Farber W
Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, USA.
Stud Anc Med. 2004;27:117-32.
To test whether the Babylonians had a 'rational' explanation of contagion, some letters from Mari mentioning epidemics and contagious diseases are studied within the wider context of Babylonian medicine. Descriptions of similar cases are adduced from other cuneiform sources. In particular, one later magical text from Boğazköy with instructions to marry a doll to an illness demon shows striking similarities with the terminology of the Mari letters. This points toward a magico-religious concept of contagiousness in which disease can be transmitted intentionally, or accidentally leap from one individual who has incurred the wrath of a god to an unwary other person.
为了检验巴比伦人是否对传染病有“合理的”解释，我们在巴比伦医学的更广泛背景下研究了一些来自马里的提及流行病和传染病的信件。类似病例的描述引自其他楔形文字资料。特别是，一份来自博阿兹柯伊的后期魔法文本，其中有将一个玩偶嫁给病魔的指示，与马里信件的术语有惊人的相似之处。这指向了一种关于传染性的魔法宗教概念，即疾病可以有意传播，或者偶然从一个惹恼神灵的个体跳到一个粗心大意的其他人身上。
