Controlling epidemics in the Ancient Near East

29 February 2020

As the coronavirus epidemic, after having developed in China, is spreading at an increasing rate in the rest of the world, one may wonder what measures the inhabitants of the Ancient Near East took in similar conditions.

The cuneiform documentation unearthed from excavated sites in Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey mentions a wide variety of diseases. The medical texts propose all sorts of treatments and rituals to cure the sick, and mention a highly developed pharmacopoeia for diseases of which we know only the Akkadian name[1].

Contagious diseases gave rise to epidemics that decimated families, as we sometimes learn incidentally. A memorandum from the 19th century BCE records the expenses incurred for the burial of the wife of an Assyrian merchant in Kanesh, Central Anatolia. Before her death she had distributed her property in her will to her two sons who lived with her and to her daughter, a priestess living in Ashur, Iraq. The latter ended up inheriting all of her mother's property, as her two brothers, who were probably suffering from the same disease as their mother, also died[2].

Epidemics could also have an important political impact. The Hittite king Suppiluliuma I (14th century BCE), who was known to have put the threatened Hittite empire back on its feet, died of the plague after a thirty-year reign. The epidemic in Egypt was brought to Anatolia by Egyptians captured by Hittite troops during battles in northern Syria. The plague spread among the Hittite population and decimated part of the royal family, including Arnuwanda II, son of Suppiluliuma I, who died within a year of succeeding his father. His younger brother, Mursili II, succeeded him on the throne. Convinced that it was a plague sent by the gods to punish his father for an act of fratricide committed early in his reign, Mursili II wrote Prayers about the plague.

The measures taken to stop an epidemic are particularly well documented by the royal archives of the palace of Mari, a capital of the Middle Euphrates in the 18th century BCE. Some letters in the correspondence between the king and his wife show that the subject was taken seriously when a palace servant fell ill[3].

Zimrî-Lîm wrote to his wife: "I have learnt that Nannâ suffers from the disease simmum. Now, she does not frequent only one place in the palace and she brings many women into contact through her. Give strict orders that no one drink from the cup where she drinks, that no one sit on the seat where she sits, and that no one lie on the bed where she lies, so that she does not contaminate many women by her mere contact. This disease simmum is easily caught." Nannâ, the water carrier, would draw water from the well and circulate among all the women in the palace to supply them with water. There was thus the risk of her infecting many other women in the palace.

The queen alerted the king about another sick servant: "I was told: The woman, even if we touch her, will not live. I asked her name. This woman is Ashtakka. For the time being, I have made her live in the new buildings. She takes her food and drink separately. No one should come near her bed or seat."

In another letter to the queen from her king, the latter insisted on the measures to be taken with regard to another patient: "Concerning the illness of this woman, Summudum, many women will be sick with this disease simmum. This woman must live in a separate room. Let no one visit her!"

This shows that the phenomenon of contamination was already well known and taken seriously. To prevent the outbreak of an epidemic, the patient was quarantined to avoid any contact with the healthy population of the palace, and these measures seem to have been successful. Let us hope that the measures taken today in the various countries affected by the coronavirus are as effective as those taken in Mari four thousand years ago.

[1]The Journal des médecines cunéiformes, created in 2003, offers numerous studies on the subject.

[2]C. Michel, Women of Aššur and Kaneš: Texts from the Archives of Assyrian Merchants, Writings from the Ancient World, SBL, Baltimore (publication June 2020), text n°60.

[3]J.-M. Durand, Documents épistolaires du palais de Mari t. III, Littératures Anciennes du Proche-Orient 18, Paris, Editions du Cerf, texts n°1163-1165. The disease simmum is not identified but was accompanied by a skin rash.