The healing art of the Babylonian doctors did not differentiate between magic, medicine and religion when it came to expelling the forces of evil that were in the body.
Medicine was considered a sacred art that could only be learned in the temple, where one learned to read, write, religion, astrology, literature, magic, divination, and ritual secrets.
Babylonian therapeutic concepts had the belief that all earthly ailments had a cause in the will of the gods (theurgy), therefore, medicine was considered sacred, since it was a practice of invoking powers to ultraterrestrial beings, like the angels or the gods, to attract physical health and spiritual peace.
Famous theurgists of the time were the emperor Julian the Apostate and the philosophers Iamblichus, Syrian and Protius.
Ways of treating diseases of ancient Babylonian doctors
The medical art of this civilization required 3 categories of priests, doctors or healers, who were known as follows:
- Baru, was in charge of giving the diagnosis and prognosis, which was considered of vital importance before prescribing any medicine or doing any surgical practice.
- Ashipur, was the exorcist who expelled the demons from the body, had a character more similar to what we know today as priests.
- Asu, the one who supplied the medicines, prepared the recipes or concoctions and carried out the surgical interventions. A mix between what we know today as a surgeon and a pharmacist.
This way of organizing helped them to develop three types of methods to have good health, the diagnostic, healing and preventive method.
1. Diagnostic methods of Babylonian physicians
It was a method that relied on divination through different techniques, for example:
- The examination of conscience was essential in this civilization to be able to heal, that is why a kind of interrogation (catharsis) was carried out so that man would free himself from his faults and sins.
- Pyromancy was the method with which the patient’s future was guessed through the color, the click or the disposition of a flame.
- Oneiromancy , consisted of divination through the interpretation of dreams.
- Ecomancy was based on the interpretation of the drawing made by the oil when mixed with water.
- Hepatoscopy , with this practice an animal was sacrificed, which could be a lamb or a kid, to study its liver. Its shape, color, volume and grooves could give the diviner details about the patient.
2. Healing methods
The main healing technique was the story , something similar to what today’s psychologists do in their consultations. The idea was for the patient to understand the source and course of their disease. Other times the story went directly to the demons to force them to leave.
Another form of healing that was used was massage , which was performed with aromatic and medicinal plant oils and spells that were recorded in the book of incantations known as Mushu’u. In this way, migraine problems were treated, pain was relieved, childbirth was facilitated, recovery from significant fatigue, circulation was improved and it served to recover from local paralysis.
They also performed surgical treatments such as wound healing, trepanations, cataract operations, phlebotomies, amputations, evacuation of abscesses. The operations were done with rituals and had a ceremonial character with the intention of attracting the supernatural energy that was needed and desired. The effectiveness of the treatment was considered to depend on ethics and the suspension of the psyche to receive divine energy.
3. Preventive methods
A preventive method was the use of amulets that were placed on the wrists and ankles. In this way the demons were prevented from entering the body, since it was thought that they entered through the extremities.
For the Babylonian doctors , personal and public hygiene was essential to avoid diseases. As a public measure, they separated lepers from healthy people by expelling them from the cities and creating special regions for them.
Babylon Medical Archives
At that time, patients, relatives and priests recorded on tablets the symptoms and treatments they used. All the inventions of the time were also recorded, many of them related to medicine or used by it, such as weights and measures.
The oldest medical sources that are written come from the Mesopotamian and Sumerian civilizations. Indeed, the oldest medical document of this civilization found in 1974 in Nippur is a black Sumerian tablet from the third millennium that has 15 medical prescriptions.
The Code of Hammurabi, a black basalt column preserved in the Louvre Museum, represents an important indication of the contributions of Babylonian medical activity.
Babylonian medical practice was considered witchcraft or black magic during the Middle Ages, until which time it was openly practiced.
References
Pangas, J. C. (1988). Babylonian healing art. Sources for your study. Asian and African Studies, 23(2(76)), 313–328. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40312071
Choker, PM (S/F). Curious history of medicine: from trepanations to bacteriological warfare.
