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Andras Bácskay

Magical Elements of
Mesopotamian Medical Texts

1. General introduction to Mesopotamian medical sources

1.1 Types of
sources Usually sources of Mesopotamian medicine are
categorized as archeological sources (amulets, votive objects and
stamp rolls) and textual sources (clay tablets), among them
scientific texts (like lists, canonical series and commentaries), and
other textual sources ( letters between king and ritual expert or
expert to expert, economic documents and literary texts) . magical
purposes. There can be no doubt either about the purpose and
orientation of the letters and literary excerpts that distinctly
described healing rites, while the so-called therapeutic tablets,
which are supposed to be categorized as purely scientific texts,
contain seemingly medical descriptions but in actual reality These
descriptions include a variety of magical elements.

1.2 Distribution of medical tablets in space

and time Clay tablets containing Mesopotamian medical texts are
varied both regarding time of origin and location. Their majority have been found

1
For the source of Mesopotamian medicine see BIGGs, RD: Medizin. In EDzARD, DO
(ed.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archaologie 7 (1987–1990)
625–626; BIGGs, RD: Medicine, surgery and Public Health in Ancient Mesopotamia. In
sAssOn, JM (ed.): Civilizations of the Ancient Near East III. new york - london 2000, 1911–1924.
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Magical Elements of Mesopotamian Medical Texts 11

the collections of more signiicant Assyrian royal libraries (Aššur, Kalhu , ninive ),
and the rest have been spread among some private archives or even in collections
of individual ritual experts. As to their chronological line it can be stated that their
distribution is even more uneven. On the one hand, the first medical tablets go
back as far as the end of the third millennium B.C., while the majority of tablets
come from the so-called Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian and even the late
Babylonian and Persian periods.2 some of the late medical texts became part of
the Talmudic tradition.3 The chronological distribution is also supported by the
fact that the language of the early texts was Sumerian and in the so-called Old-
Babylonian periods their language changed into Akkadian.4

1.3 Contents and cultural background of Mesopotamian medicine

From the examination of the Mesopotamian medical texts one can conclude that
the terminology of medical texts, more precisely their underlying conceptual and
cultural frameworks, cannot be equalized with the taxonomy

2 Medical tablets from Avvur: EBELInG, E.: Kelischrifttexte aus Assur religiösen Inhalts [KAR] I–II.
Leipzig 1919; EBELInG, E.: Literarische Keilschrifttexte aus Assur [LKA]. Berlin 1953; KöCHER, F.: Die
babylonisch– assyrische Medizin in Texten und Untersuchungen [BAM] I–VI, Berlin 1963–1980, I, II, III,
IV; medical texts from nineive: EBELInG, E.: Keilschrifttexte medizinischen Inhalts [KMI] I–II. Berlin
1922–1923; THOMPsOn, RC: Assyrian Medical Texts [AMT]. London 1923; BAM IV, V; medical texts from
sultantepe: GURnEY, OR – FInKELsTEIn, JJ – GARsTAnG, J.: The Sultantepe Tablets I [STT I]. London
- The British Institute of Archeology at Ankara 1957; GURNEY, OR – HULIn, P.: The Sultantepe Tablets
II [STT II]. London - The British Institute of Archeology at Ankara 1964; medical texts from Uruk:
FALKEnsTEIn, A.: Literarische Keilschrifttexte aus Uruk [LKU] Berlin 1931; HUnGER, H.: Spätbabylonische
Texte aus Uruk I [SBTU I]. Berlin 1976; VOn WEIHER, E.: Spätbabylonische Texte aus dem Planquadrat
U 18 [SBTU IV]. Mainz am Rhein 1993. For the late Babylonian text see GELLER, MJ: The survival of Babylonian Wissenschaft
M. (eds.): The Heirs of Assyria. Proceedings of the Opening Symposium of the Assyrian and Babylonian
Intellectual Heritage (Melammu Symposia, 1) [The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project]. Helsinki 2000, 1–6, here 3–5.
3
GELLER: The survival (n. 2) 6, GELLER, MJ: Akkadian Medicine in the Babylonian Talmud. In
sHERBOK, DC (ed): A Traditional Quest: Essays in Honor of Louis Jacobs Sheield [Journal for the study
of the Old Testament Press]. 1991, 102–112; and VELTRI, G.: Magie and Halakha. Ansätze zu einem
empiri schen Wissenschaftsbegrif im spätantiken und frühmittelartlichen Judentum. Tubingen 1997, 91–220.
4
For the Mesopotamian medicine, see AVALOs, H.: Illness and Health Care in the Ancient Near East:
The Role of the Temple in Greece, Mesopotamia and Israel [Harvard semitic Monographs 54].
Atlanta 1995, 2–25; BIGGs: surgery (n. 1) 1911–1924; HEEssEL, n.d. P.: Diagnostik in Babylonien und
Assyrien. Medizinhistorisches Journal 36 (2001) 247–266; MAUL, sT.: Die Heilkunst des Alten Orients.
Medizinhistorisches Journal 36 (2001) 3–22; BáCsKAY, A.: Orvoslás az ókori Mezopotámiában [Medicine
in Ancient Mesopotamia]. Orvosi Hetilap 142/2 (2001) 81–87; BáCsKAY, A.: Mezopotámiai orvoslás
[Mesopotamian Medicine]. Ókor II/ 2–3 (2003) 19–25.
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12 Andras Bácskay

of either modern medicine or that prevailing in public thinking, and it makes

no sense to examine the concepts and treatments used by Mesopotamian
medicine isolated from incantations, omens and other ritual texts. In my
approaches the Mesopotamian concept of illness is from a different point
of view, interpreting physical complaints and pain, that is symptoms and
illness, as messages from the gods (omens), claiming that medical texts
deal with a speciic type of this kind of message transfer, namely those
cases when the bad omen occurs on the human body. The harmful radiation
of bad omens was supposed to cause further sufering, so Mesopotamian
medical texts usually listed various kinds of sufering in regard of various
individual cases. Thus, to a certain extent, there is a causal relationship
between bad women and their harmful radiation. We claim that this causality
is not the same as modern medicine's symptom-illness relationship, since
the harmful radiation of the bad omen could cause any kind of physical or
mental sufering, or any other adversity, that is, the contents of the causality
were deined By the concepts of ritual purity and impurity.5 Accordingly ,
we claim that the healing procedures described in Mesopotamian medical
texts can be considered as a certain type of apotropaic rites. The concept
of illness is interpreted in the texts by the individual's loss of the protection
of their personal deity, thus becoming defenseless to harmful magical
practices and attacks by demons. Consequently, illness is nothing else but
the sign of the state of a moral, ethical (eventually sacral) deviation and at
the same time an impure state. The goal of healing is to relieve the patient from this state.

2. Magical elements in the process

of treatment with medications

As a result of the above-introduced interpretation of illness and treatment,

it is a logical consequence that the process of healing is embedded in semi.

5
For the Mesopotamian concept of illness, see sCURLOCK, J. - AnDERsEn, B.R .: Diagnoses
in Assyrian and Babylonian Medicine. University of Illinois 2005; BáCsKAY, A.: Illness or
symptom? some remarks on the terminology of Mesopotamian medical texts. Acta Antiqua 47
(2007) 17–23; sTOL, M.: Diagnosis and Therapy in Babylonian Medicine. Jaarbericht van het
Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap Ex Oriente Lux 33 (1991/92) 42–65; GELLER, MJ: Ancient
Medicine: The Patient's Perspective. Journal of Nephrology 17 (2004) 605–610; MAUL, sT.:
Zukunftsbewältigung. Eine Untersuchung altorientalischen Denkens anhand der babylonisch-assirischen Löserituale (
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Magical Elements of Mesopotamian Medical Texts 13

magical rites. The process of the healing rites consists of the following main steps:

ÿ Preparation: During this stage the signs (perceived both in the patient's
environment and on the body of the patient) are collected, interpreted (that
is the sender of the illness and the cause of sufering are identified) by the
ritual expert. This is followed by the step in which the types, location and
time of the rites are determined. After this the medical experts prepare the
medical materials and tools. ÿ Treatment: This stage is about how the
necessary medical treatment, that is the actual mixture of the healing matter
and its application on the related body parts, is carried out; just like the same
procedures with amulets and other apotropaic instruments. ÿ Post hoc
treatment: this stage includes purifying rites whose goal is to defend the
patient and his environment from any recurrence of harmful radiation and
demons.

From the methodological point of view, in Mesopotamian diagnostic procedures

one of the most important factors was to deine the body part on which illness
occurred, because all treatments with healing substances or amulets were
focused on this specific part of the body. In Mesopotamian medical thinking it
was pre-supposed that if the bad omen is terminated, so is the suffering too. Thus
the inal goal of the treatment procedures was to ritually purify the sacramentally
blemished body part.6 The orientation towards the impure body part deined the
type of the medical substance, as well as the way the substance was applied. As
a consequence one should not make the mistake of considering treatment
procedures as ways of curing certain illnesses, or drawing a parallel between the
ways of applying medicaments in Mesopotamian and modern medicine. Thus I
claim that it was not a practical experience that deined the ingredients of medicines
and their mode of application, but rather the aspects of ritual purity and the
orientation of treatments. As a continuation of this line of arguing, we can state
that the minor role of practice in the curing of illnesses is supported by the magic
elements, identifiable in each step. Thus this kind of treatment constituted an
organic part of magical healing rites.

6
For this topic, see VAn DER TOORn, K.: Sin and Sanction in Israel and Mesopotamia.
Assen - Maastricht 1985; MAUL: zukunftsbewältigung (n. 5).
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14 Andras Bácskay

2.1 The way of applying medications

The medication's state (solid, liquid and gas) and the way of its application
(bandage, lotion, fuming, drinking, rubbing, drops, etc.) depend primarily
on the body part to be treated.7 That means distinction between the body
parts which could be reached from the outside and those which were
located inside the body. Beside the impure body parts, the medical
treatment was also applied on the “infected” parts which were believed to
be impure as a consequence of the radiation of harmful omens (bodily sufering, illnesses).
For instance, related to fever perceived on the head the following
phenomena could be identified: eye complaints, hair fall and occasional ear complaints.
Among the most frequent applications (where frequency also includes
the number of illnesses treated) we can ind rubbing, lotions and drinks.
The irst type can be explained by the fact that rubbing and lotion could be
spread on the whole body surface, while in the case of the latter type the
healing drinks could afect the internal body parts. It is the vomiting
following the drinking of medicine that explains the magical background of
this kind of treatment since the Mesopotamians believed in the power of
these procedures to chase out the impure forces hiding in the patient's body.

“…crush up (the herbs), (mix them) with beer, (and the patient should)
drink it, and he will vomit and (then) heal.”8

A similar idea might have led to the application of rectal injections and
the application of lotions or eye-drops (which were also served to induce
tear drops), forcing out of internally hiding harming powers:

“… Cut up these 25 healing and aromatic plants, pound into small

pieces, take beer, mustard juice and strong vinegar, and add them to the
grist. Put it into an oven and take it out in the morning, cool it down, add
some honey and iltered oil, then drop it once-twice-thrice into his rectum.”9

7
For this topic, see VOn GOLTz, D.: studien zur altorientalischen und griechischhen
Heilkunde. Therapie-Arzneibereitung-Rezeptstruktur. Wiesbaden 1974; sTOL: Diagnosis (n. 5).

8
TsUKIMOTO, A.: “By the Hand of Madi-Dagan, the Scribe and Apkallu-Priest”. A Medical
Text from the Middle Euphrates Region. In WATAnABE, K. (ed.): Priest and Oicials in the Ancient Near East.
Heidelberg 1999, Obv. 19.
9
BAM 168. 28–32.
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Magical Elements of Mesopotamian Medical Texts 15

“…crush up (the herbs), mix them with oil, and wash his eyes with salicor
nia until they start watering (and then) swathe (him) with this liquid.”10

Thus the kinds of medical applications were primarily deined by the in tention
of reaching the impure body parts; This is why all the openings of the body could
be used for getting the medication to the infected internal body parts. There are
also known procedures when, probably in order to reinforce the healing effect, the
medical experts tried to reach inside the infected body parts from both directions:

“… (This medicament) should be drunk on an empty stomach once, twice and

thrice, then the patient should drink šiqqu and vinegar (and then) drop (the
medication) into his rectum.”11

We can conclude from the above-mentioned examples, that to identify the

Mesopotamian healing applications with the healing procedures of modern
medicine is misleading, as while in the case of modern medicine the choice of
medication (salve, tablets, etc.) depends above all On the healing effects of the
medical substances, the choice of application in Ancient Mesopotamia was based
on the intention of reaching the impure body parts.

2.2 The spirit of the location

2.2.1 “Putting out the medicaments under the
stars”12 In therapeutic medical texts, during the preparation of medicaments, it is
often mentioned that the medicament “is put out under the stars” for the night
and the medicine is only used the following morning. The roots of this process
apparently went back to the idea that the Mesopotamians assigned magical
characteristic to the stars as the representations of the gods, and they thought
that the medicine gains its efect through the contact with the supernatural.13 In
several therapeutic texts the star “under which the medicine had to be placed”
was pointed out exactly. This method can be identified in the following examples:

10 BAM 480 III. col. III.

11 AMT 39 1 10.
12
ina ÿalmi ana pÿn mulenzi tušbât (AMT 31 4:13); similar: BAM 54 10; 159 V. 13; and: ana
pÿn dGula tukân (BAM 168 36).
13
For the magical role of the stars, see REInER, E.: Astral Magic in Babylonia. Oxford 1995, 46–47.
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16 Andras Bácskay

“If somebody's inside is always hot… put (the medicine) under the stars
and next morning…”14

“If somebody's attacked by the išÿt libbi illness… put (the medication)
under the stars and next morning on an empty stomach… (gap)”15

In the above examples research has already identified the magic

background of the procedures described;16 however, I think the ancient
Mesopotamians also imputed similar magic effects to the procedures,
when the medicine was placed overnight in an outdoor oven:

“If somebody's sufering from ÿÿta ÿamiÿ illness, close (the medicament)
in an oven, next morning take it out and cool it down…”17

2.2.2 The application of lower

circles in apotropaic rites The application of a lower circle or some kind of
curtain occurs frequently to outline the sacral space where the magic rites take place.
We can also ind examples for this treatment among therapeutic texts.

“… cook (the herbs) and cut up the mustard grass and baluÿÿu aroma in a
lower circle, and smear it on the patient, and swathe him…”18

“…circle his bed with low and perform fuming at his head…”19

2.3 The importance of

numbers20 Finally, we have found a signiicant occurrence of numbers
which played an important role in Mesopotamian medical application. The
following elements found in Mesopotamian therapeutic texts are relevant to the present top

14
AMT 39 1 13–14.
15
AMT 39 1 11–12.
16
REINER (n. 13) 67.
17
BAM 168 18–31.
18
AMT 39 1 5.
19
BAM 150 obv. 10–11.
20
For the importance of numbers in Mesopotamian medical texts see: BáCsKAY, A.: numerical magic
in Babylonian therapeutic texts. In szAbo, á. VARGYAs, P. (eds.): Cultus deorum: studia religionum ad
historiam. In memory of István Toth. Pecs 2008, 73–80.
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Magical Elements of Mesopotamian Medical Texts 17

ÿ the duration of the illness, ÿ

the number of healing substances used for medical treatment, ÿ the
duration of the treatment, ÿ the frequency of healing procedures, ÿ
the number of magic stones in the chain-amulets, and ÿ the frequency
of recitation of incantations.

The duration of the healing rites is not dealt with in this paper because there
are no references to this in the medical texts, though on the basis of other sources
it can be stated that healing rites, similarly to other apotropaic rites, could be
carried out only on hemerologically beneficial days

2.3.1 The duration of the

illness Among the different medical texts, diagnostic omens treat the length of
suffering experienced by the patient. 22 However, I suppose that the duration (the
Akkadian term for the duration of the illness is adannu) was not important in itself,
only in a coherent system together with the patient's bodily signs, the identiication
of the cause of the suffering and the name of the illness.
The following example was taken from the series of diagnostic omens:

“If the patient is ill for 2 or 3 days until the fever and the inflamation disappear,
then after…disappears, his illness is…If on the second or third day he is hot or
cold, and sweating, he has lubÿtu illness…If On the second or third day he is
suffering from stomachache, fever and sweating… If on the second or third day
he… and sweating…”23

Lines connecting the duration of the illness and the body signs can also be
found in therapeutic texts:

“If (his illness) is the same, then his face is like that of someone who drinks (a
lot of) beer and is heavily sweating. This man will be ill for 21 days. so

21
For the advantageous days of the medical ritual see sTOL: Diagnosis (n. 5) 58.
22
For the diagnostic omen texts see HEEssEL, n. P.: Babylonisch-Assyrische Diagnostik [AOAT
43]. Munster 2000; HEEssEL: Diagnostik (n. 4) 247–266 and sTOL: Diagnosis (n. 5) 42–65.
23 Tablet 16 of the diagnostic omen series - SBTU I 37. 30–34.
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18 Andras Bácskay

that his illness will not last longer, he should drink first class beer sediment
and…”24

2.3.2 The number of medical substances

used The whole corpus of therapeutic texts contains several hundred
medical substances though individual sources vary signiicantly as regards
the number of medical substances;25 see the following examples:

“...These 15 medicinal plants...pound into small pieces, (probably mix them)

with… cress-powder…”26

The related ritual is as follows: take seven northern St. John's breads,
roast them on poplar ire, and mix them with oil, while you recite the
incantation seven times, smear (the patient) three times and press him
(probably massage). Then recite the incantation on his head.
Cut up these 25 healing and aromatic plants, pound into small pieces,
take beer, mustard juice and strong vinegar, and add them to the grist. Put
it into an oven and take it out in the morning, cool it down, add some honey
and iltered oil, then drop it once-twice-thrice into his rectum.”27

Cut up these 8 medicinal plants, press them in beer, let him (the patient)
Drink it, smear (his head) with oil, and he will recover.”28

2.3.3 The duration of

treatments The majority of medical texts do not refer to the length of
various types of treatment (lotions, bandages, liquids, fuming, etc.).
However, where information regarding the duration is given, we can ind the
following periods of time:

ÿ 3-day treatment

24 BAM 416 Obv. 10–12.

25
For the types of healing substances see POWEL, MA: Pharmaceuticals in Mesopotamia. In
WALTER, I. - WALTER, J. (eds.): The Healing Past. Pharmaceuticals in the Biblical and Rabbinic Word.
Leiden 1983, 47–67, here 59; and VOn GOLTz (n. 7) 19.
26
AMT 39 1 32–33, 57–58.
27 BAM 168 28–32.
28 BAM 146 38–42.
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Magical Elements of Mesopotamian Medical Texts 19

“… Mold (the healing plants) in mustard juice, shave its head and bandage it
with the mixture and do not undo the bandage for 3 days. Mix alum and black
paste in lion fat, smear it over his eyes and he will recover.”
“…Cut up (the healing plants), pound them and mold them in mustard juice
(and) bandage his head for 3 days.”29

ÿ 15-day treatment

“shave (the patient’s head), mold wheat in mustard juice (and) bandage his
head for 15 days.”30

ÿ 7-day treatment

“...soak (the healing plants) in water, and wash the patient with the liquid
for 7 days and then he will recover.” 31

2.3.4 The frequency of treatment

Though repetitive medical treatment occurs fairly frequently in the texts, the exact
number of repetitions is usually not referred to, as in the majority of cases
Akkadian language expresses repeated actions by using iterative verbal forms.
Examining the numerical data used in therapeutic texts, the following types can
be distinguished:

ÿ1x2x3x

“If some body has sore eyes and fever… (The healing substance) pound with
butter… wash (the patient) with water… and smear his eyes with (the medication)
once, twice, thrice…”32

“...put (the medicament) on the (patient's) head, and sprinkle cedar aro
ma on it, and (drop the medication) into his ears once, twice, thrice…”33

29
BAM 480 Col. II 62.
30
BAM 480 Col. II 61.
31 Tsukimoto obv. 15.
32
AMT 2020 7–8.
33
AMT 35 2 7.
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20 Andras Bácskay

“… (let the patient) drink the medicine once, twice, thrice on an empty
stomach, (then) he should drink šiqqu and vinegar, and then (probably: a drop
from the medication) into his rectum.”34
ÿ 3x

The related ritual is as follows: take seven northern St. John's breads, roast
them on poplar ire, and mix them with oil, while you recite the incantation
seven times, smear (the patient) three times and press him (probably
massage). Then recite the incantation on his head.”35

2.3.5 The number of stones in the chain-

amulet The goal of the application of amulets occurring in medical is to ensure
the ritual/magical texts security of the part of the body or of the patient
previously cleaned from the harmful omen through medical treatments 36.
The amulets identiiable from the sources can be divided into two types
according to their form. The first one is the chain-amulet, which contains
magic stones strung on a yarn; the other one rubs the magic substances in a
piece of ir, leather or wool (which I would call bag-amulet). Out of these types
chain-amulets are relevant to our topic.

“If somebody's head is feverish and his hair is falling, to stop the head
fever and hair fall… (following the medical treatment) the connected rite is the
following: (list of the stones) these 13 (stones) strung on a wool yarn 37

“... (listing 7 magic stones) tie these stones on his (the patient's) arms and
legs, and (recite) the incantation starting with kattaritum.”38

34
AMT 39 1 10.
35
BAM 168 28–30.
36
MAUL: zukunftsbewältigung (n. 5) 107–113 and sTOL, M.: Epilepsy in Babylonia [sTYX
Publications]. Groningen 1993, 108. For the therapeutic texts with list of amulet stones, see
BAM 250, 342–377, 386, 419, 420. For the list of amulets and other prophylactic magic tools,
see BAM 315, STT 273, SBTU I 56 ; Köcher, F.: Ein verkannter neubabylonischer Text aus sippar.
Archive für Orientforschung 20 (1963) 156–158, here 156; FInKEL, IL: On Late Babylonian
Medical Training. In GEORGE, AR - FInKEL, IL (eds.): Wisdom, Gods and Literature. Studies
in Assyriology in Honor of WG Lambert. Winona Lake, Ind. 2000, 139–223, here nr. 51.
37
BAM 480 Col. III. 22–31.
38 Tsukimoto obv. 21–23.
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Magical Elements of Mesopotamian Medical Texts 21

“The related ritual is as follows: carneol, lapis lazuli, mountain crystal,

calzedon, papparmÿnu stone, šÿÿu stone, serpentine, arsenic, UGU.AŠ.GI.GI
stone, hematite, šubû stone, right- and left-side, ZA MUŠ stone strung on a wool
yarn, and place it in his hair!”39

2.3.6 The frequency of recitation of incantations

The incantations identiied in therapeutic texts relate to two processes of healing
rites (to the applications of healing substances and to that of amulets respectively),
as Mesopotamians believed that incantations of divine origin provide indispensable
help to make medicaments (so-called bulÿu or šammu) and amulets (so-called
mÿlu) efective, that is the real healing efect of medicaments and amulets was
ensured by the relevant incantations. 40 In the texts examined we could distinguish
the following types concerning the frequency of recitation:

ÿ Recite seven and seven times

“…incantations…recite the incantation seven and seven times on the

decoction of mold (then) swathe his forehead.”41

ÿ Recite seven times

“The related ritual is as follows: take seven northern St. John's breads, roast
them on poplar ire, and mix them with oil, while you recite the incantation seven
times…” 42

ÿ Recite three times

“The related ritual is as follows: desiccate nÿnû plant, sulfur, atÿ´išu plant,
asparagus, pound them, mix them with oil, and recite the incantation above it
three times, smear him with it and he will recover…”43

39
BAM 3 Col. II. 20–23.
40
For this topic, see LAMBERT, WG: Fire Incantations. Archive für Orientforschung 23
(1970) 39–45, here 44; GELLER, MJ: Incipits and Rubrics. In GEORGE–FInKEL (n. 36) 232–
238; FInKEL, IL: Magic and Medicine at Meskene. NABU 1999, 28–30.
41
BAM 482 Col. I 24.
42
BAM 147 Rev. 21–22.
43
BAM 148 Rev. 23–27.
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22 Andras Bácskay

The numerical data shows that the most frequently occurring numbers within
the various steps of healing rites and treatments with healing substances are
very similar. I think that this similarity can not be related to a mere coincidence
or to the result of practical experience originating in medical treatments but to
the realization of Mesopotamian numerical magic.
Although the relationship between numbers occurring in therapeutic texts has
not been examined in depth by researchers, the numerical magical connections
between apotropaic rites related to the procedures considered as
characteristically magical (ie the number of recitation of incantations) have
been known for a long time. The result of the above analysis of numerical data
in therapeutic texts also points to this trend. Not only the numbers related to
the recitation of incantations or the application of amulets are of magical
character, but also the magical numbers constituting part of the medical
treatment procedures. More precisely, the numerical data of therapeutic texts
can be located in the same system of relationship within Mesopotamian
numerical magic. The above-mentioned conclusion can be traced most obviously
in the duration and the frequency of medical treatments. In this logical system,
medical treatments, or at least some of the elements of medical treatments have
been characterised by researchers as being close to modern medical
approaches, the connection of applying healing substances to times of the day
is also part of the Mesopotamian numerical magical. system. One of the
examples of treatment related to parts of the day is to be found in the following
text:

“If somebody's face, neck, and lips become sore, and (the wounds) burn like
ire, this person has been seized by rÿbiÿu demon. For his healing… smear him
(with the medicament) in the morning, at noon and in the evening.”44

Repeated treatment is not at all unusual in medical sources, although the

exact number of repetitions is generally not given in the texts. I think that the
three daily treatments (in the morning, at noon and in the evening) are not the
result of practical experiences in Mesopotamian medicine, that is of medical
knowledge routed in recognizing the absorption time of medi-caments, but it is
more likely to be related to the numerical magical back ground connected to
the most frequently occurring number three in the above table.

44
SBTU I 46 6–15.
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Magical Elements of Mesopotamian Medical Texts 23

3. Conclusion

Summarizing the research results described above, we can state that it was not a
practical experience that deined the ingredients of medicines and their mode of
application, but rather the aspects of ritual purity and the orientation of treatments.
As a continuation of this line of arguing, we can state that the minor role of
practice in the curing of illnesses is supported by the magic elements (eg aspects
of numerology, or magic circles) identiiable in each step of healing with
medicaments. Thus this kind of treatment constituted an organic part of magical
healing rites.