ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

A Waterless Flood: Epidemics in Ancient Mesopotamia

• In Event: Pestilence and the Weather: The Environmental Framing of Epidemics in Global Antiquity

English Abstract

Numerous references to epidemic diseases are known from a multitude of ancient Middle Eastern cuneiform texts originating primarily from the second and first millennia BCE. On the basis of recent efforts to provide a coherent overview of sources available for examining the existence of epidemics, as well as approaches and innovations for the prevention and treatment of widespread disease in ancient Mesopotamia, this paper outlines how ancient Mesopotamian societies conceptualized and responded to epidemic afflictions. Particularly, the paper considers widespread diseases related to seasonality, climate, or human made disruption. Mythological narratives, such as the Erra Epic, describe the rampage of the plague and war god Erra, and the story frames epidemics as related to armed conflicts and famine. Similarly, omen literature links epidemics to earthly and astronomical phenomena. The talk will draw on the presenter’s newly initiated research project From Catastrophe to Culture: Understanding Epidemics in Ancient Mesopotamia at the University of Copenhagen, which explores how the societies and cultures of ancient Mesopotamia faced, responded to, and were affected by epidemic outbreaks.

Author

• Troels Pank Troels Pank Arbøll, University of Copenhagen