Week 6- PersianMed

Overview of Ancient Persian Medicine

• Ancient Persia was located on the Iranian Plateau, bordered by the Caspian Sea to the Northwest and the Persian Gulf to the South.

• The region encompassed modern-day countries including Iran, Afghanistan, Northwestern Pakistan, along with parts of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kurdistan.

• This geographical position fostered cultural interactions between the ancient Near East and the Indian Subcontinent, as well as exchanges with the Mediterranean world through warfare and interaction.

Historical Context

• Tenth Century BCE: Indo-European Medes migrated to Northwestern Persia, later settling at Parsa, facing conflicts from Assyrians.

• Achaemenid Dynasty: Founded by Cyrus I; significant relations with Greeks noted by Herodotus.

• Alexander the Great: Ended the Achaemenid dynasty; his general Seleucus established the Seleucid dynasty.

• Parthian Empire: Founded by Arasarches I, giving the Romans military resistance.

• Sasanian Empire: Established by Ardashir I; noted for cultural exchanges with Roman, Byzantine, Indian, and Chinese empires (notably Han and Tang).

• Persian medicine reflects the social and cultural interactions resulting from these exchanges.

Periodization of Persian Medicine

• Indo-European Period: Focused on three functions—knife, herbs, and mantras related to society's warriors, farmers, and priests.

• Imperial Period: Encompassed the Achaemenids, Seleucids, Parthians, and Sassanians.

• Islamic Period: Most scholarly attention is towards famous physicians from this era, such as Abi Qena.

Religion and Medicine in Persian Culture

• Predominantly Zoroastrianism, but also Buddhism, Hinduism, Manichaeism, and Gnosticism were practiced.

• Pollution presented a significant concern, impacting ritual cleanliness practices, unlike other cultures.

• Zoroastrian cosmology:

  • Dualistic worldview: Good (Ahura Mazda) vs. Evil (Angra Mainyu), emphasizing community cohesion.

  • Unlike other polytheistic religions, Zoroastrian gods do not collaborate across good and evil spectrums.

View on Health and Disease

• Health is seen as a gift from Ahura Mazda, and illness arises from Angra Mainyu’s attempts to disrupt cosmic order.

• Disease viewed as possession by evil spirits, necessitating exorcism rituals.

• The ancient Persians did not interpret illnesses as divine messages; rather, they saw them as active disruptions to health.

Healing Practices

• Healing as a divine action reliant on the good gods, involving rituals and the use of specific plants.

• Purity viewed as essential; the sick need to be separated until cured, reflecting concepts of impurity similar to those found in Greek practices.

• Priests predominantly functioned as healers, complicating our understanding due to the scarcity of explicit clinical practices.

Key Healing Deities

• Ahura Mazda: Supreme God associated with healing, referenced in medical prayers, yet lacking specific mythology regarding healing illness.

• Ariaman: Personifies harmony and healing; mythologically teaches proper purification rituals.

• Anahita: Represents divine water associated with healing; integrates aspects from pre-Zoroastrian worship.

• Angra Mainyu: The evil spirit representing chaos, linked to ailments like snakebites.

• Fravashis: Protective spirits who assist in healing; associated with ideals of health and longevity.

Challenges in Understanding Persian Medicine

• Most texts available today are Arabic translations of Old and Middle Persian, introducing potential biases in interpretation.

• A lack of original medical texts limits the scope of understanding, leaving scholars to rely on fragmented literature, court documents, and archaeological studies.

• Zoroastrian priests avoided document complete rituals for fear of misuse, creating gaps in knowledge about purification and healing practices.

Example of Ancient Medicine

• Cantharides Tincture: A preparation from Spanish fly used historically for skin irritations and ailments, now known for its toxic properties.

• In modern medicine, cantharidine is cautiously employed in dermatology for treating skin conditions.