In his PhD thesis, Troels Arbøll, Univ. of Copenhagen, retraces the making of a doctor in Mesopotamia. He analyses the notes and writings of a healer called Kisir-Ashur at the end of the seventh century BCE.
More about his findings is given in an article at ScienceNordic, a Scandinavian online magazine on scientific research.
A brief quote taken from the contibution:
“It’s a snapshot of history that is difficult to generalise and it is possible that Kisir-Ashur worked with the material in a slightly different way than other practising healers. Kisir-Ashur copied and recorded mostly pre-existing treatments and you can see that he catalogues knowledge and collects it with a specific goal,” says Arbøll.
For [Nils P.] Heeßel [Univ. Marburg], this is the most exciting part of the thesis.
“It’s a great piece of work and for me this micro-history of the ancient Near East is the most interesting aspect of the thesis. It’s never been done before and I’m glad to see this concept used on our limited material in the region,” he writes.
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