuary of Anu and Antu, was the main temple of Uruk at that period.

  45. 45.

    This title is widely discussed. It normally means “exorcist” but, during the Hellenistic period, it seems to be used as a specific designation of the exorcists working for a temple.

  46. 46.

    SpTU 3, 87.

  47. 47.

    It is still possible that the table was copied for Iqiša by Anu-ab-uṣur without any student-master relationship. However, this explanation does not take care of the title given to Iqiša, mašmaššu, and the absence of the status of the scribe, Anu-ab-uṣur. This difference of level between the two men leads to thinking that the owner is already a master (or an ummânu, “an expert”) and not the writer.

  48. 48.

    Obverse, column 2, line 5′.

  49. 49.

    SpTU 3, 88.

  50. 50.

    SpTU 5, 253.

  51. 51.

    SpTU 2, 44, l. r.22′-top edge 3.

  52. 52.

    That is also called Sakikkû.

  53. 53.

    hipi.

  54. 54.

    hipi eššu as attested in lines 0.10, r.7′, r.12′, r.13′, r.19′ (when just “break” is mentioned like here, it possibly denotes an old break already noted on the original).

  55. 55.

    The text can be seen in English translation by the author in the following address: http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/cams/gkab/corpus/

  56. 56.

    For an example, see, SpTU 3, 87, abstract of the Sakikkû, tablet 1 (CAMS). As a finished copy, the tablet is introduced by the incipit of the series or by the incipit of the part or of the chapter.

  57. 57.

    Commentary of the medical series called If a person’s skull suffers from fever usually called UGU (“skull”), by Assyriologists.

  58. 58.

    Reference to the “oral tradition” (see infra “The commentary, the master and the oral tradition”).

  59. 59.

    Included in the entry “Medicine”. (Labat 1951; Heeßel 2000).

  60. 60.

    SpTU 1, 27; 28; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39; 40; 41; 42; SpTU 3, 100 and perhaps SpTU 5, 254.

  61. 61.

    SpTU 1, 27; 28; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; 36; 38; 39; 41; 42; SpTU 3, 100 and may be a 14th with SpTU 5, 254. These tablets are edited in English by the Geography of Knowledge in Assyria and Babylonia project (Clancier 2008–2009).

  62. 62.

    See infra.

  63. 63.

    Indeed, on line 15 of the reverse Esagil-kin-apli says that the student has to know all the disciplines of išippūtu that is āšipūtu, exorcism-medicine. Afterwards, from line 16, the junior exorcist will have to work on The creatures of the steppe (a way to name the commentaries upon the canonical series, cf. CAD Ṣ: 116) and other very difficult aspects of scholarship to be an ummânu.

  64. 64.

    Anu-ikṣur wrote a lot of commentary tablets attesting that he was a specialist in that exercise both personally and as a teacher.

  65. 65.

    ana UGU qa-bi.

  66. 66.

    Medical recipe commentary by Anu-ikṣur.

  67. 67.

    ša qabû.

  68. 68.

    See, for example, the tablet SpTU 1, 90, a commentary on the astrological series Enūma Anu Enlil (“When Anu (and) Enlil”), tablet 56. The tablet belongs to Iqiša, the owner of the later house, but was written by Anu-ab-uṣur, son of Anu-mukin-apli, descendant of Kuri (Edited by E. Robson on CAMS).

  69. 69.

    SpTU 3, 101.

  70. 70.

    Here again, it is the Enūma Anu Enlil series.

  71. 71.

    As shown by the prosopography of the tablet.

  72. 72.

    For example, Sin-leqe-unninni, which was an ancestor’s name in Uruk, was also, in the scholastic tradition, the author of the canonical version of the Epoch of Gilgameš. For the question of authorship, see (Lambert 1957).

  73. 73.

    Finkel (1988, especially 148–150). The text in itself is a good example of a scholastic tradition transmitted in Assyria and Babylonia through the whole first Millennium BCE. Indeed, it is a catalogue of the incipits of the series Sakikkû and some of the series Alamdimmû, Kataduggû and associated texts (Finkel 1988, 143) and two copies are known: the first from the Assyrian city of Nimrud, the second from Babylon. The translation is inspired by that of (Finkel 1988, 149–150).

  74. 74.

    This culture was not the daily one of Babylonia in the Hellenistic period even for those scholars who, as said M Geller, “may have spoken Aramaic to (their) children or Greek to (their) tax official” (Geller 1997, 45).

  75. 75.

    Arrien, Anabases, III, 16, 3–9.

  76. 76.

    BagM. Beih. 2, 89.

  77. 77.

    Some known as authors of canonical series like Sin-leqe-unninni or Esagil-kin-apli.

  78. 78.

    Translation by the author (Clancier 2009b for the complete edition). The most complete manuscript comes from Assyria (KAR 44), cf. (Geller 2000; Jean 2006, 63 sq).

Abbreviations

BaM:

Baghdader Mitteilungen

BM:

British Museum

CAD:

Chicago Assyrian Dictionary

CAMS:

Corpus of Ancient Mesopotamia Scholarship. http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/cams/gkab/corpus/

DN:

Divine name

GKAB:

The Geography of Knowledge in Assyria and Babylonia: A Diachronic Analysis of Four Scholarly Libraries. http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/cams/gkab

KAR:

Keilschrifttexte aus Assur religissen Inhalts

PN:

Personal name

SAA:

State Archive of Assyria

SpTU:

Spätbabylonische Texte aus Uruk

UVB:

Vorläufiger Bericht über die Ausgrabungen in Uruk-Warka

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Appendices

Appendices

1.1 Appendix 1: The Āšipu’s Handbook (SpTU 5, 231)

Obverse

  1. 1.

    Incipit of theFootnote 78 serie(s) of exorcism which have been recorded for learning and consulting. The whole name(s).

  2. 2.

    ‘Kulla’ gloss: to lay […] the foundations of a house; […] and ‘Installation of a priest’.

  3. 3.

    ‘Incantation of Apsu’; ‘Ginutaqqû’ and ‘Purification rituals of the gods’.

  4. 4.

    Kiʾutukku (Incantation by Šamaš)’; ‘Šuʾillakku (Prayer of raised hands)’ and ‘Kimiltu (The anger god(s))’.

  5. 5.

    ‘Ritual of the months Duʾuzu; […]; Ululu; Tašrîtu’ and ‘Royal rituals’.

  6. 6.

    […] and ‘Kataduqqû (Physiognomic omens)’.

  7. 7.

    […] and ‘To set out the evil’.

  8. 8.

    […] and ‘Magic circles’.

  9. 9.

    […] and ‘All illnesses’.

  10. 10.

    […] and ‘Substitute statues’.

  11. 11.

    […] enclosures’ and ‘Mouth washing […] of the gods(?)’.

  12. 12.

    Ušhulgallû (Evil sorcery)’; […]; ‘Ušburrudû (To dispel sorcery)’ and ‘Namerimburrudû (To remove a curse)’.

  13. 13.

    Kiʾutukku (Incantation by Šamaš) […]’; ‘Ušburrudû (To dispel sorcery)’; ‘Namerimburrudû (To remove a curse)’; ‘Blast of wind’ and ‘Lamaštu’.

  14. 14.

    ‘All evil’; […]; ‘Šurpu (Burning)’; ‘To transform a bad dream to a good one’ and ‘Potency incantation’.

  15. 15.

    Woman not able to give birth, …, “Baby” incantation.

  16. 16.

    Sick eye, …, and Būšānu-disease.

  17. 17.

    Sakikkû, …, and Incantations against all illnesses.

  18. 18.

    To halt a nosebleed, …, and To stop diarrhea.

  19. 19.

    To cure a snake bite, …, and Samana-disease.

  20. 20.

    “Foot of evil” from a house, to avert … epidemic and To cause offerings to be received.

  21. 21.

    Ritual of the city, house, field, orchard (and) canal and Contribution to Nidaba.

  22. 22.

    To avert the rainstorm … and Exorcism(?) of the steppe(?).

Reverse

  1. 1.

    To pass through the steppe, That enemy arrow not approach and Imprisonment.

  2. 2.

    To purify bulls, sheep and horses.

  3. 3.

    (Omen) decision by stars, birds, … and goats, Oracular utterances of …

  4. 4.

    Abnu šikinšu (The stone whose appearance is)’, ‘Šammu šikinšu (The plant whose appearance is)’, ‘Tablets of stones’, ‘Tablet of plants’, ‘Necklace(?)’ and ‘Amulet(?)’.

  5. 5.

    Titles of all(?) the series of exorcism of Esagil-kin-apli, son of Asalluhi-mansum,

  6. 6.

    apkallu of Hammu-rabi, King of Babylon, descendant of Lisia, pašīšu-priest of Ezida.

  7. 7.

    For learning and consulting of actions of touching the reed established by Ea, Kikiṭṭu-ritual, Šerkugû-ritual.

  8. 8.

    all existing against evil spells, namburbi, signs from heaven and earth.

  9. 9.

    The totality of the wisdom and secrecy of the kakugallūtu.

  10. 10.

    … projects of heaven and earth, the secret of Apsû, and the non-canonical incantations.

  11. 11.

    … paralysis, The rimûtu-paralysis, The sagullû-illness, The symptoms, The kissatu-illness and ….

  12. 12.

    Cures of epilepsy, (The demon) Master-of-the-roof, The hand of a god, The hand of Ištar and The hand of a spectre.

  13. 13.

    The evil Alû-demon, Lilû, Arad-Lilî, Evil spirit, The hand of the oath-breaking and The hand of a man.

  14. 14.

    And the cures of the totality of illness, a bout of fever and the cures for women,

  15. 15.

    until you obtain knowledge of all išippūtu, you come to know the secret,

  16. 16.

    then learn “The creatures of the steppe”, the glosses and (the texts in) Emesal,

  17. 17.

    you will learn to do research in the rituals in Sumerian and Akkadian,

  18. 18.

    …, Azad, Ušuš, Enūma Anu Enlil and Šumma ālu ina mēlê šakin,

  19. 19.

    to devise and exchange (for) an agreement.

  20. 20.

    … valiant(?), …, wise, erudite, the gods of āšipūtu will give extended understanding.

  21. 21.

    May the god, his protector, be good with him! His name will be pronounced until the distant day.

Colophon

  1. 22.

    In accordance with the original tablet, written and collated … Rimut-Anu

Top Edge

  1. 1.

    … Šamaš-iddina, descendant of Šangu-Ninurta: Uruk, month Tašrîtu, day …, year … Darius King.

1.2 Appendix 2: Genealogies of Šangu-Ninurta and Ekur-zakir

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Clancier, P. (2014). Teaching and Learning Medicine and Exorcism at Uruk During the Hellenistic Period. In: Bernard, A., Proust, C. (eds) Scientific Sources and Teaching Contexts Throughout History: Problems and Perspectives. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 301. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5122-4_3

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