Editing Mesopotamia (section)

===Medicine===
[[File:Medical recipe concerning poisoning. Terracotta tablet, from Nippur, Iraq, 18th century BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul.jpg|thumb|A medical recipe concerning poisoning. Terracotta tablet, from [[Nippur]], [[Iraq]].]]
The oldest Babylonian texts on [[medicine]] date back to the [[First Babylonian dynasty|Old Babylonian]] period in the first half of the [[2nd millennium BC]]. The most extensive Babylonian medical text, however, is the ''Diagnostic Handbook'' written by the ''ummânū'', or chief scholar, [[Esagil-kin-apli]] of [[Borsippa]],<ref name=Stol-99/> during the reign of the Babylonian king [[Adad-apla-iddina]] (1069–1046 BC).{{sfn|Stol|1993|p=55}}

Along with contemporary [[ancient Egyptian medicine|Egyptian medicine]], the Babylonians introduced the concepts of [[medical diagnosis|diagnosis]], [[prognosis]], [[physical examination]], [[enema]]s,<ref>{{cite journal |title=The History of the Enema with Some Notes on Related Procedures (Part I) |journal=Bulletin of the History of Medicine |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=77 |date=January 1940 |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |last1=Friedenwald |first1=Julius |last2=Morrison |first2=Samuel |jstor = 44442727}}</ref> and [[Medical prescription|prescriptions]]. The ''Diagnostic Handbook'' introduced the methods of [[therapy]] and [[aetiology]] and the use of [[empiricism]], [[logic]], and [[rationality]] in diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. The text contains a list of medical [[symptom]]s and often detailed empirical [[observation]]s along with logical rules used in combining observed symptoms on the body of a [[patient]] with its diagnosis and prognosis.<ref>H. F. J. Horstmanshoff, Marten Stol, Cornelis Tilburg (2004), ''Magic and Rationality in Ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman Medicine'', pp. 97–98, [[Brill Publishers]], {{ISBN|90-04-13666-5}}.</ref>

The symptoms and diseases of a patient were treated through therapeutic means such as [[bandage]]s, [[cream (pharmaceutical)|creams]] and [[pill (pharmacy)|pills]]. If a patient could not be cured physically, the Babylonian physicians often relied on [[exorcism]] to cleanse the patient from any [[curse]]s. Esagil-kin-apli's ''Diagnostic Handbook'' was based on a logical set of [[axiom]]s and assumptions, including the modern view that through the examination and [[inspection]] of the symptoms of a patient, it is possible to determine the patient's [[disease]], its aetiology, its future development, and the chances of the patient's recovery.<ref name="Stol-99">H. F. J. Horstmanshoff, Marten Stol, Cornelis Tilburg (2004), ''Magic and Rationality in Ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman Medicine'', p. 99, [[Brill Publishers]], {{ISBN|90-04-13666-5}}.</ref>

Esagil-kin-apli discovered a variety of [[illness]]es and diseases and described their symptoms in his ''Diagnostic Handbook''. These include the symptoms for many varieties of [[epilepsy]] and related [[ailment]]s along with their diagnosis and prognosis.{{sfn|Stol|1993|p=5}} Some treatments used were likely based off the known characteristics of the ingredients used. The others were based on the symbolic qualities.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Teall |first1=Emily |title=Medicine and Doctoring in Ancient Mesopotamia |journal=Grand Valley Journal of History |date=October 2014 |volume=3 |issue=1 |page=3 |url=https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1056&context=gvjh}}</ref>