Part IV

We have still to consider an aspect of the incantation rites which brings them into close relationship to medical remedies. The incantation, in so far as its aim is to cure the patient, is a precursor of medical treatment, and so long as the theory of disease which regarded all sickness as due to the presence of a demon in the body prevailed, medicine could never cut itself loose from the principle underlying the various methods resorted to, for releasing the victim from the clutch of the demons.

Incantations, magic rites, symbolical ceremonies had precisely the same object in view as medicine proper to drive or coax the demon out of the body, or, vice versa, medical treatment was supposed to act on the demon, while the cure of the patient was merely an incidental though obvious consequence that followed upon the exorcism of the demon.

Such we find to be actually the theory on which medicine rested among the Babylonians and Assyrians down to the latest days ; it formed an integral part of the incantation division of the religious literature, and while prescriptions of a purely medical character are to be traced back to quite an early period, they are invariably accompanied by certain magic rites of precisely the same character as are found in incantations proper.

But the question may be asked, did not the Babylonians and Assyrians recognize that there were substances and certain remedies which effected a cure ? Certainly, but it is just because medicine arises as an empirical science, based wholly on experience, that it could flourish though attached to so primitive a notion as the exorcism of demons.

If a certain treatment was good for a patient, it was so because it was bad for the demon. If certain herbs and certain concoctions acted favorably on a sick man, it was because the demons did not like the smell or taste of the herbs, or because the ingredients of which the concoction was made were unpleasant to the demons and caused them to leave their victim, rather than be subjected to the annoyance of unpleasant ordeals.

In the case of stomach troubles, for example, which naturally belonged to the most common of diseases, the remedies resulted in vomiting or in loosening the bowels, and it was supposed that in this way the demon was forced out of the body through one end or the other. Experience taught the people that for cramps and certain pains manipulation of the parts of the body involved furnished relief, but in such cases it was again perfectly natural to conclude that the demons did not enjoy such manipulation, and preferred to quit their victim rather than to submit to it again.

The theory could thus be made to fit any conditions. If we now look at the prescriptions in the medical texts of Babylonia and Assyria, of which we have a considerable number, ^[1] we are struck by the large proportion of bitter, pungent, ill-smelling substances which were frequently ordered to be given, including a large number of downright nasty substances, such as putrid food, fat, crushed bones, earth, dirt, urine and excrements of human beings and of certain animals.

The purpose of these was evidently to disgust the demons through the evil smell, and to induce them to fly to more agreeable surroundings ; and if we also find pleasant ingredients like milk, honey, cream, sweet-smelling herbs and pleasant oils and unguents, we are justified in concluding that the aim of these was to gently coax the demons to leave their victims, just as the gods are bribed and their anger appeased by sweet-smelling incense added to the sacrifices.

An incantation in connection with the use of butter and milk, frequently prescribed in medical texts, reads: ^[2]

"Butter brought from a clean stall,
Milk brought from a clean fold,
Over the shining butter brought from a clean stall recite an incantation:
May the man, the son of his god, ^[3] be cleansed,
May that man like butter be clean !
Like that milk cleansed,
Like refined silver shine,
Like burnished copper glitter !
To Shamash, the leader of the gods, commit him,
Into the gracious hands of Shamash, the leader of the gods, be his salvation ^[4] committed."

In connection with a medical prescription consisting of eight ingredients, an incantation is added in which by a play upon the name of each of the substances the hope is expressed that the power of the sorceress may be broken : ^[5]

"Like the mint may her charm be crushed, ^[6]
Like the sapru-herb may her charm destroy her, ^[7]
Like a thorn weed may her charm pierce her, ^[8]
Like the sammu-weed may her charm make her blind,
Like cassia may her charm bind her,
Like khaltappan-herb may her charm terrify her,
Like kitmu-herb may her charm cover her,
Like araru-herb may her charm curse her,
Like mukhurtu-herb may her charm cut her lips. "

Oil as one of the most common of remedies is also introduced into the incantation texts, and by a natural association with water is attached to the Eridu-ritual.

The priest in rubbing the victim with oil pronounces formulas that imply the appeal to Ea, the god of Eridu. ^[9]

"Pure oil, shining oil, brilliant oil.
Oil which makes the gods shine, ^[10]
Oil which mollifies the muscles of man.
The oil of Ea's incantation, with the oil of Marduk's incantation
I pour over thee ; with the healing oil,
Granted by Ea for easing (pain) I rub thee;
Oil of life I give thee ;
Through the incantation of Ea, the lord of Eridn,
I will drive the sickness with which thou art afflicted out of thee."

Not infrequently purely medical prescriptions are inserted into the incantation texts, ^[11] and as a further indication of the close bond between incantations and medical treatment, we have large groups of texts ^[12] in which such prescriptions alternate with purely magic formulas, accompanied by directions of a ritualistic character, just as in the medical texts proper such directions are introduced as an essential adjunct. ^[13]

Lastly, we have amulets of various kinds prescribed as a protection against the demon, and which have also the power of driving the demons away after they have taken up their seat in some part of the body. The most common of such amulets are stones, supposed to have magic power, which are strung together into a chain and attached to the hands, feet, eyes, as the case may be, or placed around the head or hung about the neck.

The directions are specific to use white, black or red strands of wool. A large variety of stones are thus introduced, and from other sources we know of the good luck associated with some stones, and of the bad luck with others. ^[14] Threads also, spun from virgin kids and knotted, were looked upon as protections against the demons and, like the stone charms, were attached to the head, neck, hands or limbs of the patient, and even tied about the bed.

The ramifications of the incantation motif are thus almost endless. It was no easy task to fit one's self to become an exerciser, and so for the guidance of priests, as for the education of those being trained for temple service, elaborate handbooks were compiled in which all the details were set forth with almost painful accuracy. ^[15]

Everything depended upon the correct application, upon the proper arrangement of the various ingredients for the symbolical rites to accompany the incantations, and upon the recitation of the proper formulas in the proper way. The slightest error might prove fatal, and in case of failure to heal the sick, the explanation was ready at hand that Some error had been committed, or that a wrong method had been applied to drive the demons off.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

See a paper by the writer on "The Medicine of the Babylonians and Assyrians" in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine (London) foi March, 1914 (pp. 109-176), for further details.

[2]:

Cun. Texts, xvii, PI. 23, 170-191.

[3]:

I.e., his protecting deity.

[4]:

From out of the clutches of the demon. The word used conveys the idea also of a complete cure.

[5]:

Maklu-Series, Tablet V, 30-38.

[6]:

Ninu (mint) with a play on enu, "humble".

[7]:

Sapru the name of a medicinal herb with a play on sapdru, "destroy".

[8]:

Sikhlu (a thorny weed), with a play on sakhdlu, "to pierce"; and, similarly, in the case of the other substances.

[9]:

Maklu-Series, Tablet VII, 31-38 and Weissbach in Beitrdge zur Assyriologie, IV, p. 160.

[10]:

An allusion to the anointing of the statues of the gods.

[11]:

E.g., Rawlinson IV, 2 PI. 16, No. 2 ; 26, No. 7.

[12]:

E.g., Cun. Texts, xxiii, PI. 1-22.

[13]:

Many examples in Cun. Texts, xxiii, PI. 23-50.

[14]:

See Jastrow, Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, I, p. 464, seq. For stones in incantation and medical texts see Jastrow, ib., I, p. 338, and Gun. Texts, xxiii, PI. 34, 29-31, and PI. 42, 17-19.

[15]:

The texts published by Zimmern in Part II of his Beitrdge zur Kenntmss der Babylonischen Religion (Leipzig, 1901), pp. 81-219, represent portions of such handbooks.