WEEK 2 (Medicine in Mesopotamia) Flashcards
What happened in Mesopotamia?
- Agriculture improved the people’s lifestyles
- New health problems
- Malnutrition
- Vitamin deficiency
What were the diseases that thrived in Mesopotamia?
- Smallpox
- Tuberculosis
- Influenzas
- Rhinoviruses & the Common cold
- Measles
- Polio
- Cholera
- Typhoid
- Shistomiasis (parasitic worms)
What did irrigation and farming result in?
An increase in parasites and parasite-carrying disease
Who was Gula?
Also known as NINKARRAK and NINISINNA was a goddess presiding over health and healing (named “great physician of the black-headed ones”)
Who was Pabilsag?
Gula’s spouse who was also a divine judge
Who were Gula’s sons and daughter?
Sons - DAMU and NINAZU
Daughter - GUNURRA
What were doctors seen as in Mesopotamia?
Agents of deities
Which symbol for Medicine originated in Mesopotamia and what did it represent?
Rod intertwined with serpents
Ninazu and his serpents represented health and healing (the continuation of mortal life) and death and dying. The serpent represented REGENERATION and TRANSFORMATION.
What did the people of Mesopotamia believe was the cause of illness?
The sin the patient had committed
What did the people of Mesopotamia believe was the cure for illness?
Some form of confession of the sin
What was believed to be the diagnosis for the illnesses?
The will of the gods and their intervention in human affairs
Medical books from which library disproved the theory that there were no doctors at all in Mesopotamia?
Ashurbanipal
What was “Asu”?
A medical doctor who treated illness or injury empirically
What was “Asipu”?
A healer who relied upon magic
What medical professionals did Mesopotamia have?
- Asu
- Asipu
- Surgeons
- Veterinarians
- Dentists (performed by both kinds of doctors)
- Midwives
What were the different roles in childbirth?
- ASIPU = prayers to the gods or chants to ward off demons
- The demon LAMASHTU = killing or carrying off infants
- ASU = easing labor pains with herbs
What were the similarities and differences between Asu and Asipu?
DIFFERENCES
- Asipu = A witch doctor
- Asu = A medical practitioner
- Asipu relied more on the supernatural whereas Asu dealed directly with the physical symptoms the patient presented with
SIMILARITIES
- Equally respected
- Both types of healers
- Both believed the supernatural source for illness
What was the Work life of doctors?
- Both types of physicians healed at temple and house calls
- THE CITY OF ISIN - training centre for physicians
- No evidence of private practice
- Kings and the more affluent had their own physicians
Were women allowed to be doctors?
YES
[there were more female physicians in SUMER]
How did prescriptions work?
Prescriptions were ground by the doctor in the presence of the patient
What were antiseptics made from?
Alcohol, honey and myrrh
What were the treatments in Mesopotamia?
- Surgery was more advanced than in other regions of the time
- Wounds - washing, applying a plaster and binding the wound
- Hand and wounds were cleaned with BEER and HOT WATER
What did the standards therapeutic texts include and not include?
INCLUDED:
- complaints
- a list of ingredients & instructions for their preparations
- instructions for administering the medication
NOT INCLUDED:
- Amount of substances
(assumed that doctors should already know from their training)
What did Asipu focus on as a sex therapist?
Sexual potency in males and arousal in females
