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Magical elements of mesopotamian medical texts

Bácskay, András (2009) Magical elements of mesopotamian medical texts. Acta Antiqua, 49 (3). pp. 269-280. ISSN 0044-5975

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Abstract

The goal of this paper is to analise the magical elements of mesopotamian medical texts. The Mesopotamian concept of illness is interpreting physical complaints and pain, that is symptoms and illness, as messages from the gods (omens), claiming that medical texts deal with a specific type of this kind of message transfer, namely those cases when the bad omen occurs on the human body. In this article I introduce the sources and the cultural context of Mesopotamian medical texts, then I examine the magical elements in the process of healing treatment. We can conclude that the minor role of practice in the curing of illnesses is supported by the magic elements (e.g. aspects of numerology, or magic circles) identifiable in each step of healing with medicaments.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: P Language and Literature / nyelvészet és irodalom > PA Classical philology / klasszika-filológia
Depositing User: xKatalin xBarta
Date Deposited: 04 Jan 2017 07:49
Last Modified: 04 Jan 2017 07:49
URI: http://real.mtak.hu/id/eprint/44437

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