Curated texts / Remedies
Remedies
Medical prescriptions from Assyrian and Babylonian healers: plants, oils, beer and the occasional incantation, with instructions for preparing and applying them. Editions are mostly in print (BAM). English here is an unedited machine draft, and drug and plant names are often wrong.
Machine drafts. Every English quotation here is unedited output of an ATF-to-English model, not a scholarly translation. Each card names its source; cards marked machine English only come from sources (eBL) whose transliterations we do not republish.
9 tablets
Head-fever and headache remedies (Iraq 65, 222)
Iraq 65, 222 · Sippar-Yahrurum (mod. Tell Abu Habbah) · Neo-Babylonian“You pour oil on his lips, you wipe clean it.”line 44
Neo-Babylonian therapeutic recipes from Sippar: poultices for a feverish head, ear, eye, nose and tooth complaints.
Read the tablet →Field guide to medicinal plants (BAM 4, 379)
BAM 4, 379 (+) BINB B80 · Babylon (mod. Bābil) · Neo-Babylonian“The plant whose appearance is like a cucumber does not come out, it is the name of the eye plant.”line 32'
Neo-Babylonian list from Babylon that describes healing plants by their appearance and names the illness each one treats.
Read the tablet →Ear treatments (BAM 1, 003)
BAM 1, 003 · Assur (mod. Qalat Sherqat) · Neo-Assyrian“You pour oil from the threshing floor. You set (the mixture) into his ears. You set up a censer of juniper.…”line 13
Neo-Assyrian prescriptions from Assur for ailments of the ears: drops, mixtures and fumigation.
Read the tablet →Remedies left out under the stars (BAM 4, 396)
BAM 4, 396 · Nippur (mod. Nuffar) · Middle Babylonian“You sit in the star of the 'finger.' After you drink it, then he will recover.”line 32'
Middle Babylonian medical text from Nippur; several preparations are left out overnight “under the stars” before use.
Read the tablet →Honey, oil and fumigation (KAR 157)
KAR 157 · Assur (mod. Qalat Sherqat) · Neo-Assyrian“You set up a censer (made) of cypress and put (it) in its midst and he will recover.”line 33
Neo-Assyrian prescriptions from Assur with overnight preparations and fumigation.
Read the tablet →Mouth and tongue ailments (STT 1, 096)
STT 1, 096 · Huzirina (mod. Sultantepe) · Neo-Assyrian“If a man is ill with a swollen tongue:…”line 5
Short Neo-Assyrian tablet from Sultantepe on illnesses of the mouth and tongue.
Read the tablet →Remedies with unusual ingredients (BAM 4, 398)
BAM 4, 398 · Nippur (mod. Nuffar) · period not recorded“You mix the kamku-plant with water from the river, (and) the head of the goose”line 40'
Medical prescriptions from Nippur, including river water and a goose's head.
Read the tablet →Measured beer, wine and oil (BAM 4, 409)
BAM 4, 409 · Uruk (mod. Warka) · period not recorded“5 liters of beer, 1 liter of beer, wine, 1/2 liter of oil, you set it in fire.”line 25
Medical text from Uruk with quantities for each ingredient and a scribal colophon.
Read the tablet →Prescriptions with a prayer to Gula (WAW 36, 469–479)
WAW 36, 469-479 · Sippar-Yahrurum (mod. Tell Abu Habbah) · period not recorded“Incantation: O Gula, most exalted lady, merciful mother, who dwells in the pure heavens…”line 20
Medical tablet from Sippar: mixtures for the skin, head and ears, with an incantation to Gula, goddess of healing.
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