Mesopotamian Medicine and Magic: Studies in Honor of Markham J. Geller

Mesopotamian Medicine and Magic. Studies in Honour of Markham J. Geller is a thematically focused collection of 34 brand-new essays bringing to light a representative selection of the rich and varied scientific and technical knowledge produced chiefly by the cuneiform cultures. The contributions concentrate mainly on Mesopotamian scholarly descriptions and practices of diagnosing and healing diverse physical ailments and mental distress. The festschrift contains both critical editions of new texts as well as analytical studies dealing with various issues of Mesopotamian medical and magical lore. Currently, this is the largest edited volume devoted to this topic, significantly contributing to the History of Ancient Sciences.

＂This is a broad survey of many aspects of Babylonian culture, and reflects the intellectual climate of the world encountered by the exiles.＂
-Nick Wyatt, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 43.5 (2019)

Strahil V. Panayotov, Ph.D. (2014) University of Sofia, is a postdoc in BabMed, the ERC advanced project at the Freie Universität Berlin. He has published and edited monographs and articles on various Assyriological topics, and is currently preparing with M.J. Geller a critical edition of the Mesopotamian Eye Disease Texts. The Nineveh Treatise (Die Babylonisch-assyrische Medizin in Texten und Untersuchungen 10).

Luděk Vacín, Ph.D. (2011), SOAS London, spent two years at the MPIWG, then assisted M.J. Geller in the publication of the Udug-hul incantation series at the Freie Universität Berlin. Now he works at the University of Hradec Králové, Czechia. His main interests are Sumerian literature, royal ideology, and intellectual culture. He has published articles on those topics and edited the Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Memory of Blahoslav Hruska (Islet, 2011).