## Topic Background Epidemics in Ancient [[Mesopotamia]]. "Epidemics are the currents beneath the surface of history" because they drive so much of people moving and economic crisis. > Epidemics facilitate historical development and change, they're useful for understanding social and religious changes as well as the outcome of wars. > ![[Pasted image 20210609124032.png]] Babylonia was in the south, Assyria was in the north. Assyriology focuses on when cuneiform was in used. 1900 BCE onwards tablets have the most references to epidemics and diseases. ## Terms - mutanu / us.mes = multiple cases of death. (could be famine, could be epidemic, but means lots of death in a time of crisis) - di'u is a disease that causes headache - simmum refers to a skin eruption disease ## Sources ![[Pasted image 20210609124549.png]] ## Cultural Conceptions ![[Pasted image 20210609124711.png]] They treated diseases with a combination of medicinal treatments with prayer and rituals to attempt to appease the job. They didn't really (in the 1st millenium) differentiate between magic and medicine. The "roaming evils" instituted by the gods to keep the population in check reminds me a bit of Pandora. Large-scale crises like city-wide epidemics were considered to be chaotic and impersonal and to be the responsibility of "large cosmic events." ## Medical Professionals ![[Pasted image 20210609124924.png]] The translations are pretty garbage. The diver was an advisor but also looked at animal entrails. They could become kings or commanders of armies: For example, in the old Babylonian period, first half of the 2nd millennium bce. There are several examples of diviners acting as advisors to kings, it's unclear if they really get "elected" or if they are just usurpers, but they end up becoming kings in small city-states in various regions. We can find their archives and a few of them made it to the top of society. Physicians did have knowledge we'd consider real medicine, they were specialists and the most highly regarded socially. They performed surgery and used pharmaceutical knowledge. Exorcists were connected to temples, serving as healing staff. There was not widely available healthcare. It's not clear that they treated regular people or the lower classes, but folk healers aren't attested to by the written sources (which doesn't mean they didn't exist). ## Animals ![[Pasted image 20210609125234.png]] Animals lived closely with humans. Even in tightly packed military camps they lived beside horse enclosures. Cows had human names because they were so important. Spread of animal diseases probably did happen reasonably often, to justify laws about who is responsible if there's an illness that spread. Interesting that "a god's touch" is synonymous with "epidemic." ## Isolated Mentions ![[Pasted image 20210609125812.png]] There were definitely letters and chronicles that mention epidemics, but unfortunately they tend to be isolated and one-sided; we don't have responses to the letters. The last letter was to the king of Lebanon from the king of Egypt. It demonstrates that the ancients did quarantines and shows that the animals spread the plague to humans. There were political reasons for the kings to care about epidemics. ## Palace Epidemics ![[Pasted image 20210609130044.png]] Ordered social distancing and isolation. They knew not to have anyone sleep in her bed, drink from her cup, or sit in a chair she used. They knew about contagiousness, lit. "The wound that makes itself be accepted by others." ## Protection Rituals Known primarily 1st millenium bce. The epidemics were viewed as cyclical events, like typhoons or monsoon winds or moon phases (or flu season). ![[Pasted image 20210609130319.png]] They knew that the rituals were only "good for" a year. They were probably not terribly effective from a modern perspective (although the salve sounds promising), but at least they acknowledged the need for preventative measures. ![[Pasted image 20210609130522.png]] These were ad-hoc remedies for healers to use during house-calls. This *does* acknowledge the exposed / dangers of the healing profession. ![[Pasted image 20210609130619.png]] social distancing / isolation / quarantine. But there were also protective spirits drawn on the house, the magic was meant to enclose the patient but also served as a warning to other people that there was a sickness and that they should avoid it. This may have only been for the elite; we don't know. As with the modern day, it's hard to keep isolated when you're poor and need to go to work. ## Epidemic Underway ![[Pasted image 20210609130758.png]] There were omens people looked out for to get a sense of whether an epidemic / calamity is about to come. Communal prayer may have been one of the responses to epidemics. ## Late Bronze Age ![[Pasted image 20210609131030.png]] Map of the Eastern Mediterranean in the 14th century BCE: [[Hittites]], [[Assyria]], [[Babylon]], [[Egypt]], Mitanni, Mycenae, Elam. ## Preventative Measures ![[Pasted image 20210609131243.png]] ## Popular Epic ![[Pasted image 20210609131435.png]] Relevant to Ilona Andrews and [[Backwards Mapping Fiction]]; war god, famine and plague. Brings death and destruction everywhere, the epic came in a dream. The myth was meant as a reminder: the house is protected by having the tablet as a reminder. It's also in an amulet-shaped manuscript. The myth is an innovation in its era. Forewarns of the constant threat of epidemics in a war-torn society. ## Military Camps ![[Pasted image 20210609131745.png]] A group of prophylactic rituals is meant to avoid disease in horse enclosures. They're probably military rituals in Assyria. Meant to protect camps by ritually securing them. They might have originated in Anatolia and adopted from the Hittites in the 2nd millennium. They would have imported the knowledge when they started doing a bunch more military campaigning. Some researchers argue that the Assyrian army experienced an outbreak of an infectious disease. ## Cultural Concepts ![[Pasted image 20210609131847.png]] Toilets existed in Mesopotamia in both wealthy and poor household. There were sanitation rules. "man may gnaw at the leather hinges on his father's house or eat the straw of his house." -- damn, that's a rough famine. ![[Pasted image 20210609132129.png]] Epidemics generally coincide with a lack of resources, bad harvest, famine, death of livestock, or climate change. These lead to the onset of contagious disease. Akkadian language "muttano" demonstrates this connection. Societies tend to forget crises, but there was a clear shift in cultural memory in Mesopotamia, becoming part of the mythmaking. The importing of rituals was also significant. ## Following Up ![[Pasted image 20210609132535.png]] ## Lingering questions - Did the movement of the sea peoples reflect a pandemic? - How did the ancients dispose of the dead from epidemics? We haven't found any mass graves for it, not from the plague of Athens or the Hittites or or Iraq or Palestine. - What kinds of conditions were animals in ancient Mesopotamia kept in, particularly in military camps (beyond "close contact with people")?