![]() In the fields of neurology and psychiatry the earliest detailed clinical descriptions can be traced to the first Dynasty of Babylon of the second millennium BC. Recent research, however, has revealed earlier origins in Mesopotamia (‘the land between the rivers’) and Egypt ( Nunn, 1966 Finkel and Seymour, 2008). Western scientific medicine is rooted in Greek and Roman medicine, conveyed and modified by Islamic medicine. ![]() We discuss these accounts in relation to subsequent and more modern clinical descriptions.īabylon, epilepsy, stroke, behaviour, psychiatry Introduction The Babylonians were the first to describe the clinical foundations of neurology and psychiatry. stroke or facial palsy, had a physical basis requiring the attention of a physician or asû, using a plant and mineral based pharmacology some disorders such as epilepsy, psychoses, depression and anxiety were regarded as supernatural due to evil demons or spirits, or the anger of personal gods, and thus required the intervention of the priest or ašipu other disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder and psychopathic behaviour were regarded as a mystery. They had no knowledge of brain or psychological function. Their detailed descriptions are surprisingly similar to modern 19th and 20th century AD textbook accounts, with the exception of subjective thoughts and feelings which are more modern fields of enquiry. The Babylonians were remarkably acute and objective observers of medical disorders and human behaviour. Most of these accounts date from the first Babylonian dynasty of the first half of the second millennium BC, within a millennium and a half of the origin of writing. We here review Babylonian descriptions of neurological and psychiatric disorders, including epilepsy, stroke, psychoses, obsessive compulsive disorder, phobias, psychopathic behaviour, depression and anxiety.
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