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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
The following are translations from the cuneiform texts of the seventh century b.c. (from Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh) which deal with diseases of the feet and legs. The tablets are published in my Assyrian Medical Texts, and the translations are given here with various duplicates from elsewhere. Some have already been put before scholars by Ebeling (Archivf. Gesch. d. Medizin, xiii, xiv, and Keilschrifttexte Medidnischen Inhalts), but since his publication of them several “joins” have been made, so that, with the texthitherto untranslated and with the new knowledge subsequently acquired, a fresh edition will not be out of place. The connection of these medical texts dealing with diseases of the feet with those given in the series SA.GAL.LA (CT. xxiii, 1 ff.) will be obvious.
page 265 note 1 Abbreviations as in JRAS. 1929, 801, to which add: BBR., Zimmern, Ritualtafeln; D., A. Deimel, Sumerisches Lexicon; DACG., my Dictionary of Assyrian Chemistry and Geology; DKAWW., Denkschr. d. Akad. d. Wissensch. in Wien; Kü., Küchler, Beitr. z. Kenntnis d. Ass. Bab. Medizin; LZ., E. Ebeling, Liebeszauber im alten Orient (MDAG. 1); MDAG., Mitteil. d. Altor. Gesellschaft; MVAG., Mitteil. d. Vorderas. Gesellschaft; P., P. W. Squire, Companion to the British Pharmacopæia, 18th ed.; R., H. C. Rawlinson, Cuneiform Ins. of W. Asia; RA., Revue d'Assyriologie; ZA., Zeits. f. Assyriologie.
page 265 note 2 GIŠ.BU, AH. 139. It would appear to be a tree, but one not in common use.
page 266 note 1 iṣuŠE. RÚ. A. Since iṣušu-še is prescribed in 1. 4, liquorice cannot be intended for this word.
page 266 note 2 iṣuSir-du, see n. 4.
page 266 note 3 [Ku-u]n-nu-na(so E.)-ma la i-tar-[ra-ṣu]. Cf. it (?)-ta-na-ak-na-na,šu, AM. 70, 3, 3. The dup. gives [i]-ta-ra-aṣ.
page 266 note 4 iṣuŠi-iḳ-di, Heb. šôḳêdh, in contrast to the next, [iṣus]i-ir-di, Syr. šâr'dhâ, bitter almond. According to a tablet copied by Herr Pick which, through Professor Langdon, by the courtesy of Professor Ehelolf I am permitted to quote, úlubanu is equal to úbuṭnu ṣiḫrûtipl “small pistachio” and úšiḳdu matḳu “sweet almond”.
page 266 note 5 See my forthcoming article in AJSL. 1937, s.v. ḳudratu.
page 267 note 1 . . . Šam-ma ana KI (= irṣitu) la tu-na-tak, but not certain.
page 267 note 2 The text on the tablet is as I have copied it.
page 267 note 3 Cf. AM. 52, 8, 5.
page 267 note 4 ḪI.LIT.
page 267 note 5 iṣuKAN.ḪU.SI. Cf. AM. 89, 1, 6 (one of thirty-two to be drunk), and possibly Liebeszauber, 53, to be drunk with others in a virility charm (iṣuKAN.[ḪU.SI]).
page 267 note 6 See RA. 1929, 51, n. 1. Presumably it does not mean “sabû-beer of the water of husks of barley”?
page 267 note 7 Similar to AM. 70, 3, 7.
page 268 note 1 Sá-gu-ma (cf. ša-ag-gu-ma, 1. 8, šág-gu-ma, 1. 12, and šá-ga-ma, 1. 16). It-ta-na-aš-ga-gu, of hands and feet, AM. 106, 2, 12. Cf. Scheil, , RA. 1917, 87Google Scholar, MUD-su (“his heel”) šagig, where Scheil compares šiggatu, making the meaning “bruise”; Holma compared the Arab, šajajun “scalp-wound, broken head”, from šajja “broke”. The Assyrian treatment here for the affection indicated by šagâgu, as well as that for šiggatu (see RA. 1930, 132 ff.), suggests a strain, bruise, or blain. See E. xiii, 131, n. 2.
page 268 note 2 AM. 70, 3, 9, simply “skin”.
page 268 note 3 I am doubtful about the translation Lolium for saḫlê.
page 268 note 4 Iḳallil applied to ears hard of hearing, JRAS. 1931, 9 (AM. 35,2 + 34, 5 + 36, 1).
page 269 note 1 Usaḫḫalašu.. For DUGUD as the weight of the body on the feet cf. No. 194, 8.
page 269 note 2 Omitted on KAR.
page 269 note 3 KAR. ends rather differently after *Sagapenum: “these drugs thou shalt pound, strain, mash in beer in a small copper pan; strew (tilliḫ, RA. 1934, 21) wheaten flour thereon, spread on a skin, warm it, bind on him, and he shall recover. [In] the performance of this (. . . šipir annê) he shall drink mustard, *Calendula, tarḫu-plant in beer, with oil he shall be anointed.”
page 269 note 4 “And his hands and feet” omitted on AM. 70, 7.
page 269 note 5 [I-ra]-'-ba, i-ra-'-ub.
page 269 note 6 KI.GUB, varying with man-za-az (KAR. 191 and AM. 69, 2).
page 270 note 1 Taḫabbu. The full phrase is karpatuA.GUB.BA ta-ḫab-bu ina UL tuš-ziz (or -bat), varying with karpatuA.GUB.BA tukân(an). Taḫabbu has a final -u to indicate a relative clause, the subject of the main clause being indefinite: “thou shalt set a bowl, which thou shalt cover over, under the stars,” the idea of covering being (as is paralleled in the note on zisurrû below) to keep the evil influence of the rabiṣu away from the drugs. For this indefinite use of the simple final -u without ša, cf. (1) Gilg. Ep. (text, p. 73), šuttu attulu “a dream (which) I saw”; (2) ib., akalam iškunu “bread (which) she set”; (3) ib., awat taḫadû “a word (by which) thou shalt rejoice”, and other passages quoted, ib., to which may be added (4) my Prisms of Esarh., ii, 29, mâta ana iluAššurki ihṭû uma'ruinni iâši “it was I whom they made to control (any) land (which) sinned against Assyria”; (5) ib., iv, 81, kima ḳme meḫê išuppu, “like reeds (which) the storm(s) bend(s)”; (6) cf. No. 202, i, 18 ff.: murṣa ina zumri-ia ibaššû(ú). It will be noticed in the present example that the variant with tukân(an) has no ina UL tušziz following, and therefore no relative clause is indicated.
page 270 note 2 KAR. adds (or gives as variant) “tragacanth”.
page 270 note 3 Zisurrû. This is used here as a survival of magic, owing to the belief that a rabiṣu (“lurker”)-demon is the initial cause of the disease. The ointment with which the patient's legs are to be rubbed is to be left to steep “under the stars” in the cool of the night, the mixture containing various oils, honey, and ghee, as a menstruum for the tannin of the tamarisk, the daisy (whether it be bellis, anthemis, millefoil, or elecampane, AH. 70), and the hemlock (if I am right in my identification in AH.), all of which might well be used externally; for the “young palm” used medicinally, cf. Watt, G., Commercial Prod, of India, 884Google Scholar, where the date-palm is said to yield a gum used medicinally in the Panjab, and the fresh spathes a strong, but agreeable, perfume by distillation. Sir David Prain was so kind as to obtain the following for me from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, and I am indebted to him and to his informant, Mr. H. C. Sampson, C.I.E.:—
“Popenoe in his book Date Growing in the Old and New Worlds has a chapter on the Arab uses of the date and the following are appropriate quotations:—
“‘This is related by al-Jazairi, Abd al-Rizzaq, [The Relation of Enigmas (seventeenth or eighteenth centuries a.d.), tr. by DrLeclerc, Lucien, Paris, 1874]Google Scholar, who adds comfortingly that “the sap of palm leaves is a sure remedy for nervousness, kidney trouble, and putrid wounds; it calms the effervescence of the blood and is a tonic for the stomach.
“‘“The spatheofthe palm (usually the male) is sometimes cut before it has opened and ground up to make bread, while the male blossoms, when fully formed, but before the spathe has opened, are a delicacy in all parts of the Orient, either raw or as a salad with lemon juice. They are supposed to have an aphrodisiacal quality”.’”
To continue with the Assyrian procedure. The vessel in which these drugs are steeped is to be surrounded with zisurrû (KU.SUR.RA-(a) te-ṣir), a magic circle of meal (see Semitic Magic, lvii ff. and 123).
A simple parallel (in this case with ḳîmu, ZID, “flour”) is found in a ritual for pulling up the úḪUL.TI. GIL. LA, the Citrullus Cohcynthis, Schr., for magical purposes against a headache: “The wild gourd which springeth up by itself in the desert, when the sun entereth his dwelling, cover thy head with a cloth, and cover the wild gourd, and surround (it) with flour (ḳí-ma, ZID); in the morning before sunrise root it out from its place, and take its root” (see my Devils, ii, 67, 11. 32). This, protected for the night by the cloth and the magic circle against the headache (demon) which “roameth over the desert” (1.1), is to be bound on the sick man's head and neck with the hair of a virgin kid “that the headache which is in the body of the man may be removed” by being absorbed in the sphere of the gourd which is peculiarly a product of the desert. From what may be inferred from this magical text, “headache” (a very probable affection due to the desert sun) lives in the desert, where it roams by day, but returns at night to its “house”, the spherical, head-shaped, poisonous gourd.
Zisurrû is also used in the case of a patient suffering from asakku. An “atonement”-ritual is performed for him with the heart (or stomach) of a kid, which is supposed to absorb the evil influence and is then thrown into the street. Then, in order to prevent the return of the evil spirit, the patient is surrounded (eṣir) with a magic circle of zisurrû-meal (ib., 35). Other references will be found in ib., 121, 28; BBR. No. 54, 9. The latter ritual (like Haupt, Akk. Sum. Keils. Texts, No. 11, xx) includes gypsum in the magic circle, which suggests that the potency of its protection is due to the whiteness of the gypsum and flour, as against the evil symbolized by black, e.g. of bitumen (see DACG. xxxix, and 42).
page 271 note 1 “And he shall recover” omitted on AM. 70, 7, 12.
page 271 note 2 Most of these drugs have the addition of “tops (juice)” in AM. 70, 7.
page 271 note 3 For these two identifications (úmá-ereš-má-ra, úpirḫi) see my forthcoming article in AJSL. 1937.
page 272 note 1 Dašpu.
page 272 note 2 Ba-ba-za I.TI, the peculiar gypsum of the Euphrates (DACG. 43).
page 272 note 3 Ṭâba (ḪI.GA)-a-ti šikari. For tâbâtu as “vinegar” see PRSM. 1924, 21. Vinegar is used “as a cooling lotion in bruises and sprains”, P. 9. It is unlikely that this is ḫi-ga-a-ti (for ḫi-ḳa) as in ḫi-ḳa ša šikari, CT. xxiii, 46, 29; ḫi-iḳ šikari, KAR. 159, 9.
page 272 note 4 BAL.BAL.MEŠ-šú; cf AM. 70, 3, 3, No. 201.
page 272 note 5 I omitted the sign for BE regrettably in my copy.
page 272 note 6 Ta-sa-dir.
page 272 note 7 aGUG; see DACG. 124.
page 272 note 8 aKak-ku-[us]; see DACG. 180.
page 272 note 9 See 1. 2; KAR. 185, ii, 9; AM. 69, 9, 7 (No. 195); and AM. 58, 7, 4 (No. 204).
page 272 note 10 lt-te-nin-ṣi(l)-la-šú, here of feet. The i, l is in AM. 106, 2, 23: “If a man is stricken in the throat, and the upper part of his eyes hurts him, blood (so add to the text) being brought into his mouth, his hands and feet (legs) iṣ-la.” i, 3 is also in CT. xxxvii, 39, 12: “If (a man)'s libbipl like his fingers it-te-nin-ṣi-la.” KAR. 80, 4, e-te-ni-ṣi-la . . . For ii, 1, cf. ḳa-ti-šú uṣ-ṣi-lu, Shurpu vii, 24, the ideogram being LÁL; ii R. 27, c-d, 43, SU. GÍR.LAL.E = ḳatâii u šepâii uz-zu-la-ti. The meaning given in MA. is “bound”, connected with Heb. âṣal and Arab. waṣala. E. translates gelähmt. (For itteninsil see RA. 1929, 54.)
page 272 note 11 On úLAL as a red dye (?), see DACG. 30.
page 273 note 1 Additional in KAR.
page 273 note 2 Additional in AM.
page 273 note 3 Hrozný, , Getreide, 55Google Scholar.
page 273 note 4 KAR. adds E-nuru.
page 273 note 5 Variant in KAR.: “may it be destroyed.”
page 273 note 6 AM. omits.
page 273 note 7 KAR.: “these two charms,” omitting “three”.
page 273 note 8 AM. has additionally “with a bronze … over his feet…”
page 273 note 9 I am indebted to Mr. C. J. Gadd for improving my reading to RAT (?)-ma (?) ḫi-iḳ šikari. E. reads ta (?)-zak (?) ana ḫi-iḳ šikari.
page 274 note 1 Cf. No. 192, 3 ff. If the translation of DUGUD-šú na-šá-a a-tál-lu-ka la i-li-' be “he cannot bear his weight walking”, it is an unusually complicated sentence.
page 274 note 2 Ḫirṣi; cf. CT. xxiii, 11, 30 (E. xiii, 141) “vii ḫirṣi ša iṣuerî ešteniš(niš) išid-sunu išati tukap(b)p(b)ap(b) thread on red wool, tie seven knots”. E. Zweige (?).
page 274 note 3 [Ta-ḫar-r]a-aṣ; cf. AM. 70, 3, 5 (No. 201).
page 275 note 1 AH. 185, closely allied to the Celtis, or the fir.
page 275 note 2 An-ḫa tab-ba . . ., or perhaps similar to UD.DA.TAB.BA (= “the heat of the day”).
page 275 note 3 E. “entzündet”. It may be either iṣṣaraḫu or innapaḫu; see PRSM. 1924, 4.
page 275 note 4 Kiṣṣatu.
page 275 note 5 NI.GIŠ eri-ìn (?) (i.e. ši). The signs are as I have written them.
page 275 note 6 GIG BI + IS. It is uncertain whether BI + IS belongs to iṣuNAM.TAR.*GIRA or not.
page 276 note 1 See RA. 1930, 127.
page 276 note 2 For the sign cf. the Legend of the. Worm, CT. xvii, 50, 25, with its Assyrian variant AM. 25, 1, 8. The bran of barley (parrê dha-s'ârê) is prescribed in Syriac (SM. i, 400,1.8) in both a potion and a poultice, just as we find this in a poultice in Assyrian (AM. 32, 5, 10; KAR. 182, 34).
page 276 note 3 Taḫittu, RA. 1929, 52.
page 276 note 4 See No. 193, 8 ff.
page 276 note 5 Speleers, ú-ta-ṣal.
page 277 note 1 Šumma a-na ḳablâti áš-ṭa-a-te (v. ti) lu-ub-bu-ka cf. 1. 10, Ana SA ḳablâti lu-ub-bu-ka (v. ki). Although labâku has been hitherto taken to mean “to mix” (cf. Kü, s.v., and PRSM. 1926, 31), it is possible that the Arabic labaḳa “soften”, rather than labaka “mix” is the proper cognate, in spite of the k and ḳ. The word is used in ḪARpl-šú ilabbiku (AM. 55, 1, 3; cf. 86, 3, 8), so that “mix” here is again out of the question. It will depend on the exact meaning of ḪARpl, which include part of the internal organs. If “soften” is its meaning when used in relation to parts of the body, it may well be applied to the drugs with which it occurs, instead of “mix”.
page 277 note 2 Šikkati, Zimmern, Shurpu, 60; DACG. 176.
page 277 note 3 AM. 69, 8, omits.
page 277 note 4 See JRAS. 1931, 20.
page 278 note 1 See DACG. 38 ff.
page 278 note 2 [Ta-ba]-šal?
page 278 note 3 It (?)-ta-na-ak-na-na-šú and ik-ta-na-an-na; . . .
page 278 note 4 Sá-pu-la-šú, dual (?), Holma, , Kōrp., 161Google Scholar.
page 278 note 5 BAL.BAL-šú; cf. No. 192, note to col. ii, 7.
page 278 note 6 E. reads ṣa-ri-im . . ., but after re-examination I think that a is more probable than ṣa, although there is certainly a doubt.
page 278 note 7 Taḫarraṣ; cf. AM. 13,1, r. 1 (PRSM. 1926, 41); AM. 69, 9, 5 (No. 195).
page 279 note 1 Rimku, something poured away.
page 279 note 2 SUK.DINGIR; cf. SUK.KU = parakku, D. 522, 28.
page 279 note 3 Cf. AM. 13, 4, 4, and 90,1, iii, 18, for this restoration (AJSL. 1930, 24).
page 279 note 4 KI.SÍ(G).GA, kasap kispi (D. 461, 108, b), the offering for the dead.
page 279 note 5 Ikassip.
page 279 note 6 Kabarta. Hunger, , MVAG. 1909, 3, 131Google Scholar, “Wade, Unterschenkel”; E. xiii, 131, “etwas wie Anschwellung” as a possibility; Müller, Reiner (Arch.f. Gesch. d. Med., xviii, 1926,189)Google Scholar, Mycetoma pedis. I think that with E.'s suggestion it may be referred to the root k-b-r “to be big”. In a metaphorical use it occurs in Scheil, , RA. 1930, 147Google Scholar: kabartim ša la šumšu “exaltation d'un homme de rien” in an omen-text. Besides the numerous instances in the present text, cf. AM. 77, 1 + AM. 28, 7 (AJSL. 1930, 2): “[If a man] is struck a blow on the face and its surrounding (flesh) poisons him, the result (being) a [swe]lling (?) ([ka-b]ar-ti).” Cf. 1. (52) (AM. 73, 1, 15; KAR. 192, 1, 8), “his feet are swollen” (kabbaru).
page 280 note 1 Taḫabbu. See note to No. 192, 1. 9 ff.
page 280 note 2 Text re-examined: tušadbašu.
page 280 note 3 Cf. my Devils, ii, 137.
page 280 note 4 šá-kín e-ṭi-rum.
page 281 note 1 BÁR.SI.GA, also Zimmern, BBR., No. 48, 3, where the directions are for the ministrant to go up to the city, and on the third day [ascend] the the roof of a BÁR.SI.GA. In our present text it is obvious from 11. 16, 18 (26, 28) that SI. GA is merely a descriptive adjective. SI = šaḳummu, “silent”, and since the BÁR. SI. GA may be situated in a city, have a roof, and be the dwelling of the great gods, it is probably a “silent” shrine, a disused temple.
page 281 note 2 Ina KU (?) te (for te-ṭir-ri); cf. 11. (55) ff. note.
page 281 note 3 For bašilta in this sense cf. CT. xvii, 50, 11, where it is applied to figs, obviously dried and not boiled.
page 282 note 1 If “pure water” be right, the man's leg shows that he must have trodden in it, and thus offended Ea, the god of water. During the purificatory ritual he is to crouch like an ox by the side of a river, the “greens” (Ú. GIŠ.ŠAR) completing the simile as fodder, and I can only suggest that to the Assyrian mind cattle standing knee-deep in running water apparently do not offend the god Ea, and for that reason, by a form of sympathetic magic, the man under the tabu assumes the pose of an ox.
page 282 note 2 I venture to suggest this as the explanation of a difficult passage, instructing the physician to repeat part of the prescription in 11. 25 ff. Otherwise it must be translated “unto Ea the god ditto”, somewhat unintelligibly. There is no room, judging by the join of K. 67, AM. 73, 1, for the restoration of many characters at the beginning of each of the lines of this prescription, and yet, from 1. 11, “he shall take the censer in his left hand,” it is clear that some reference must have been made to this “censer” (so briefly indicated) in the preceding lines. On the other hand, certain obvious alterations must be made in the quotation from 1. 25 if it is to fit, and I suggest that it should run: “In the sun, where the pure water was situated he shall go, and where that pure water (was) he shall put a censer of pine-turpentine” (i.e. from ina pân iluŠamaš to ŠÁ-an), Kunu, however, in 1. 10 is in the plural, and there may be another god missing at the beginning of the line. Against this is Ea only in the final line of the prescription.
page 282 note 3 “Thou” here.
page 282 note 4 Kiṣir ammat imilti-šu.
page 282 note 5 Lit. “like the god Sumuḳan”.
page 282 note 6 Ina dini-kunu mišaruta.
page 283 note 1 Either úšiš-[ba-nam] “Vitex”, úLÚ-[a-nu], or úmurru “myrrh”.
page 283 note 2 úZA.BA.LAM; if iṣuZA.BA.LAM, it will be Juniperus excelsa, but if úsupalu, it will be manna. See my article s.v. úsupalu in AJSL., 1937.
page 283 note 3 Ši-mat, from šindu; see E. xiv, 27, 1. (8).
page 283 note 4 Ir-te-ḫi.
page 284 note 1 From KAR. 192, 2.
page 284 note 2 Tar-ḫaṣ-ma, but KAR. tar-ḫat (l)-ma (note also col. ii, 8).
page 284 note 3 Putri (see RA. 1930,132); E. xiv, 27 (11) “Kot”, without explanation. In ii R. 38, g–h, 31 (quoted MA. 856) it is preceded by kabut imeri, which from MA. 901 appears to represent 'Ú.ANŠU, i.e. “dung of an ass”. The quotations in MA. 901 rather go to show that animals were left in the charge of persons especially for the gathering of their dung, doubtless for fuel or manure. If putru is “dung”, it may be the same as the Syr. pertâ “dung”. Cf. AM. 51, 4, 5, and 98, 3,14, the latter passage including putru between “dung of gazelle” and “dung of doves”.
page 284 note 4 Note the variant in KAR.: “in water thou shalt bray . . ., mix.”
page 284 note 5 Te, as in 11. 30 ff.
page 285 note 1 Ka-man-du, or perhaps read ŠIM suadu.
page 285 note 2 AM. evidently repeated the formula as in 1. (59).
page 285 note 3 The text in AM. does not add the horizontal division-lines herein.
page 285 note 4 As E. xiv, 28, points out, KAM.ZID.DA varies with ra-bi-ki in these two texts, two lines lower.
page 285 note 5 See also KAR. 192, ii, 43 (1. 43 of col. ii of this tablet).
page 286 note 1 See No. 191, r. 5, note.
page 286 note 2 Placed at end of recipe in KAR.
page 286 note 3 Not in KAR.