{"id":3173,"date":"2009-12-03T10:36:02","date_gmt":"2009-12-03T15:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=3173"},"modified":"2015-12-27T15:47:28","modified_gmt":"2015-12-27T20:47:28","slug":"diabetes-in-antiquity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=3173","title":{"rendered":"Diabetes in Antiquity"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t want to start a war of the nerds or anything, but since Catherine Price brought up her love of Latin<\/a>, it seems like a fine time to confess that I too am a language mega-dork.\u00a0 In college and grad school I studied Sumerian, Akkadian, Biblical Hebrew, and Ancient Greek.\u00a0 But\u2026no Latin.\u00a0 Never!\u00a0 Also, unlike Catherine, I haven\u2019t retained much of what I learned.\u00a0 So I won\u2019t be breaking down words into their roots for you here (and anyway\u2026English does not have a whole lot of Sumerian roots).<\/p>\n

\"cuneiform\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What I can do, however, to give you your daily dose of antiquity, is point you to this <\/a>article by Lee J. Sanders, which highlights the major milestones in the history of diabetes. \u00a0Sanders writes about the discovery of the Ebers Papyrus in Egypt in 1872, by German Egyptologist Georg Ebers. \u00a0The Ebers Papyrus was written about 1550 BCE, and evidence suggests that it was copied from a series of books many centuries older.\u00a0 Sanders writes, \u201cThe first reference to diabetes mellitus is attributed to the Ebers Papyrus, which mentions remedies for the treatment of excessive urination (polyuria). The Ebers Papyrus contains remedies \u201cto eliminate urine which is too plentiful.\u201d The following mixture was prescribed for the treatment of polyuria:<\/p>\n

A measuring glass filled with Water from the Bird pond, Elderberry, Fibres of the asit plant, Fresh Milk, Beer-Swill, Flower of the Cucumber, and Green Dates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyone ever tried that?\u00a0 If so, let me know how it works. \u00a0I do recall reading about diseases in Mesopotamia, but mostly what I remember are incantations against diseases.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if an incantation against urine exists, however, I do remember one against flatulence (I remember it because it\u2019s funny).\u00a0 I\u2019ve gone to the trouble of looking it up so I can share it with you:\u00a0 Here it is, from Benjamin R. Foster\u2019s Before The Muses, An Anthology of Akkadian Literature<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Against Flatulence<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Wind, O wind!<\/em><\/p>\n

Wind, you are the fire of the gods.<\/em><\/p>\n

You are the wind between turd and urine.<\/em><\/p>\n

You have come out and taken your place<\/em><\/p>\n

Among the gods, your brethren.<\/em><\/p>\n

Foster notes, \u201cThis may be one of the few apotheoses of flatulence in world literature.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":53098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1501],"tags":[393],"yoast_head":"\nHistory of Diabetes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"which highlights the major milestones in the history of diabetes. 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