Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Jayne, Walter Addison, 1853-1929. The healing gods of ancient civilizations. Reprint of the ed.published by Yale University Reprinted from the edition of 1925, New Haven. [Trim size MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA OMWL BL 325 •H4 J3 1979 THE PHILIP HAMILTON MCMILLAN MEMORIAL PUBLICATION FUND THE present volume is the second work published by the Yale University Press on the Philip Hamilton McMillan Memorial Publication Fund. This Foundation was established December 12, 1922, by a gift to Yale University in pursuance of a pledge announced on Alumni University Day in February, 1922, of a fund of $100,000 bequeathed to James Thayer McMillan and Alexis Caswell Angell, as Trustees, by Mrs. Elizabeth Anderson McMillan, of Detroit, to be devoted by them to the establishment of a memorial in honor of her husband. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, December 28, 1872, prepared for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, and was graduated from Yale in the Class of 1894. As an undergraduate he was a leader in many of the college activities of his day, and within a brief period of his graduation was called upon to assume heavy responsibilities in the management and direction of numerous business enterprises in Detroit, where he was also a Trustee of the Young Men's Christian Association and of Grace Hospital. His untimely death, from heart disease, on October 4, 1919, deprived his city of one of its leading citizens and his University of one of its most loyal sons. & A PREFACE LL studies of civilizations preceding the Christian era must be considered as tentative only, and as subject to repeated revisions in the future. Many original documents giving first-hand information regarding the political, religious, and social life of the early Orient have come into our possession quite recently, and a large number of them have not been critically examined or even translated; while the terms and the language used in some are not understood, nor has any key to their interpretation yet been found. Excavations yielding rich archeological returns are still in progress, others of equal promise are projected, and further important information concerning these peoples will undoubtedly be obtained in the near future. These remarks apply equally to the medicine of the ancients. Although sufficient is known from classical literature and from studies of newly discovered archeological documents to justify general conclusions regarding the therapeutic theories and practices of the ancient East, many extant medical treatises, especially of Mesopotamia and Egypt, have not been translated or adequately studied, and may easily contain statements which will materially alter our present views. The following volume on the ancient methods of religious healing and the pagan healing gods is, therefore, presented as an introductory historical study. This particular phase of the religious and social life of the ancients is seldom considered independently, but rather in connection with an introduction to the general history of |