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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    ditto alum (and) chamomile thou shalt bray, in cedar-oil mix, [apply to his head, and he shall recover]. 5. If a man’s head in his youth is full of grey hairs, to blacken the grey hair ... a stork (?)* 1 (a stork), or a ... in the fire thou shalt boil, their dung thou shalt take, in oil [thou shalt mix] . . . the Charm “ sak.ki en.na ” seven times . . . the Charm “sak.ki en.na” thou shalt recite . . . 10. If ditto, thou shalt take a ram’s horn, with bone of ... in a fire “ he ” shall calcine (it), with oil . . . three days on his head thou shalt bind it . . . 13. (Cf. 4, 1, 14.) If ditto, the ma-eres-ma-U plant, the head of ... , the head of a black raven, the head of a hawk,2 the head of . . . together ubanu . . . , 77, 6, 7 sa (l)-pan-ti a.bar ina ni . . . , 49, 4 r. 8 eam.si.di (== ? nam-si-di) a.bar teppus(us). In 101, 3, 9 . . . a.bar is applied to anus. But the more common group is lis.a.bar (especially in eye-texts), which must mean antimony, collyrium, or properly the sulphide, antimonite, long used in Syria for darkening eyelids (Rutley, Elements of Mineralogy, 289). lis = idgurtu, which latter word is used as an adjective to “ mountains ” (idguruti, MA. 129), which must refer to the sharp peaks. This points to lis = “ needle ” or similar, i.e. idgurtu = Syr. jo] “ great needle ” (cf. 19, 6, 17, id-gur-ti El . . .). In lis.a.bar “ needle(s) of antimony ” we must see either (a) the needle with which the stibium was applied; cf. SM. ii, 118, “ wrap a piece of wool round the top of a kohl-needle,” to insert in the ear (or 194, similar), or the description of a girl painting her eyes (Chandler, Travels, ii, 140, quoted Smith, Smaller Bible Diet., 396), “ thrusting in at the external corner a bodkin which had been immersed in the soot ” ; or (6) more probably the peculiar elongated prisms of antimonite, found in masses having a columnar structure. It will be observed in the eye-texts that it is the lis.a.bar which is ground up. lis. a. bar is prescribed if a man’s ear is heavy : “ after this a lis. a. bar in oil or ...” (34, 1, 22) (cf. the use in SM. above) ; perhaps also to insert up the penis (62, 1, ii, 10) ; and . . . ina lis.A.bar itti dispi hi.hi “ in (with) antimony-needle(s) with honey thou shalt mix ” (43, 1, ii, 11). But its chief use is for the eyes : lis.A.bar ia-zak (8, 1, 10) “ antimony-needle(s) thou shalt bray, [apply] to his eyes ” ; ... lis.a.bar ina eti u epir eri rat mar (11, 2, 21) “ antimony-needle(s) thou shalt bray with oil and copper-dust, (and) apply ” (also cf. 8, 5, 6 ; 8, 6, 3 ; 10, 3, 3 ; 12, 8, 13). 1 Igiru. If the two diagonals following indicate a gloss, then igiru — “ laklakka or . . . ”, i.e. the stork. The Heb. TI237 (obviously = igiru) is a migratory bird which chatters (Isa. xxxviii, 14; Jer. viii, 7), which is a description applicable to the stork. Sennacherib (CT. xxxi, 30, 11. 48, 57, ed. King) describes how he introduced the igiru into Nineyeh, to occupy the pools along with the wild pigs, describing them as having a far distant home. The White Stork is common round Mosul. I do not remember the Black Stork there, but it is obvious from our medical text that a black bird is necessary, and it may well be that the igiru is the Black Stork (which is not a proper inhabitant) as distinct from the laklakka. White Stork (although it is true that the White Stork has some black on its wing). Other black birds in Mesopotamia are : (1) the Cormorant, which I have seen at times at Mosul, driven in from the sea ; (2) the Black Glossy Ibis, but only at Birejik (see my Pilgrim’s Scrip, 308), where it is a migrant. In SM. ii, 691, the “ fat of a black raven ” is the equivalent. 2 Issur hurri, Zimmern [Akkad. Fremdw. 51), Arab, ter el-burr “ hawk ”. Cf. hawk’s blood, in SM. ii, 702, to make hair grow.