Melothesia in Babylonia : medicine, magic, and astrology in the ancient near east / by Markham J. Geller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Geller, Markham J., author.

Series:

Science, technology, and medicine in ancient cultures ; v. 2.

Science, technology, and medicine in ancient cultures, 2194-976X ; volume 2

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Medicine, Assyro-Babylonian.

Medicine, Assyro-Babylonian--Philosophy.

Magic, Assyro-Babylonian.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (112 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Boston : De Gruyter, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This monograph begins with a puzzle: a Babylonian text from late 5th century BCE Uruk associating various diseases with bodily organs, which has evaded interpretation. The correct answer may reside in Babylonian astrology, since the development of the zodiac in the late 5th century BCE offered innovative approaches to the healing arts. The zodiac-a means of predicting the movements of heavenly bodies-transformed older divination (such as hemerologies listing lucky and unlucky days) and introduced more favorable magical techniques and medical prescriptions, which are comparable to those found in Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos and non-Hippocratic Greek medicine. Babylonian melothesia (i.e., the science of charting how zodiacal signs affect the human body) offers the most likely solution explaining the Uruk tablet.

Contents:

Introduction: globalisation of knowledge

The Uruk taxonomy (SBTU I 43)

Uruk astral magic (BRM 4 20 and BRM 4 19)

The Neo-Assyrian precursor: before the zodiac

Ancient Aramaic and Greek parallels

Astrological interpretation of SBTU I 43

Melothesia

Concluding hypothesis

Appendix: modern reflections.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

CC BY-NC-ND

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781614516934

1614516936

9781614519348

161451934X

OCLC:

1013961184