Melothesia in Babylonia

Medicine, Magic, and Astrology in the Ancient Near East
1. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61451-775-7
Verlag: De Gruyter

Buch, Englisch, Band 2, 100 Seiten, HC runder Rücken kaschiert, Format (B × H): 175 mm x 246 mm, Gewicht: 383 g

Reihe: Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Cultures

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.

Zielgruppe

All those interested in Ancient Near Eastern medicine, astrology,

Autoren/Hrsg.

Geller, Markham Judah

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Alternative Glaubensformen Eklektizismus, Esoterik, Anthroposophie, Theosophie
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Geschichte der Medizin
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Alternative Glaubensformen Magie, Alchemie und Hermetik

Über Autor(innen)

Mark Geller, Free University, Berlin.