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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    51. ... 1 a gentle (?) * 1 2 fragrance descended on the earth . . . and thou didst make seed-corn 3 to sprout: [ripening (?) 4 [brought ] harvest,5 harvest [brought] the ear, the ear [brought the threshing]. Sin [harves]ted, Shamash gathered ; when Sin had harvested and [Shamash] gath[ered] . . . Shamash and Sin threshed,6 and the chaff [spread] motes [abroad]. [Incantation for removing] chaff from the eyes. 57. [If a man’s eye] is full of ... , lolium, flour of roast corn, in beer thou shalt knead, bind on.7 • .* * # „ . • i, A No. 27. AM. 8, 2 (K. 10495). Col. ii. 1. If ditto, *storax, *solanum . . . 2. If ditto, thou shalt dry the head of a lizard . . . 3. Thou shalt reduce kak ti ti lu ? . . . 4. If a man’s eyes ditto, and . . . 5. The brain of a kul-tim ... in equal parts thou shalt mix . . . 6. - The young of a raven 8 . . . 1 The following is a very tentative translation of a difficult passage containing several new words. 2 Alalu, presumably an adj. in agreement with basamu, Syr. 1XX|. Basamu, properly “ balsam ” in Assyrian, apparently with its presumed earlier equivalence to “ sweet smell ”. Are we to see in this the equivalent of “IX, Gen. ii, 6 ? 3 Habburru. Cf. Langdon, PSBA. 1914, 31, “ seed-corn.” It must be something of the kind. Langdon, AJSL. xxviii, 228, “If the seed-corn be not sound, it will not produce the green shoot and create seed.” From Del., HWB. 268, it should mean “husk”. Is it ^ )QQ1 “ corn ” ? 4 [Ham]mannu (!), from hamdmu = esidu (MA. 323). 5 Kisru, “T2Tp “ harvest ”. 6 Isisanimma: the Arab. = “ rub ” ; tZT = “ finish ”. The word appears else¬ where in Assyr. (MA. 1096) ; the meaning “ rub ” appears to apply here to the method of rubbing out grain by threshing-sledges, as is done to this day in the Tigris valley. Cf. Aram. a of wheat (?). Mirhu is similarly the “rubbed” thing, Heb. ITID, the being to rub with oil, or clean wheat of its husks or dust. Lila, presumably from lalu “ be full ”. The passage describes the growth of the wheat which has produced the dust or chaff which has entered the sick man’s eye. The gradual tracing of the history of the offender is common m Assyrian medicine (cf. the Legend of the Worm in the Tooth). 7 First line of next tablet, i.e. K. 2500, 16, 1. 8 Cf. 11, 2, 33.