05/09/2021
Los problemas dentales, sus causas y posibles curas se recogen desde el comienzo de la escritura, en la Mesopotamia Neolítica. Compartimos esta interesante publicación del British Museum, en que en la traducción de la escritura cuneiforme se explica que culpaban a un gusano del dolor y las dolencias dentales. , , ,
🦷 In ancient Mesopotamia, there was a belief that dental problems were caused by a worm – in the Akkadian language, a ‘tûltu’.
This was not a normal worm you might find in the soil, but a cosmic one sent down to earth by the gods to dwell in the human mouth – kept alive by food morsels and human blood!
There’s a lot of information about this tooth worm written on the cuneiform tablets in the collection. Tablets from the Library of Ashurbanipal contain an incredible medical handbook – the ‘Nineveh Medical Encyclopaedia’. Incantations and magical acts from the encyclopaedia describe the connection between tooth decay and the worm, including the inscription on this Nero-Assyrian tablet, which says
“Indeed, [the worm] is the one that became hostile! Via the door of the flesh! Via the bar of the bone!”
“Whom shall I send to the first born-son of the mountains-Marduk, that the worm be smashed! May the worm get out through the doorpost socket like a mongoose!”
The encyclopaedia is currently being translated into English as part of a Wellcome Trust funded project to learn more about ancient medical history.
🔎 Right-hand corner of a Neo-Assyrian clay tablet. Kouyunjik (Nineveh), North Iraq. Read more: http://ow.ly/2sVc30rQUjq
