Diagnostic Handbook
Sumerians had a better medical knowledge than the middle ages.
One of the earliest known descriptions of epilepsy comes from a Sumerian/Akkadian cuneiform medical text known as the Diagnostic Handbook, a medical treatise recorded on clay tablets that was copied over and over again from 3000 BC.
The Diagnostic Handbook, also known as Sa-gig, is a medical text written in cuneiform that provides information about symptoms, disease names, and prognosis.
It is one of the largest surviving medical texts from Ancient Mesopotamia.
Content:
The Diagnostic Handbook includes information about symptoms, disease names, prognosis, and disease causation.
It is divided into sections, including omens, visible symptoms, prognoses, and treatments.
The text uses a casuistic formula, where the protases presents information about symptoms and the apodosis provides a diagnosis, cause, and prognosis.
📍British Museum
