Medical letters
Medical records numerous
Another group includes the letters which refer to medical treatment. Here especially Dr. C. Johnston, himself a medical man, has made a most valuable start in his Assyrian Epistolary Correspondence, and we can hardly do better than to follow his guidance. As a rule, what these ancient peoples said and thought of disease is very obscure to us. Many terms were then, as now, used in the medical vocabulary which were well known in ordinary language, but which were given a distinctly different technical meaning. Great attention was paid to surgery and medicine, as is shown by the clauses in the Code.[932] There are also a great number of tablets dealing with medicine, some of which have been published. Long ago Professor Sayce discussed one such text under the title, “An Ancient Babylonian Work on Medicine,”[933] and from the British Museum Catalogue fully four hundred and fifty such texts are known. Dr. C. F. H. Küchler in his Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Assyrischen Medicin has made great progress toward settling the reading and meaning of certain words and phrases. Dr. Baron Felix von Oefele, who has devoted much study to ancient medicine in general, has made noteworthy contributions to the study, by his articles in learned journals. Still, the [pg 374]
Exorcism as well as healing the duty of a physician
A letter reporting the progress of a disease
With considerable hesitation the following two letters from the physician Ardi-Nanâ to the king Esarhaddon are given, in which Dr. C. Johnston's rendering is closely followed. In the first, Ardi-Nanâ reports on the state of a patient, perhaps one of the young princes, who was suffering from a disease of the eyes, or perhaps facial erysipelas. He was progressing so well that the physician piously opines that some god has taken the case under his care. The gods who were special patrons of the healing art were Ninip and Gula, whose blessing the physician accordingly invokes. We read:[934]
To the king, my lord, thy servant Ardi-Nanâ. May it be peace in the highest degree to the king, my lord; may Ninip and Gula give cheer of heart and health of body to the king, my lord. It is extremely well with that poor man whose eyes are diseased. I had applied a dressing to him, it covered his face. Yesterday, at evening, I undid the bandage which held it, I removed the dressing which was upon him. There was pus upon the dressing as much as the tip of the little finger. Thy gods, if any of them has put his hand to the matter, he has indeed given his order. It is extremely well. Let the heart of the king, my lord, be cheered. In seven or eight days he will be well.
There is also another letter[935] from Ardi-Nanâ to the king, but part of it is too defective to render. It begins in exactly the same way as before, save that greeting is also sent to the king's son.
For the cure which we wrought on ... we were given five-sixths of a shekel. The day he came, he recovered, he recovered his strength, he stayed until.... Concerning the patient who had blood run from his nose, the messenger has told me, saying, “Yesterday, at evening, much blood ran.” Those dressings are not with knowledge. They have been placed upon the breathing passages of the nose and oppress the breathing and come off, because of the bleeding. Let them be placed within the nostrils, they will preserve the breath and the blood will be held back. If it is right in the sight of the king, in the morning I will come and prescribe for him. Now let me hear his well-being.
The messenger here was a RAB MU-GI, in which title it has been proposed to see the original of the Rabmag of Jeremiah xxxix. 3. He was a high official charged with the care of horses and chariots, and here sent to hear news of the patient. There is no evidence that he had any medical knowledge himself. In another letter,[936] Ardi-Nanâ writes concerning Ashur-mukîn-palêa, a younger son of Esarhaddon and brother of Ashurbânipal. He bids the king not to fear. The young prince seems to have been in the doctor's care. Further he writes about the health of a tooth (of the prince's?) about which the king had sent to inquire. He had greatly improved its condition (literally, uplifted its head). In another letter,[937] also partly defective, he directs the king to anoint himself as a protection against draughts (?), to drink pure water, and to wash his hands frequently in a bowl. Presently the rash (?) will disappear. In another still more defective letter[938] he mentions the plant martakal, to which magical efficacy was ascribed. Another [pg 376] long letter,[939] after the same complimentary opening as the others, goes on: