Diagnoses in Assyrian and Babylonian Medicine: Ancient Sources, Translations, and Modern Medical Analyses

13. Neurology

The signs and symptoms associated with diseases of the nervous system provide some of the most unique and focused findings. These abnormalities can readily be found by an observant physician, a characteristic that certainly applies to the ams hipu. Another advantage to the student of neurologic illnesses is that the signs and symptoms described in the past can generally be explained in terms that are understandable today. Pain, paralysis, tremors, and seizures, both focal and generalized, are well described in ancient medical texts. This has resulted in an impressive array of diseases and symptom complexes that can be identified by modernphysicians,andtheygiveusaveryclearideaoftheproblemsfacedbyourcolleagues in ancient Mesopotamia. Signs and Symptoms of Neurologic Disorders pain Pain can be a normal response to a disease such as infection or trauma, but it can also be the result of a disease of the nervous system. As it has been frequently noted with ancient Mesopotamianmedicalterminology,theamshipudistinguishednotonlydifferenttypesofpain butalsodifferentlevelsofpainexperiencedbyhispatients.Painsinvariouspartsofthebody (butparticularlytheheadandinternalorgans)weredescribedassimplyhurtingthepatient (KÚ/akamlu) or actively “afflicting” him (DIB/s.aba mtu). chapter 13 Neurology If a man’s feet lick the ground . . . —BAM 393 r. 19 hurting (kú/AKAMLU) 13.1 DISHNA SAG.KI-shú KÚII-shú . . . (BAM 482 i 64⬘) **If a person’s temples continually hurt him... 13.2 DISHNA SA GÚ-s hú KÚ-s hú SHU.GIDIM.MA (AMT 97/4:18; BAM 209 r. 18⬘; BAM 473 iv 16⬘) **If the muscles of a person’s neck hurt him, “hand” of ghost. 13.3 DISHNA ina SHU.GIDIM.MA SHÀ-s hú KÚ.MESH-s hú . . . (BAM 161 iii 19⬘)1 **If as a result of “hand” of ghost, a person’s abdomen continually hurts him . . . afflicting (dib/S.ABA M TU) 13.4 DISHLÚ SA SAG.KI-s hú DIB-su-ma KÚII-s hú (BAM 482 ii 8) **If the blood vessels of a person’s temple afflict him and continually hurt him. 13.5 DISHSAG.DU-su DIB.DIB-su u KÚM NU TUKU SHU {d}15 (DPS III C obv. 35 = TDP 22:35) **If his head continually afflicts him and he does not have a fever, “hand” of Ishtar. 13.6 Ú s há-mi DIB-it SHÀ-bi . . . (BAM 422 iii 29⬘, 33⬘; BAM 423 i 30⬘; STT 92 ii 31–34; BAM 2 r. 6⬘–11⬘)2 **Plant for affliction of the stomach . . . Another way of describing pain was to say that a part of the body was “sick,” that is, sore (GIG/marams.u) or that it “touched” (TAG/lapa mtu) the patient. “sick” (sore) 13.7 KA.INIM.MA KA.GIG.GA.KÁM . . . (BAM 538 iv 49⬘; BAM 538 iii 56⬘, 62⬘//AMT 24/2:7⬘, 16⬘; BAM 538 iii 43⬘, 68⬘; AMT 23/6:6⬘; AMT 25/2:5⬘) **Recitation for “sick” (sore) mouth . . . 13.8 DISHNA MURUB4-shú GIG MÚ.MÚ . . . (BAM 56 obv. 8⬘) **If a person’s hip is “sick” (sore) (and) swollen . . . 13.9 DISHNA kab-bal-ta-s hu GIG . . . (BAM 124 ii 47//AMT 74/1 ii 20) **If a person’s ankles are “sick” (sore) . . . touching (tag/LAPAMTU) 13.10 DISHNA GESHTU ZAG-s hú TAG-su IM DIRI-at u MÚ.MESH. . . (AMT 105/1 iv 7) **If a person’s left ear “touches” him, is full of “clay,” and is swollen . . . Neurology 285 13.11 [DISH N]A SHU.{GIDIM4}.MA DIB-su-ma Á GÙB-s hú TAG.TAG-su . . . (BAM 197: 8[–9]; AMT 97/4:2 [coll.]) **[If] “hand” of ghost afflicts a {person} (so that) his right side continually “touches” him . . . InlightofEnglish“atouchofcold,”onemighthaveexpected“touching”paintobeless intense than normal, but the opposite conclusion seems to have been reached by the amshipu, as may be seen in the following commentary that uses this term to characterize what we call a splitting headache. We consequently have chosen to interpret TAG/lapa mtu as referring to intense pain. 13.12 [shi-bit] SAG.DU-s hú pat.-rat ÚSH: SAG.DU-s hú TAG.MESH(STT 403:22 [commentary to DPS III A obv. 24//C obv. 15 = TDP 20:15]) **[(If) the seam] of his head (feels like it) is open, he will die. (That means) his head continually “touches” him (i.e., hurts him intensely). viselike (HR ESÛ) Pain in the head, jaw, and lower back might also be described as “squeezing,” that is, viselike (hresû). 13.13 DISHSAG...