title: Bloodletting in Babylonia.
abstract: The major premise of the argument which follows is that Greek science and specifically Greek medicine did not penetrate into pre-Byzantine Babylonia. Examples are drawn from the Babylonian Talmud, which contains information from both Graeco-Roman Palestine and Parthian/Sassanian Babylonia, showing clear differences between Greek and Babylonian medicine. However, the references to bloodletting in the Babylonian Talmud as being a local procedure contradict the argument, since bloodletting became integral to Greek medicine but was unknown in Akkadian medicine. The conclusion suggests that bloodletting was introduced into Babylonia from Palestine, but was never universally adopted in Babylonia during the Talmudic period.
authors.affiliation: University College London.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Geller
mesh_terms: D018436:Ancient Lands; D001815:Bloodletting / Q000266:history*; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans