The Loss of Male Sexual Desire in Ancient Mesopotamia: ›Nīš Libbi‹ Therapies

Gioele Zisa

Published by De Gruyter 2022

The Loss of Male Sexual Desire in Ancient Mesopotamia

›Nīš Libbi‹ Therapies

Gioele Zisa

Volume 5 in the series Medical Traditions

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110757262

Overview
Contents

About this book

After more than fifty years since the last publication, the cuneiform texts relating to the treatment of the loss of male sexual desire and vigor in Mesopotamia are collected in this volume. The aim of the book is to present Mesopotamian medical tradition regarding the so-called nīš libbi therapies.
šà-zi-ga in Sumerian, nīš libbi in Akkadian, lit. "raising of the 'heart'", is the expression used to indicate a group of texts intended to recover the male sexual desire. This medical tradition is preserved from the Middle Babylonian period to the Achaemenid one. This broad range testifies to the importance of the transmission of this material throughout Mesopotamian history.
The book provides the edition of this textual corpus and analyzes it in the light of new knowledge on ancient Near Eastern medicine. Moreover, this volume aims to show how theories and methodologies of Cultural Anthropology, Ethnopsychiatry and Gender Studies are useful for understanding the Mesopotamian medical system. This edition is an important tool for understanding Mesopotamian medical knowledge for Assyriologist, however since the texts have been translated and discussed using the anthropological and gender perspectives they are accessible also to scholars of other research fields, such as History of Medicine, Sexuality and Gender.

Author / Editor information

Gioele Zisa, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Foreword Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	XIII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	XV
Introduction Publicly Available Download PDF	XIX
Bibliographical abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	XXI
Editorial abbreviations and sigla Publicly Available Download PDF	XXIII
Part I: Interpretative analysis of the corpus
Chapter I Nīš libbi therapies and theoretical and methodological introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter II Nīš libbi incantations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
Chapter III Rituals and prescriptions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
Conclusions. Therapeutic efficacy and analogical thinking Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
Part II: Edition
Nīš libbi catalogue LKA 94 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	217
I Texts from Aššur (with duplicates from other sites) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
II Texts from Nineveh (with duplicates from other sites) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	361
III Text from Sultantepe (with duplicates from other sites) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	381
IV Texts from Uruk (with duplicates from other sites) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	417
V Texts from Boghazköy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	436
VI Ritual fragments from Nineveh and Aššur Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	465
VII Ritual fragments from Sippar and Uruk Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	485
VIII Ritual fragments from Boghazköy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	492
List of mineral and botanical ingredients Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	509
Index of ingredients Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	523
Concordances Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	531
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	537
Index of Akkadian terms and expressions discussed Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	583
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	585

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Scholars of Assyriology, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Medical Anthropology, Gender Studies
Pages
- Front matter: 24
- Main content: 588
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 23
- Tables: 28
Keywords: Mesopotamian sexual desire; cuneiform medicine; Mesopotamian sexuality; Babylonian medicine

eBook

Published: November 22, 2021
ISBN: 9783110757262

Hardcover

Published: November 22, 2021
ISBN: 9783110757040

Paperback

Published: May 8, 2023
ISBN: 9783111278285