Roman oculists' medicine stamps and collyria / [C.J.S. Thompson].

  • Thompson, C. J. S. (Charles John Samuel), 1862-1943
Date:
[1920?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Roman oculists' medicine stamps and collyria / [C.J.S. Thompson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    4. If a man’s head [has] an itching * 1 . . . **ammi.lolium, . . . [in oil of] cedar thou shalt anoint. No. 6. AM. 3, 2 (K. 2416 + 9224 -f D.T. 215, with the addition of + K. 16402, pi. 46), obverse, top broken. 1. (+K. 16402, ii, 1-3) [Ritujal (?) for this. Her musadu2 in . . . Her musadu thou shalt roll, into . . . thou shalt put; the charm seven times thou shalt recite . . . sapilti (?) of the musadu . . . : a thread thou shalt spin, seven and seven knots [thou shalt tie : as thou tiest thou shalt recite the charm]. 3. ( + K. 16402, ii, 4-6) (Sumerian charm and formula). Recite the charm. 6. Incantation : When the hair of a woman grows weak.3 “ mercury ” above, and suggesting that it might be some form of solidified vapour, he instanced the ancient method of obtaining sal ammoniac from the soot of camels’ dung. The common fuel of Mesopotamia is, as is well known to anyone who has been there, dried cow-dung, or camel-dung ; wood fuel is scarce and difficult to obtain on the flats. The soot in Egypt is carefully collected and sold to the sal ammoniac makers (EB. xxiv, 59). im.kal = aklu (SAI. 6309), im.kal(ag).ga = astu, isikku, dannu, susikku (SAI. 6311- 6314). It is used in AM. alone for head here ; and (to be drunk), 26, 4, 7, duplicate of 64, 1, 11. im.kal.la (Kii. iii, iii, 13), brayed alone and drunk in cedar-oil and beer (cf. 27, 2, 16 ; 36, 1 r, 2), must be the “soot of la” rather than im.kal with a complement. 1 Kuraru. CT. xiv, 36, 81-2-4, 267, obv. 12 ff., is a list of drugs (the names now lost) called “ vsa-mi ku-ra-ri zi (= nasahi) ” and “ vsa-mi ku-ra-as-ti zi ” “ for taking away kuraru, kurastu ” (the same words, cf. Urartu, Urastu). The treatment for kuraru of the head is to shave the head, anoint with fish oil (ni.kil), etc. (5, 5, 10), the particular point to notice being that urine (ammonia) is to be plentifully used. Another long treatment is given in 65, 5, 9, washing the head being part. In 65, 5, 20 samanam sa igari (probably saltpetre) is applied (see p. 3, n. 3); and in 17, 1, ii, 1-6, among the drugs given for “ when a man is full of gurastu ” are fennel, **ricinus, sumach, samanam sa igari, and *storax. In the same text ammonia (2, 3, 3) and sulphur (1. 2) at once indicate an itch ; so also “ if his body is full of itch ”. “ Baldness ” is practically an impossibility, therefore ; besides, it would hardly be good Assyrian to talk about “ removing ” baldness. The text is similar to KAR. 202, i, 49, Enuma na kakkadu ku-ra-ra . . . -su tuk ultu (?) gig . . . tdbtu uhulu karnanu Usamranu vninu sah-li-e, sinat (?) imeri (?) a (?).GESTHsr.NA dan.ga (a?).gestin bil.lal tar-bak tasamid(id), etc. 2 Musadu. Cf. 43, 1, ii, 3 : “ if ditto, ubani-ka musadi nigin dispi SUD . . . , i.e. thou shalt wind a musadu on thy finger, sprinkle honey ...” KAR. 202, ii, 24, duplicate of 1. 7 : “if ditto, musadi-su ti-hi. It is perhaps “ hair-ribbon ”, “ fillet ”. dum.kid, as in dum.kid. se = sa sapilti sa se-im. It occurs alone, dum.kid ina isati tusahhar(ar), 95, 2, iii, 6, and again 99, 3 r. 5. Isahhuh, Syr. “ grows thin, weak ”. Cf. KAR. 202, ii, 27 (cf. CT. xxiii, 32, 8) “ when a man ud-da-at isu sarat kakkadi-su isahhuh ”; 95, 3, 17 ; isahuha, 30, 12, 1. Cf. also CT. xxiii, 34, 22; 35, 48. Jastrow (Trans. Coll. Phys. Philad., 1913, 379) “bent down”, not recognizing that it refers to the hair (his text being sarat takab kakkadi).