“They bring out all their sick into the streets,

for they have no regular doctors. People that

come along offer the sick man advice, either
from what they personally have found to
cure such a complaint, or what they have
known someone else to be cured by. No one
is allowed to pass by a sick person without
asking him what ails him.”
GULA
„I have heard that the lady Nanname has been
taken ill. She has many contacts with the people of
the palace. She meets many ladies in her house.
Now then, give severe orders that no one should
drink in the cup where she drinks, no one should
sit on the seat where she sits, no one should sleep
in the bed where she sleeps. She should no longer
meet many ladies in her house. This disease is
contagious.“

A letter written by Zimri-Lim, king of Mari, to his wife Shibtu

215-217 If a surgeon has made a deep incision in the
body of a gentleman with a lancet of bronze and saves
the man's life or has opened a carbuncle in the eye of a
man with a lancet of bronze and saves the eye, he shall
take 10 shekels of silver. If the patient is a freeman, he
shall take 5 shekels of silver. If the patient is a slave, the
master of the slave shall give 2 shekels of silver to the
surgeon.
194 If a man gives his child to a nurse and the child die
in her hands, but the nurse unbeknown to the father
and mother nurse another child, then they shall convict
her of having nursed another child without the
knowledge of the father and mother and her breasts
shall be cut off. (A wet nurse was paid about 3 shekels)
The ancient Mesopotamians believed that sin lay at the cause of the patients
illness. Once the sin was identified, the ašipu would be able to exorcize the
demon causing the illness

This was treated with incantations and by using foul substances to purify
the body by using enemas, induced vomiting, fumigation and inhalation

In the case of epilepsy, the doctor ordered the patient to place "the little
finger of a dead man, rancid oil, and copper into the skin of a virgin goat;
you shall string it on a tendon of a gerbil and put it round his neck, and he
will recover:"
Herbal medicine and other pharmaceuticals were commonly used tools of asu
physicians in ancient Mesopotamia

Opiates were another class of botanical medicine that was utilized by the
ancient Mesopotamians

The thousands of treatments that could be created by combining available

materials was most likely based on both religious reasoning and trial and error
„If the exorcist sees either a black dog or a black pig, that sick man will die.“

„If the exorcist sees a white pig, that sick man will live.“

„If the exorcist sees pigs which keep lifting up their tails, (as to) that sick man, anxiety
will not come near him.“

„If the patient keeps crrying out "My skull! My skull!" it is the hand of a god.“

„If he grinds his teeth, and his hands and feet shake, it is the hand of the god Sin; he
will die.“
There is little information about surgery. Surgery is mentioned in the
Hamurabian code that was mentioned above

There are tablets confirming trepanation as early as 5000 BCE.

Trepanation is an operation that involves removal of the scalp and a
piece of the skull bone. It was performed when the skull was fracured or
to relieve headeches and epilepsy. It is known that court physicians were
called to affirm that any officials having access to the harem were
castrated.
In general the Mesopotamians knew little about anatomy
and physiology, theywere restricted by the religious taboo
against dissecting a corpse. Animal anatomy may have
helped, but the Mesopotamians dissected only the liver
and lungs of perfectly healthy animals for divinatory
purposes. The liver was rearded as the seat of various
emotions and the heart of intelligence
A liver model
Acording to „ranker.com“
childbirth,
infant death,
malaria,
plague,
veneral disease,
warfare,
cholera,
alcoholism,
asthma,
diarrhea,
crime and violence, cancer are the most frequent causes of death
in ancient times
Thank you for the attention