in the city. Information derived from texts leads to the conclusion that this statement was incorrect, for the sufferers were probably desirous of alms rather than of counsel; and his error seems to have arisen from overlooking the relation between religion, the priests, and disease. For the most part, certain priests acted as physicians, and the old Sumerian name for a medical man, A-Su, or asu, "one who knows water," passed into the Semitic languages." Physicians and surgeons are frequently mentioned in the medical texts, which give the rigid laws governing their practice, more particularly that of the surgeon, and which prescribe their fees and penalties according to the Code of Hammurabi (circa 2200 B.C.). They also refer to the use of bronze knives for injuries, and lists of herbs and of other remedies are recorded, in addition to letters of advice from doctors to their patients, as one from Avad-Nanâ to the king's son." Physicians appear to have been a well-organized body, but it is believed that those who were not also priests were held in comparatively small esteem by the general public, since magic with religious ceremonies, in connection with the administration of drugs, as performed by the aśipu-priest, were very generally preferred as being more efficacious.

42

43

Medical texts and aśipu-priests.

The medical tablets in the Shurpû and Maklû series, which come chiefly from Assyrian sources, give numerous illustrations of the practice of the time. Of approximately 30,000 fragments of clay documents from the library of 41 M. Jastrow, "Babylonian-Assyrian Medicine," in AMH, 1917, i,

233.

42 "The Laws of Hammurabi, King of Babylon," in RP, 1903, ii, 84-85.

43 Jastrow, in AMH, 1917, i, 239, 252 ff. 44 Id., in PRSM, 1913-1914, vii, 149 ff.

Assurbanipal, not less than 800 are medical; but comparatively few have yet been deciphered, and many of the texts are copies of originals from the libraries of Chaldæa, or of tablets of ancient Sumer and Akkad." From these documents much information is drawn concerning magico-religious practices and drugs used for the cure of the sick, demonstrating the prevalent belief that maladies, being supernatural in origin, could be successfully combated only by the aid of powers more than human, and showing that healing without magic and occultism was practically unknown. The demons of disease must be driven out, and water and fire were the sacred elements most prominently mentioned in the texts for exorcism. The asipu was the priest whose function it was to dislodge these fiends." He was learned in the traditions of maladies and their causes, and was an adept in the ritual of prayers, incantations, rites of purification, and all formulas for expelling malevolent beings, with magic, sorcery, and material remedies for ridding the sick of the demons which possessed them. The mysterious arts of the asipu-priests were jealously guarded, and being preserved in families, they were transmitted from father to son." There were schools where medicine was taught, one of which, celebrated for its instruction, was situated at Borsippa, across the river from Babylon. There were libraries containing rituals and incantations for all occasions, and these were augmented by borrowing texts and formulas which had proved efficacious. The great deities had sufficient power over all ills, mental and spiritual as well as physical; and the asipu-priest acted as the intermediary in approaching the gods and in securing the 45 Jastrow, op. cit., pp. 110-111.

46 Weber, Dämonen-Beschwörung bei den Babyloniern und Assyriern, pp. 4-5.

47 Thompson, in ERE iv, 743.

divine aid. It was customary for him to inquire whether or not the sick person had been guilty of some misdeed that was the cause of the malady, not for the purpose of penitence or reparation, but rather to determine, if possible, the reason for his falling under the ban and to enable him to differentiate and to select the appropriate ceremonies and formulas for each case, since success depended not only upon the power of the proper formula, but upon its correct application. Error might be fatal; exactness in word and in intonation was essential-the ritual for the fever-demon would not be efficacious for the devil of headache, nor would Nergal respond to an exorcism addressed to Namtar. The 'word of power,' recognized by all magic, was of the greatest efficacy; and usually the name of some superior spirit or high deity was used as authority for the command that the malignant being withdraw from the victim.

Formulas for exorcism.

The medical texts give many formulas for exorcism "when a ghost seizes a man, "the following being some of the more common: "In the name of the great god Ea, whose servant I am," "By the name of the great gods,' or "By Heaven be ye exorcised! By Earth be ye exorcised! It was considered very necessary to be acquainted with the appellation of the evil spirit concerned and to require exorcism in person, as: "Depart, Namtar, black demon! I am the beloved of Bel, depart from me!" If the name was not known, the priest would recite a long list of malevolent beings of various kinds, ending with the command, "Whatever be thy name, depart!" The art of exorcism occupied an important position in the rituals, 48 Thompson, in ERE iv, 742.

and Ea and Marduk were the chief deities of the healing cults. In an incantation text the exorciser asks Marduk to

The tamarisk (or some similar tree) was held aloft during the act of expulsion by the priest, the following being a form of such an incantation:

The man of Ea am I, the man of Damkina am I, the messenger of Marduk am I, my spell is the spell of Ea, my incantation is the incantation of Marduk. The ban of Ea is in my hand, the tamarisk, the powerful weapon of Anu, in my hand I hold; the date-spathe (?), mighty in decision, in my hand I hold.48

Another, rather similar, charm reads:

...

The man of Ea am I, the man of Damkina am I, the messenger of Marduk am I. The great god Ea hath sent me to revive the . . . sick man; he hath added his pure spell to mine, he hath added his pure voice to mine, he hath added his pure spittle to mine, he hath added his pure prayer to mine; the destroyer (s) of the limbs, which are in the body of the sick man, hath the power to destroy the limbs-by the magic word of Ea may these evil ones be put to flight.50

The following is an incantation for unknown spirits in which the exorcist calls upon several deities to support his demand:

When [I] enter the house, Shamash is before me, Sin is behind [me], Nergal is at [my] right hand, Ninib is at my left hand; when I draw near unto the sick man, when I lay my hand on the head of the sick man, may a kindly spirit, may a kindly guardian angel stand at my side! Whether thou art an evil spirit or an evil demon, or an evil ghost, or an evil devil, or an evil

49 Jastrow, Religion, p. 308.

50 Thompson, in ERE iv, 743.

god, or an evil fiend, or sickness, or death, or phantom of the night, or wraith of the night, or fever, or evil pestilence, be thou removed from before me, out of the house go forth! [For] I am the sorcerer-priest of Ea, it is I who [recite] the incantation for the sick man.51

Marduk was the son of Ea and, acting as a mediator between the sick man and the supreme healer, he sought the advice of his father, the following being an example of such a consultation:

Marduk hath seen him [the sick man], and hath entered the house of his father Ea, and hath said, "Father, headache from the under world hath gone forth." Twice he hath said unto him, "What this man hath done he knoweth not; whereby shall he be relieved?"

Ea, preserving the dignity of Marduk and giving him credit for equal knowledge with himself, suggested the cure, replying:

O my son, what dost thou not know, what more can I give thee? O Marduk, what dost thou not know, what can I add to thy knowledge? What I know, thou knowest also. Go, my son, Marduk. To the house of purification bring him [i.e., the sick person], break the ban! Release him from the curse !52

Purification and exorcism.

If a god was to be appeased, emphasis was given to hymns of praise, penitential prayers, confessions, lamentations, purifications, and sacrifices. Purification was effected by the symbolic use of water, oil, or fire, and these were connected with the rituals of Ea and of the fire-gods, Nusku, Gibil, and Giru, the sick person being sprinkled or bathed with sacred water, usually that from

51 Thompson, Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, i, 15. 52 Id., in ERE iv, 742; also Jastrow, Aspects, p. 93.