Mesopotamian Medicine: Did you mean...?

The god Apollo in Greek mythology is the Olympian god of, well, quite a lot! Apollo is associated with the bow, music, divination, the sun, poetry, healing and medicine and, who would have thought, plagues. He was one of the most loved gods...

Chogha Zanbil (literally "basket mound") is an ancient Elamite temple complex located in the modern-day province of Khuzestan, Iran. It is also known as Dur-Untash (Fortress/City/Town of Untash), Tchogha Zanbil, and Al Untash Napirisha ("Place...

Trephination (also known as trepanning or burr holing) is a surgical intervention where a hole is drilled, incised or scraped into the skull using simple surgical tools. In drilling into the skull and removing a piece of the bone, the dura...

King Sejong the Great (15 May 1397 to 8 April 1450 CE) ruled Korea from 1418 to 1450 CE as the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty (also spelled Choson). One of only two Korean kings called 'the Great' today, Sejong had a major impact on Korea...

The Sun Dance is a ritual ceremony observed by the Plains Indians of the regions of modern Canada and the United States to awaken the earth, renew the community, give thanks for the sun, and petition or give thanks for favors from the Great...

This tablet lists purchases of land by a man named Tupsikka, with payments made in baskets of barley. One transaction reads "The price of the field is 90 gur-sag-gal 16 quarts of oil". Stone tablet, about 2400-2200 BCE. Excavated by Hormuzd...

Ereshkigal (also known as Irkalla and Allatu) is the Mesopotamian Queen of the Dead, who rules the underworld. Her name translates as "Queen of the Great Below" or "Lady of the Great Place." She was responsible for both keeping the dead within...

Mesopotamian clay tablet with the episodes of the epic of creation. It narrates how the god Anshar summons the gods together for a banquet. They celebrate Marduk's appointment as champion; Marduk defeated Tiamat in the primeval chaos. From...

Babylonian tablet, a scholar speculating on how powerful, independent Mesopotamian gods can be seen as aspects of the god Marduk. From Babylon, Southern Mesopotamia, Iraq. Neo-Babylonian Period, reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, 605-562 BCE. The...

Mesopotamian male worshiper votive figure, from Eshnunna, Mesopotamia (modern-day Tell Asmar), 2750-2600 BCE. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.