Cuneiform script of medicine in Mesopotamia

Ancient Mesopotamians developed a written language called cuneiform. By about 2000 BC the Mesopotamians cuneiform system of writing was used throughout the Near East and particularly in Canaan, where rules were using it in their corresponding even with the pharaohs of Egypt.

Sumer flourished some 4000-5000 years ago, but the first century AD its language had vanished and its writings, in the form of cuneiform script inscribed in clay tablets were indecipherable.

Of the well over one hundred thousand cuneiform tablets that have been discovered, about eight hundred deal with medicine. The earliest medical text dates from the third dynasty of Ur (c. 2100 BC) and is written in Sumerian cuneiform. It contains instructions for treating skin problems in patients, but not diagnoses.

The cuneiform texts pertaining to medicine can be divided into three categories:
*Therapeutic or ‘medical texts’
*Omen collections or ‘symptom texts’
*Miscellaneous texts which incidentally provide information on diseases and medical practices

After deciphering cuneiform writings and studying numerous texts, scholars divided the medical traditions of Sumer into two categories, which have been called the ‘scientific’ and the ‘practical’ school.

The medical tables mention diseases of the liver, the eye, respiratory disease, fever and gonorrhea. A catheter was used in the treatment of urinary tract diseases.
Cuneiform script of medicine in Mesopotamia

Atharva-Veda or Wisdom of the Atharvan Priests

The Samhitas include the four scared Hindu hymnals known as the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva-Veda.

The Atharva-Veda is the last of the four Vedas, which are the oldest and most authoritative Hindu religious texts.

Whereas the other three– focus mainly on sacrificial rituals, the Atharva-veda text consists primarily of spells and charms used to ward off disease or to influence events.

This text is considered the origin of Indian medicine, the system of Ayurveda. It largely represents the popular side of Vedic culture and religion and contains spells for healing illness, the removal of demons, love spells, speculative hymns about cosmic forces, as well as material relevant to domestic rituals such as marriage, initiation and death.

The Atharva-Veda also contains the most concerning dreams. Prophetic dreams and their respective meanings are discussed; for example, riding on an elephant in a dream is considered auspicious, while riding on a donkey is inauspicious.

Charaka claims the Atharva-Veda is superior to the other Vedas as it deal with life which is the foundation of all happiness and profit.
Atharva-Veda or Wisdom of the Atharvan Priestst.

Water

Water
Water is one of the oldest known beverages and one of the first to be medicinally characterized with respect to effect on health. The Chakara-Samhita document is the oldest known Asian medical text (1500 BCE). The text presents a classification of common beverages for physician and addresses their presumed medical properties and attributes:

“Water by nature has six qualities: cold, pure, wholesome, palatability, clean, light. When water falls to earth it depends for its properties on the containing soil. Water in white soil is astringent. Water in pale soil is bitter. Water in brown soil is alkaline. Water in hilly areas is pungent. Water in black soil is sweet. Water derived from rain, hailstone, and snow has unmanifested ‘rasa’ (taste); Fresh rain water of the rainy season is heavy blocks body channels and is sweet; ….Rivers with water polluted with soil, feces, insects, snakes, and rats and carrying rain water aggravates all ‘dosas’.”

The Nei Ching dates to Han dynasty times (207 BCE – 220 CE) in ancient China and demonstrated the wide range in beverage choices that had rapidly become available and how they were closely associated with medicine and the healing process. The ancient Chinese medical system defined five organs (heart, liver, lung, kidney and spleen) and integrated factors of hot cold, wet dry, male-female, set within a complex integration of Yang, Neutrality and Yin. Alcoholic beverages (except beer) and coffee are classified as Yang or hot/heating, whereas fruit juices, milk, tea and unboiled water are classified as Yin or cold/cooling.

Furthermore, Chinese Buddhist monks followed strict dietary codes that limited their eating time to morning hours, and the foods/beverages forbidden to them included: fermented items, milk, cream, fish and meat.
Water