Bloodletting in Babylonia Revisited

Abstract

The question of bloodletting in Babylonia (and surgery in general) has hardly been studied, since evidence is sparse, while at the same time bloodletting in the Babylonian Talmud has been assumed to have been employed, although based upon questionable medieval interpretations of vague and doubtful terminology. However, when descriptions from cuneiform medicine are combined with evidence from Aramaic sources, a somewhat clearer picture emerges of a possible limited use of a bloodletting procedure in Babylonia, in both earlier and later periods.

Potnia’s Participants: Considering the Gala, Assinnu, and Kurgarrû in an Aegean Context

“…For psychoactive compounds in the ancient world, see (Fitzpatrick 2018). For bloodletting, see (Geller 2022). For possible continuity of belief and/or practice (in whole or part) of the cult of Inanna/Ištar, see (Taylor 2010, esp.…”