Talmudic recipes for ear disease (1)

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The Talmudic tractate Aboda Zara 28a refers to a set of recipes for ear disease:

‘take (lyty) kidneys of a hornless goat (brḥˀ qrḥˀ), tear it crosswise and place it on coals of a fire and let them put (lyšdnhw) these fluids (myˀ) which come out from it (the concoction) in the ears, not cold and not hot but tepid. If (that does) not (work) [second recipe], take (lyyty) the fat of a large-size beetle (ḥypwštˀ gmlnytˀ), let it be melted (pšr) and put into the ear. If (that does) not (work) [third recipe], let him fill his ear with oil (mšḥˀ), and make 7 threads (ptyltˀ = Akkadian pitiltu) of ˀspstˀ (= Akkadian aspastu).

The recipe then calls for twisting the threads into a tampon which is ignited at one end and then inserted into the ear, presumably to draw out the wax or pus. The use of tampons of this kind is typical of Akkadian medicine dealing with ear problems. The recipe ends with the warning to avoid draughts of wind, which might cause the burning tampon to singe the patient’s ear.

Source (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Babylonian Talmud, Aboda Zara 28a

Bibliography

Mark Geller

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