The archives from Ebla in Syria (Archi 1995) reveal that doctors had employed fine metal medical tools since the third millennium BCE. But medical instruments were not limited to knives, razors, scalpels, and scrapers. Minute metal tubes were commonly employed to introduce medication during therapy of small body parts:
For the same (case), you pound mint and white plant, you blow them with a bronze tube (ina MUD ZABAR) into his eyes. (BAM 514 o ii 36', modified after http://oracc.org/asbp/ninmed/P394759 [http://oracc.org/asbp/ninmed/P394759]
A tube was the best choice to get the medication inside the body through its orifices. A metal tube was a must when the healer had to insert medication into the urethra - in cases of penis and kidney complaints:
If a man's penis stings him when he passes urine (or) ejaculates, he is affected in his innards and is "diminished" (i. e., cannot get erect) when he has sex with a woman, and pus flows constantly from his penis, that man suffers from "discharge". To cure him: you blow "white"-plant in oil with your mouth (through) a copper tube into his penis. (after Geller 2005: p. 65:17'-19')
The organic alternative of a metal tube was a fine reed straw, with which medication was applied into the ear, among other body parts:
If a man is sick and his illness is at work inside his ears, with difficult hearing. Then you mix one shekel of pomegranate sap, two shekels of kanaktu-plant sap. You sprinkle (the mixture) on a tuft (and) place it into his ears. You do this for three days. When on the fourth day pus comes out of his ears, then you wipe it off. When the pus comes to an end, you pound alum and blow it through a reed straw (ina GI.SAG.KUD) into both his ears. (K.2422, o ii 54'. modified after http://oracc.org/asbp/ninmed/P400233) [http://oracc.org/asbp/ninmed/P400233]
Tubes were also used to drain body fluids. The remarkable example below shows that a cut was made into the ribs and a drainage tube installed.
... and fever constantly persists in his body and he growls loudly. This man has a cutting ... You spill over him and you ... three ribs ... With a flint blade you open him in his fourth rib and then fluid and blood ... You boil five liters of mustard sap, you filter it ... You spill over him and ... it and repeat it. You heat it up together and pour it into it ... You make a lead drainage tube, you thread it on a linen cloth and insert (it) into (the cut). You boil the infusion in mustard sap, you knead it (into dough), you bandage it, and he will get better. (AMT 49/4: r ii 2'-9', modified after http://oracc.org/asbp/ninmed/P394449) [http://oracc.org/asbp/ninmed/P394449]
This Mesopotamian example resembles a practice known from the Hippocratic writings (Stol 2004). Such similarities point to common medical treatments being spread around the Middle East and Mediterranean world, as it is the case with the Liver for Blindness [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/asbp/NinMed/historyofmedicine/liverforblindness/].
Besides bronze tubes, small medical utensils were used in eye therapy. Lead spoons (DILIM₂ A.BAR₂) were commonly used to mix unguents, which gave the name of the salve. This phenomenon resembles the Graeco-Roman collyriums.
Evidence can also be found in the archaeology. Minute tools, razors, needles, and spoons were used for surgical interventions.
The cases discussed briefly above are far from all-encompassing. Cuneiform therapeutic texts are packed with information on the progress in surgery in the ancient Middle East. Interdisciplinary scrutiny of the cuneiform material, archaeological evidence, and human remains is needed for us to form a comprehensive picture of Mesopotamian "hand-work" in healing.
Archi, A. 1995. "Lists of Tools", in Vom Alten Orient zum Alten Testament: Festschrift für Wolfram Freiherrn von Soden zum 85. Geburtstag am 19. Juni 1993, ed. M. Dietrich and O. Loretz. Pp. 7-10. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Butzon and Bercker Kevelaer.
Geller, M. J. 2005. Renal and Rectal Disease Texts. Die babylonisch-assyrische Medizin in Texten und Untersuchungen 7. Berlin-New York: Walter de Gruyter.
Heeßel, N. P. 2008. "Babylonische Wissenschaft - Medizin und Magie", in Babylon: Wahrheit, eds. J. Marzahn and G. Schauerte. München: Hirmer Verlag: 413-422.
Sternitzke, K. 2012. "Spatel, Sonde und Skalpell. Medizinische Instrumente im Archäologischen Befund", in Stories of long ago. Festschrift für Michael D. Roaf, eds. H. Baker, K. Kaniuth und A. Otto. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 397. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag: 649-666.
Stol, M. 2004. "An Assyriologist reads Hippocrates", in Magic and Rationality in Ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman Medicine, eds. H. F. J. Horstmanshoff and M. Stol. Studies in Ancient Medicine 27. Leiden–Boston: Brill: 63-78.
Strahil V. Panayotov
Strahil V. Panayotov, 'Other tools of the trade', The Nineveh Medical Project, The Nineveh Medical Project, Department of the Middle East, The British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG, 2022 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/asbp/NinMed/surgery/othertoolsofthetrade/]