Assyrian Prescriptions for Diseases of the Feet

R. Campbell Thompson

doi:10.1017/S0035869X00085956

Assyrian Prescriptions for Diseases of the Feet

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011

R. Campbell Thompson

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If a man is sick of a swelling, the colour of his sickness being black, thou shalt [pound] (and) strain the tops (juice) of oleander (?), mix in fine-ground flour, mash in rose-water (I), bind on; (or) tops (juice) of tamarisk.

Type: Articles
Information: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 69 , Issue 3 , July 1937 , pp. 413 - 432

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00085956 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1937

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^{page 413 note 1} A.ZAL.LA (“hemp”) must be a scribe's mistake, as E. suggests.

^{page 413 note 2} [Tu]-dàk-kak iš-tu ZID.DA.

^{page 413 note 3} iṣu Ašagu; see RA. 1930, 127.

^{page 413 note 4} See AH. 32.

^{page 414 note 1} E. xiv, 30, reads [urḳi]t (!)-su(!)-nu “while they are yet green”.

^{page 414 note 2} Cf. col. II, 1. 2.

^{page 414 note 3} Text Ši, but is this for ši-mat? See, however, col. II, 1. 12.

^{page 415 note 1} Iltazaz, from lazâzu, exact meaning uncertain.

^{page 415 note 2} Text tar-ḫat, surely for tar-ḫaṣ, as in col. I, 1. 49, where tar-ḫaṣ is the variant. E. xiv, 31 (6), reads tar-ḫaṣ.

^{page 415 note 3} Tu-ri-iḫ.

^{page 415 note 4} Ul i-til-li.

^{page 415 note 5} KIL, as in AM. 83, 1, r. iii, 10, RA. 1934, 13.

^{page 415 note 6} E. xiv, 31, suggests ùana-me-rum (= rue ?).

^{page 415 note 7} úḪAR. ḪU.BA.ŠIR, DACG. 173.

^{page 415 note 8} Hardly pizalurtu, “maggot” (cf. 1. 31); see my forthcoming article in AJSL. 1937.

^{page 416 note 1} MAR(-rum) (ll. 25–6) in conjunction with 1.23, seems rather to indicate that the reading for MAR in these texts is taṣaru, perhaps as well as eḳû (PRSM. 1924, 4, n. 6). Cf. AM. 26, 2, r. 6, 7, MAR. and ta-ṣsa-rum-ma. For taṣsaru = “bind”, see PRSM. 1924, 5, n. 3; E. reads “bestreuen”, doubtless zarû, Heb. zârah “scatter”. 11. 25–33, as represented by AM. 73, ii, 1–9, have no dividing horizontal lines.

^{page 416 note 2} Ætites, a reddish-brown ironstone, containing a smaller stone, DACG. 108.

^{page 416 note 3} AM. adds arzallu-plant, Cratægus Azarolus.

^{page 417 note 1} BAR = ḳuliptu, CT. xii, 16, No. 93043: cf. AM. 12, 6, 7, and for a word ḳkuliptu = “bark,” “skin,” see JRAS. 1924, 454; PRSM. 1926, 44, n. 1; Gilg. Ep., xi, 289. KAR. has PA. See also my Devils, ii, 148, 12.

^{page 417 note 2} Rušumtu, v. ruṭibta. Both these last two prescriptions suggest dropsy.

^{page 417 note 3} KAR. “If the sickness ditto.” AM. omits the horizontal lines between 11. 40–45.

^{page 418 note 1} This “If ditto” is not always on KAR., and conversely in 11. 48–50, although it is on KAR. AM. 74 omits.

^{page 418 note 2} KAR. has SAG.DÚḪA, a fish, much more probable. Cf. col. i, 1. (68).

^{page 418 note 3} Ta-šal-liṭ.

^{page 418 note 4} For tanadi on KAR., AM. 74 has tatabbak, except 1. 46, where both have it.

^{page 418 note 5} In addition to the examples in AM. 212, cf. Weidner, , Boghaz K. Studien, D. Zug Sargons, 1922, 64Google Scholar.

^{page 418 note 6} KAR. for the latter part has “ditto”.

^{page 418 note 7} PA omitted on KAR.

^{page 418 note 8} Some part of the foot: = RI. GÌR, ii R. 29, 31, c. KAR., ka-pal-ta.

^{page 419 note 1} Itgurtu: see DACG. 120.

^{page 419 note 2} ḪAR.GIM.

^{page 419 note 3} Lit. “their dust”.

^{page 419 note 4} ŠIR. But it would almost appear here that there had been a doubtful text, and that the scribe was not certain whether it was ina šepâ or a dittography of ina. For this reason he has given this almost impossible word as an alternative.

^{page 419 note 5} Iraššašumma ukkak.

^{page 420 note 1} Iraššašumma ukkak.

^{page 420 note 2} ZID lub-ba.

^{page 420 note 3} On ḳudru “manna” see my article in AJSL. 1937.

^{page 421 note 1} Kima pu-pu-ul TE (= alâku, emêdu) i-ḫar-ra-aṣ sag-ba-nu MU.NE šá IR.RA malû. Sàg-pa-nu occurs also in 1. 24, and is written out more fully in 1. 26 [sa]-ag-ba-nu-(um). It occurs in Sumerian as SAG.BA.NÁ (D. 115, 58) and [SAG].DINGIR.BABBAR, ib. 67, and since PA = ZAK, we may assume that sagbanu and not šagbanu is correct, although the Syr. š'ḳaph, verberavit, contudit, and šûḳâphâ, colaphus suggest a cognate for a form šaḳpanu. V. R. 21, 4–6 a–b gives SAG.BA.NÁ = sag-ba-nu, SA.NIGIN = ra-pa-du, SA.AD.NIGIN = ṣi-da-nu IR = izutu and zutu “sweat” (D. 232, 3 and 9), which suggest the fluid in a blister (ir-ra, as a Semitic word, is not so easy to trace as IR). The remedies suggest a simple swelling.

^{page 421 note 2} “Human excrement” suggests an alchemist's synonym. I know of no synonym in the syllabaries for this, but JRAS. 1924, 455 (the explanatory text), says “kurkanû (turmeric) like suḫatum (excrement)”, which suggests that this or some similarly coloured substance is the equivalent.

^{page 421 note 3} NAM + ṢAB.SAḪAR.RA (ḪU + ṢAB.SAḪAR.RA) = ḪU + ṢAB ga-ra-bi (?) (= erib turbu'ti, ŠID eḳli, Landsberger, Fauna, No. 232).

^{page 422 note 1} Mirsu (GAR. NI. ṬE ₅. A) appears to mean something thickened, either of flour, or of honey and curd, or of wine.

^{page 422 note 2} Tulam, PRSM. 1926, 63.

^{page 422 note 3} Ság-pa-nu (see 1. 13).

^{page 422 note 4} Ta-za-ak(?).

^{page 422 noet 5} Ta-pa-aṣ(z).

^{page 423 note 1} … -ḫir-ta-šú nu-uḫ-ḫu-ra-at-ma.

^{page 423 note 2} The first half must be duplicate of KAR. 192, r. 2, 19. sikûti = “powdered”, JRAS. 1931, 17. The “three bandages for a pierced foot” in KAR. refers to the three preceding recipes.

^{page 423 note 3} From KAR. 192, r. 2, 21, a horizontal line being drawn in this latter text between this and the previous recipe. Read (?) arki-Šu ina IVkam (?) ûme(me). Are the signs after “horn” a mistake for “hart”, as in 1. 28?

^{page 423 note 4} i.e. a pricked blister. It is not easy to see whether this last phrase is included on KAR as it is here, since the text is damaged.

^{page 424 note 1} RU.RU.

^{page 425 note 1} Nidi ša nûni, nidu meaning anything cast; nid libbi, an untimely birth (PRSM. 1926, 67), nid ru'ti, the spitting of spittle, etc.

^{page 425 note 2} Tar-ṣa-an; so also AM. 38, 3, 7 (in beer), and i-ra-ṣa-an (also in beer, AM. 85, 3, 4), Syr. r'ṣan, perfusus fuit.

^{page 425 note 3} Asidu, Holma, , Körp. 150Google Scholar; Ungnad, , “sole”, ZA. 1917, 44Google Scholar; also “sole of a shoe” (SAI. 4652, Thureau-Dangin, , RA. 1913, 224Google Scholar). Cf. E. xiii, 132: AH. 157.

^{page 425 note 4} Pur-ru-ur.

^{page 425 note 5} Luttâ.

^{page 425 note 6} Mubattira ša eḳli, see Landsberger, , Fauna, 129Google Scholar.

^{page 426 note 1} Ma-la BIR AL.LUL nâri. AL.LUL = alluttu (see Landsberger, , Fauna, 121Google Scholar), but I prefer to see in it the tortoise rather than the crab, on the grounds that the star ^mulAL.LUL as Cancer is represented on the boundary-stones as a tortoise and not as a crab (see JRAS. 1929, 804) (which Meissner had probably in mind in quoting KMI. No. 1, 5, 20, in his Bab. Ass., ii, 308). Just as BAL.GI.ḪA is “tortoise” rather than “crab” owing to the use of its UŠ (penis) in medicine (KAR. 186, r. 18), the tortoise being endowed with a large copulatory organ in the tail, so here will BIR show that this AL.LUL is “tortoise” rather than “crab”. BIR is the scrotum (BIR birki, lit. “the bag of the penis, or copulatory organs”, RA. 1929, 63); mala, although unusual, must be the word in front of it (and not -ma (and) LA (“shell”), paralleled by mala libbi “all the mind, heart”.

^{page 426 note 2} Urine applied to footsoles tender after marching is an old soldier's remedy.

^{page 426 note 3} Imrud, Heb. mârad “fester”, different, of course, from the tumarraṭ of Kü. i, iii, 61.

^{page 426 note 4} Išarrik.

^{page 427 note 1} I-ba-šal(rak). …

^{page 427 note 2} NI.NIŠ, perhaps í-niš (= ina-eš).

^{page 427 note 3} A mystical name for tamarisk, JRAS. 1924, 456.

^{page 427 note 4} Cf. AM. 93, 2, 1 (JRAS. 1929, 802); Landsberger, , Fauna, 123Google Scholar.

^{page 427 note 5} aBiṣṣur atani, DACG. 109.

^{page 428 note 1} Text bad here, but read ḫa-ḫu-ú šá utuni, like ḫa-ḫi-e šá utuni, 1. 51 (cf. 1. 15), ḫa-ḫa-a šá utuni, KAR. 186, 6: aliḳḳakimṁa ḫaḫâ Ša utuni umminu ša diḳari, Maḳlû. iii, 116 (… BIL = ḫa-ḫu-ú, CT. xix, 1, K. 55, 22). It is some form of ash (see DACG. 265).

^{page 428 note 2} Ira ša ŠE + BAR + ŠE.

^{page 428 note 3} Ṣirḫi.

^{page 429 note 1} Ḳim šibri; see Torczyner, , DKAWW. lv, 1913, s.v., 130Google Scholar.

^{page 429 note 2} Putri: see No. 202, col. I, 1. (52), note.

^{page 429 note 3} See DACG. xxv.

^{page 429 note 4} isuḪUM.ḪA = bariratu, AH. 172 (e.g., cf. KAR. 191, 18, and AM. 70, 7, 6).

^{page 429 note 5} See my forthcoming article in AJSL.

^{page 429 note 6} Siku rabû(u). Sâku, BBR. 26, i, 24, “anoint”: cf. AM. 23, 10, 6, ina ZAL.LU sa-a-ki ta-zak: and 8, 7, 4, ina ZAL.LU sa-a-ki …: KAR. 182, r. 2, ZAL.LU sa-a-ki; perhaps connected with siktu “powder”, for which see JRAS. 1931, 17.

^{page 430 note 1} See 1. 27.

^{page 430 note 2} See DACG. 190; E., xiii, 133 ff.

^{page 430 note 3} See PRSM. 1924, 30.

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