Mesopotamian medicine and Parthians (1)

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The Parthian electric batteries which were discovered in a settlement site near Baghdad in association with magical bowls, are dated to the first century BCE or the first century CE. They were used as a local analgesic. These galvanic cells go back to Sumerian distillation practices (the concentration of acetic acid from vinegar), and also to Assyrian evidences of an especially strong form of distilled vinegar. Mesopotamian medical practice included a number of elements conducive to the reception of an electrotherapeutic device of this sort. The Mesopotamian therapy was typically non-invasive, using drugs in preference to surgery: one common drug component was vinegar. Little is known of Parthian medicine, but it likely included most of the traditional elements of Mesopotamian medicine; the Chaldean tradition continued under the Greeks, and the Parthians typically tolerated local rulers and customs.

Bibliography

Andrea Piras

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