Pre-history and Mesopotamia

Question 1

How was illness viewed in ancient Babylonia and Assyria?

Answer 1

As a divine punishment.

Question 2

How was medicine viewed in ancient Babylonia and Assyria? (2)

Answer 2

1. The purification of ‘sin’ from the body. 2. As “catharsis.”

Question 3

From what did the term “pharmakon” derive from?

Answer 3

The religious ideology of catharsis, in the sense of a means of purification through purging.

Question 4

Were Mesopotamian drug formulas quantitative?

Answer 4

No.

Question 5

Were Ancient Egyptian drug formulas quantitative?

Answer 5

Yes.

Question 6

By the time of king Hammurabi (around 211 BCE), what group of people had arisen?

Answer 6

Retailers of drugs who plied their trade in a particular street.

Question 7

What symbol was associated with the Anicent Babylonian and Assyrian gods associated with incantations and formulas?

Answer 7

A serpent.

Question 8

What is the earliest alleged evidence for medicine usage in humans?

Answer 8

Flower burials in Shanidar (around 50,000 BCE).