Assyro-Babylonian medical texts - characterised by long lists of technical terms, such as names of diseases, plants and/or minerals - have always been difficult to understand because of the different interpretations that not only modern, but also ancient scholars gave to them. The therapeutic texts dated to the 7th century BCE known from the incipit of the first tablet of its first sub-series as šumma amēlu muḫḫašu umma ukāl (“If a man, his head contains heat”) concerns symptoms and diseases occurring in the whole body. Over the course of time it has been studied and analysed by medical professionals - in particular the ones belonging to the Šangu-Ninurta family, active during the 5th-4th centuries BCE -, who re-elaborated it, and produced an extract series basing on its texts. The so-called UGU series, its extract series, and the commentary of one tablet of it (SpTU 1.47) are interesting examples that show the continuity of the study of ancient texts during the centuries handing down the specific knowledge among professionals - usually belonging to the same family or to the same group of specialists -, and how therapeutic texts have been interpreted by ancient commentators.
"Transmission and interpretation of the therapeutic texts. Šumma anela muhhašu umma ukal: a case study", DWJ 1, 117-132.
Silvia Salin
2016-01-01
Abstract
Assyro-Babylonian medical texts - characterised by long lists of technical terms, such as names of diseases, plants and/or minerals - have always been difficult to understand because of the different interpretations that not only modern, but also ancient scholars gave to them. The therapeutic texts dated to the 7th century BCE known from the incipit of the first tablet of its first sub-series as šumma amēlu muḫḫašu umma ukāl (“If a man, his head contains heat”) concerns symptoms and diseases occurring in the whole body. Over the course of time it has been studied and analysed by medical professionals - in particular the ones belonging to the Šangu-Ninurta family, active during the 5th-4th centuries BCE -, who re-elaborated it, and produced an extract series basing on its texts. The so-called UGU series, its extract series, and the commentary of one tablet of it (SpTU 1.47) are interesting examples that show the continuity of the study of ancient texts during the centuries handing down the specific knowledge among professionals - usually belonging to the same family or to the same group of specialists -, and how therapeutic texts have been interpreted by ancient commentators.
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