The Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East, pp. 359-380, 2023/04/12
Proceedings of the 64th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale and the 12th Melammu Symposium, University of Innsbruck, July 16‒20, 2018
Throughout world history, many cultures have recognized a causeeffect relationship between air, health and sickness. Ancient Mesopotamian civilizations are no exception as wind (šāru) was recognized as an agent of disease in both literary and scientific cuneiform texts. Despite most recent advances in Assyriology, a comprehensive analysis of the role of air in a medical context is still lacking. I propose a first assessment of the mentions of “wind” in medical texts, which are mostly relevant to breathing, constipation and “wind blowing”, but also reveal its supernatural side. The relevance of the results is analysed from comparative and methodological perspectives.
