The Image of Mesopotamian Divine Healers Healing Goddesses and the Legitimization of Professional asûs in the Mesopotamian Medical Marketplace

Description

This book presents the first in-depth analysis of Mesopotamian healing goddesses and their relationship to asûs, “healers”. Through this, Sibbing-Plantholt provides unprecedented insight into the diverse Mesopotamian medical marketplace and how professional healers operating within it legitimized themselves. ‎Contents ‎Acknowledgements ‎Abbreviations ‎Chapter 1. Newly Understanding Healing Goddesses and asûs: Theory and Methods ‎1.1. Introduction ‎1.2. Rethinking Healing Goddesses ‎1.2.1. Healing Goddesses as a Category ‎1.2.2. A Brief History of Scholarship on Healing Goddesses ‎1.3. Rethinking Mesopotamian Healers ‎1.3.1. Health Care Systems and the Medical Marketplace ‎1.3.2. The Development of the “Medical Profession” in Ancient Mesopotamia ‎1.3.3. Indigenous vs. Scholarly Medicine and Hegemonic/Theistic vs. Domestic/Holistic Domain ‎Part 1. The Various Healing Goddesses and Their Relationship to asûs ‎Chapter 2. The Origins of the Healing Goddess Gula ‎2.1. Gu₂-la₂ and Gula in the 3rd millennium B.C.E. ‎2.2. Disentangling Gula, Gu₂-la₂ and (U)kulla(b) ‎2.2.1. Trans-Tigridian Snake and Healing Deities ‎2.2.2. Ab-u₂ as Spouse of Gu₂-la₂, Gula and/or (U)kulla(b)? ‎2.2.3. (U)kulla(b), Gu₂-la₂, and Gula ‎2.2.4. Conclusion: Who Is Who? ‎2.3. Gula’s Involvement in Healing and Midwifery in the Ur III Period ‎2.3.1. Association with asûs through Cult ‎2.3.2. Association with Other Healing Goddesses ‎2.3.3. Gula and Childbirth ‎Chapter 3. Gula in the 2nd and 1st Millennia B.C.E. ‎3.1. Gula in the Old Babylonian Period ‎3.1.1. Gula’s Cult Centers in the Old Babylonian Period ‎3.1.1.1. Nippur ‎3.1.1.2. Larsa and Isin ‎3.1.1.3. Sippar ‎3.1.2. Gula as asû and Different Healing Domains in the Old Babylonian Period ‎3.1.3. Other Healing Settings ‎3.2. Gula in the 2nd Half of the 2nd Millennium B.C.E. ‎3.2.1. Gula’s Increased Significance in Babylonia ‎3.2.1.1. Nippur ‎3.2.1.2. Dūr-Kurigalzu ‎3.2.1.3. Isin ‎3.2.1.4. Sippar and Ḫilpu ‎3.2.2. Gula in Image in Babylonia ‎3.2.3. Gula in Assyria and the Periphery ‎3.2.3.1. The Temple of Gula at Aššur ‎3.2.3.2. Gula and asûs at Mardaman ‎3.2.3.3. (Scholarly) Sources from the Western Periphery ‎3.2.4. Gula and Her Connection to Healing ‎3.2.4.1. The Title asû/azugallatu and Healing Qualities ‎3.2.4.2. Requests for Healing: Figurines and Votive Inscriptions ‎3.3. Gula in the 1st Millennium B.C.E. ‎3.3.1. Gula’s Cult in Babylonia and Assyria ‎3.3.1.1. Temples, Their Names, and Related Divine Epithets ‎3.3.1.2. Gula and/as Bēlet-balāṭi, the “Mistress Who Provides Life” ‎3.3.1.3. Gula as asû/azugallatu, and Her Power over Life ‎3.3.1.4. Gula as Other Healers: The Domestic, Motherly Healer and Midwife ‎3.4. Conclusion ‎Chapter 4. Gula Compared to Other Healing Goddesses ‎4.1. Ninkarrak ‎4.1.1. Ninkarrak: The Name ‎4.1.2. The Origins of Ninkarrak: A Liminal Curse and Oath Deity ‎4.1.3. Ninkarrak in the Mesopotamian Heartland: Becoming a Healing Deity ‎4.1.4. Ninkarrak after the Old Babylonian Period ‎4.2. Ninisina ‎4.2.1. Ninisina in the 3rd and Early 2nd Millennia B.C.E. ‎4.2.1.1. Cult and Divine Relationships of Ninisina ‎4.2.1.2. Ninisina as the Epitomy of Healing ‎4.2.2. Ninisina after the Old Babylonian Period ‎4.3. Bau ‎4.3.1. Bau in the 3rd and Early 2nd Millennia B.C.E: Mother and Healer ‎4.3.2. Bau after the Old Babylonian Period ‎4.4. Nintinuga ‎4.4.1. The Name and Origins of Nintinuga ‎4.4.2. Nintinuga in the 2nd and 1st Millennia B.C.E. ‎4.5. Meme ‎4.6. Comparative Analysis of the Healing Goddesses ‎Part 2. Asûs in the Mesopotamian Medical Marketplace ‎Chapter 5. An Overview of the Mesopotamian Medical Marketplace ‎5.1. Lay and Domestic Healing ‎5.2. Folk Healing ‎5.2.1. Specialists in Plants, Food and Healing ‎5.2.2. Clothes Menders or Stitchers: the lu₂tug₂-kal-kal-la/mukabbû ‎5.2.3. Snake Handlers: the mušlaḫḫu ‎5.2.4. Barbers and Hairdressers: The šu-i/gallābu ‎5.2.5. Female Healers ‎5.2.6. The munaʾʾišu and mušallim(ān)u ‎5.3. Professional Healers: The Scholars ‎5.3.1. A New Development of Scholarly Identity in the Late 2nd Millennium B.C.E. ‎5.3.2. (Professional) Healers among the Scholars: bārû, āšipu, and asû ‎Chapter 6. Rethinking the Term “asû” ‎6.1. Asû as a General Term: “Healer” ‎6.2. Different Types of asûs and Intersections with other Healers ‎6.2.1. Asûs as Healers of Humans and Animals ‎6.2.2. Specializations of asûs ‎6.2.3. Female asûs ‎6.3. The Functions and Work Environments of asûs ‎6.3.1. Public Duties and Private Practice of asûs ‎6.3.2. Asûs of the City/State Administration and the asûs from the Periphery ‎6.3.3. Royal Recognition: asûs Working Directly for Palace and King ‎6.3.4. Asûs as Scholars ‎6.3.5. The Organization of asûs: Overseers, Apprentices, and Guilds ‎6.3.6. Asûs and the Temple ‎6.3.7. Asû as an Occupation in the Late 1st Millennium B.C.E. ‎6.4. Conclusion ‎Part 3. Legitimacy in the Medical Marketplace: Divine and Human Professional asûs ‎Chapter 7. Legitimization as a Response to Competition and the Demands of Clientele ‎7.1. Medical Competition and the Need for Legitimization ‎7.2. Promoting Erudition as a Scholarly Response to Medical Competition ‎7.2.1. Antagonism between the Educated/Competent and the Uneducated/Incompetent ‎7.2.2. “The Incompetent Other” in Medical Satire ‎7.2.3. Exclusive Knowledge of Exotic and Rare Healing Products ‎7.3. The Professional asûs’ Solution to Competition: A Divine Image ‎Chapter 8. The Process of Gula becoming the Divine Legitimization of Professional asûs ‎8.1. Healing Goddesses and Legitimization before the Middle Babylonian Period ‎8.2. Gula Legitimizing Professional asûs from the Middle Babylonian Period ‎8.3. Gula Representing Competition between Professional asûs and Other Healers ‎8.3.1. Competition among Scholars: Gula Increasing Power of Professional asûs ‎8.3.2. Gula Incorporating (Female) Lay and Folk Healers and Their Healing Practices ‎8.3.3. Gula and the Knife: Gula Incorporating the Art of the gallābus ‎Chapter 9. Conclusion and Suggestions for Future Research ‎Bibliography ‎Temple Names ‎Selected Akkadian Terms ‎Selected Sumerian Terms ‎Geographical Names ‎Names of Deities, Demons, Spirits and Monsters ‎Seals and Seal Impressions ‎Text References