Magic and Rationality in Ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman Medicine (Studies in Ancient Medicine)

425 Pages·2004·27.4 MB·English

by  H. F. J. Horstmanshoff

MAGIC AND RATIONALITY
IN ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN
AND GRAECO-ROMAN MEDICINE
STUDIES IN
ANCIENT MEDICINE
EDITED BY
JOHN SCARBOROUGH
PHILIP J. VAN DER EIJK
ANN HANSON
NANCY SIRAISI
VOLUME 27
' 6 8V
MAGIC AND RATIONALITY
IN ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN
AND GRAECO-ROMAN MEDICINE
EDITED BY
H.FJ. HORSTMANSHOFF AND M. STOL
IN COLIABORATION WITH C.R. VAN TILBURG
BRILL
LEIDEN · BOSTON
2004
Cover illustration: Babylonian bronze plaque offering protection against evil demons.
On top the head of the frightening but good demon Pazuzu. On the third register a sick
man lying in bed, attended by two experts in magic, clad in fish-garments. Height 13,3 cm.
First millenium B.C. The Louvre, Paris.
Brill Academic Publishers has done its best to establish rights for the use of the illustration
printed on this volume. Should any other party feel that its rights have been infringed,
we would be glad to hear from them.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cata1oging-in-Publicatíon Data
Magic and rationality in Ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman medicine / edited by
H.F.J. Horstmanshoff and M. Stol ; in collaboration with C.R. van Tilburg.
p. cm. — (Studies in Ancient Medicine ; 27)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-13666-5
1. Medicine, Assyro-Babylonian—Philosophy. 2. Medicine, Greek and
Roman- Philosophy. 3. Magic. 4. Practical reason. I. Horstmanshoff, H. F.J. (Manfred)
II. Stol, M. (Marten). III. Tilburg, C. R. van (Cornelis) IV Series.
R135.M335 2004
610'.93—dc22
2004050576
ISSN 0925-1421
ISBN 90 04 13666 5
© Copyright 2004 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written
permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal
use is granted by Brill promded that
the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright
Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910
DanversMA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Bibliographical Note ix
List of Contributors xiii
Introduction 1
West Meets East: Early Greek and Babylonian Diagnosis .... 11
M.J. Geller
An Assyriologist Reads Hippocrates 63
M. Stol
Die 'Lösung vom Bann': Überlegungen zu altorientalischen
Konzeptionen von Krankheit und Heilkunst 79
SM. Maul
Diagnosis, Divination and Disease: Towards an
Understanding of the rationale behind the Babylonian
Diagnostic Handbook 97
N.P. Heeßel
How to Marry a Disease: Epidemics, Contagion, and a
Magic Ritual against the 'Hand of the Ghost' 117
W. Färber
Rationality versus Irrationality in Egyptian Medicine in the
Pharaonic and Graeco-Roman Periods 133
R. David
Minoan and Mycenaean Medicine and its Near Eastern
Contacts 153
R. Amott
VI CONTENTS
Greek Medicine and Babylonian Wisdom: Circulation of
Knowledge and Channels of Transmission in the Archaic
and Classical Periods 175
R. Thomas
Divination, Prognosis and Prophylaxis: The Hippocratic
Work 'On Dreams' (De victu 4) and its Near Eastern
Background 187
P.J. van der Eijk
Structure and Genesis of Some Hippocratic Treatises 219
V. Langholf
Aphorismi 5.28-63 and the Gynaecological Texts of the
Corpus Hippocraticum 277
A.E. Hanson
Bloodletting in Babylonia 305
M.J. Geller
'Did the god learn medicine?' Asclepius and Temple
Medicine in Aelius Aristides' Sacred Tales 325
H.F.J. Horstmanshoff
Vindicianus' Gynaecia and Theories on Generation and
Embryology from the Babylonians up to Graeco-Roman
Times 343
L. Cilliers
'At times these ancient facts seem to lie before me like a
patient on a hospital bed'—Retrospective Diagnosis and
Ancient Medical History 369
K. -H. Leven
Indices 387
PREFACE
From September 2000 to June 2001, the Netherlands Institute for
Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Wassenaar
(NIAS), hosted a group of scholars, Assyriologists, Classicists, and
historians of medicine. Fellows in residence and members of the
theme group were: Philip van der Eijk (University of Newcasde upon
Tyne), Mark Geller (University College, London), Ann Hanson (Yale
University), Manfred Horstmanshoff (Universiteit Leiden), Helen King
(University of Reading), Catrien Santing (Nederlands Instituut te
Rome/Rijksuniversitcit Groningen), Marten Stol (Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam), Teun Tieleman (Universiteit Utrecht). Louise Cilliers
(University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa) joined us
for some time, as a visiting scholar. Two medical doctors with wide
historical and philological interest, Freek Rijkels and Frans Schlesinger,
took part in our meetings and contributed on medical matters. The
Fellows owe them heartfelt thanks which are herewith acknowledged.
As is self-evident, only part of the work done by the members of
the theme group during their stay at NIAS is published in this
volume.
The collaborative research focused on the comparison between
Babylonian and Greek medicine, attempting to discover the ratio-
nales in both systems and looking for similarities and differences. To
this end, the group came together in sessions, every fortnight, study-
ing important topics of common interest: anatomy, internal diseases
(particularly of the heart and the lungs), urology, gynaecology, fevers,
etc. The earliest sections of the Hippocratic corpus were compared
with Babylonian medical texts, with some surprising results: there
seemed to be common attitudes and techniques.
At the end of the year, a conference was organised on 22-23 June
2001, "Rethinking the history of medicine: 'rationality' and 'magic'
in Babylonia and the Graeco-Roman world". Members of the group
read papers reflecting the results of their research in the NIAS, and ten
speakers were invited: Classicists, a medical historian, an Egyptologist,
and several Assyriologists.
Most of these papers arc published in this book. Two more were
added: one by Robert Arnott (University of Birmingham) and one
vin PREFACE
by Louise Cilliers. The final form of the manuscript of this book
owes a great deal to Cornells van Tilburg, a Classicist at the University
of Leiden. He meticulously prepared it, checked references when
necessary, and composed the Indices with utmost care.
We gratefully acknowledge with gratitude the Board and staff of
NIAS which made all this possible. The conference was supported
by grants of NIAS (Wassenaar), NWO Gebiedsbestuur Geestesweten-
schappen (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, Research
Council for the Humanities, The Hague), The Wellcome Trust
(London). We thank these institutions for their help.
H.F.J. Horstmanshoff
M. Stol
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Ancient sources are referred to by abbreviated titles. Generally in
the text, the notes and the index locorum the abbreviations are used
which are listed in H.G. Liddell, R. Scott and H.S. Jones, A Greek-
English Lexicon (Oxford 19409) xvi-xlviii and in P.G.W. Glare (ed.),
Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford 1982) ix-xxi, with a few easily recog-
nizable exceptions, notably for Hippocratic and Galenic texts, where
the abbreviations of Fichtner are used (G. Fichtner, Corpus Hippocraticum:
Verzeichnis der hippokratischen und pseudohippokratischen Schriften, Tübingen
1992, or later, and Corpus Galenicum: Verzeichnis der galenischen und pseudo-
galenischen Schriften, Tübingen 1990 or later).
References to Hippocratic texts generally contain the volume and
page number of the Littré edition (Greek text with a French trans-
lation): E. Littré (ed.), Oeuvres complètes d'Hippocrate, vol. 1-10, Paris
1839-1861, repr. Amsterdam 1961-1963. Sometimes references to
the editions in the Loeb Classical Library (LCL, Greek text with an
English translation) are included as well: W.H.S. Jones and E.T.
Withington (eds), Hippocrates, Volume 1-4, Loeb Classical Library,
(London/Cambridge (Mass.) 1932-1931); P. Potter (ed.), 5-6 (1988),
Wesley D. Smith (ed.), 7 (1994), P. Potter (ed.), 8 (1995).
References to Galenic texts contain the volume and page number
of the edition by Kühn: G.C. Kühn (ed.), Claudii Galeni Opera Omnia
1-20 (22 Volumes), Leipzig 1821-1833, repr. Hildesheim 1964-1965
(Greek text with a Latin translation).
Some examples:
Hipp., Aph. ('Aphorisms') 3.30 (4.132 Jones; 4.500 L.) means:
Corpus Hippocraticum, Aphorismi Book 3, number 30; in the Loeb edi-
tion by W.H.S. Jones: Volume 4, page 132; in the edition by Littré:
Volume 4, page 500.
Galen, In Hipp. Epid. II Comment. 3.31 (17a.444 Κ.) means:
Galen, In Hippocratis epidemiarum libmm secundum commentam ('Comments
on the Second Book of Hippocrates' Epidemics') Book 3, Chapter 31;
Volume 17a, page 444 in the edition by Kühn.