RABIES AND RABID DOGS IN SUMERIAN AND AKKADIAN LITERATURE.

• Author: YUHONG, WU

An analysis of the symptoms of a disease described in incantations against the bite of a dog leads to its identification with rabies or hydrophobia. A particular type of dog, called ur-[mu.sub.2]-da or ur-idim in Sumerian literature, is equated with Akkadian kalbu segum, "rabid dog." This article discusses many Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform texts that mention the rabid dog and rabies: incantations against the rabid dog and rabies, extispicy and astrological omens predicting an epidemic of rabies, behavioral omens interpreting rabies as an ominous sign predicting disaster for a city, religious texts demonizing it among the monsters of Tiamat, proverbs and letters using it to satirize an evil person, and royal inscriptions describing the demon of the rabid dog among the monsters depicted on palace doors and gates.

NIEK VELDHUIS HAS RECENTLY EDITED an Ur III incantation (VS 10, 193) against the attack (ra)--i.e., the poisonous bite or sting (us for [us.sub.11]: KAx[US.sub.2])--of a snake, scorpion, or an ur-[mu.sub.2]-da dog, the three notorious "poisonous" animals in Mesopotamia. [1] Following A. Sjoberg, [2] he translates ur-[mu.sub.2]-da as "a furious dog." The bite of a poisonous snake or a scorpion could cause a human being to die quickly, so a bite as terrible as that of a venomous snake could only come from a rabid or "mad" dog. Rabies, a very dangerous disease also called hydrophobia, kills its victim within a few days. Since Veldhuis was not certain that ur-[mu.sub.2]-da means "a rabid dog," he did not translate us (= [us.sub.11]/ imtu) as "poison, venom," but as "spittle," and did not accept the explanation that the Akkadian "Dog-bite Incantations" are directed against the bite of a rabid dog. [3] Incantations are usually employed against the most dangerous illnesses, from which one can neither recover by one self nor be healed through medicine. In an Old Babylonian extispicy text, [4] the fatal bite of a rabid dog (kalbu segu) is considered equivalent to the bite of a venomous snake and the sting of a scorpion, since predictions concerning fatal attacks by the three animals are given consecutively. Moreover, of the three, only the appearance of rabid dogs in a city is considered a disaster in the extispicy and other omen texts, presumably because it is more dangerous to human society than the other two. Hence, among the Akkadian incantations "against the dog, scorpion, and snakes," [5] those against their bites are best understood as intended to counter rabies, caused by the bite of a rabid dog, and the poison within a patient attacked by a snake or a scorpion. A Sumerian term for such incantations is ka-inim-ma mus/ur-[gi.sub.7] ti-la-kam, [6] "incantation to survive the (poison of) a snake/dog."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, fourteenth edition, vol. 18 (1966), describes rabies (s.v.) as follows:

The disease often begins with such symptoms of excitation of the central nervous system as irritability and viciousness.... The virus is often present in the salivary glands of rabid animals and is excreted in the saliva, so that the bite of the infected animal introduces the virus into a fresh wound.

Under favorable conditions, the virus becomes established in the central nervous system by propagation along nerve tissue from the wound to the brain. When infection occurs, the disease develops most often between four and six weeks after exposure, but the incubation period may vary from ten days to at least eight months.... Dog rabies is commonly classified as furious rabies and dumb rabies, depending on the signs shown by the animal. In the former type, the excitation phase is prolonged, while in the latter the paralytic phase is present from the beginning or develops early. Most infected dogs show some manifestations of each type, that is, a short excitation phase characterized by restlessness, nervousness, irritability and viciousness, followed by depression and paralysis.... Dogs that develop the predominantly excited type of rabies invariably die of the infection, usually within three or five days after the onset of symptoms. Dogs developing the paralytic type of rabies without any excitation or vicious ness may in rare instances recover from the infection. The symptom of hydrophobia or fear of water does not occur in dogs, but difficulty in swallowing is a common symptom of dog rabies. The paralysis of the muscles of phonation in rabid dogs often produces a characteristic change in the bark. There is no characteristic seasonal incidence of dog rabies.... The hydrophobia symptom consists of repeated episodes of painful contraction of the muscles of the throat on attempting to swallow. This symptom may be elicited by the sight of water because of association of water with the act of swallowing, hence the fear of water or hydrophobia. Rabies in man is uniformly fatal when associated with excitation of the nervous system and the hydrophobia symptom. Death ordinarily occurs within three to five days after onset of symptoms.

AKKADIAN LITERATURE INCANTATIONS AGAINST HUMAN RABIES

We now have five Old Babylonian Akkadian incantations that are definitely against rabies. Three of them have been edited or quoted by R. Whiting: [7] LB 2001, VS 17, 8, and A 704 (excerpted). The fourth (AUAM 73-2416) has been published by M. Sigrist, [8] and the final one has been presented by O. R. Gurney as OECT 11, 4. All these texts mention that the dangerous disease has been caused by a kind of "semen" (cf. modern "virus") in the mouth of a dog, transmitted by a bite, and that "the semen" will become "the child/puppy" of the disease in a patient's body. We now know that rabies viruses live in the saliva of an infected dog and multiply in the human central nervous system. In OECT 11, 4, the patient is said to have "fear/trembling on his lips," which possibly indicates hydrophobia. In the Standard Babylonian Disease List (MSL 9, 96, 165-66) we have a disease of fear: [a.sup.?]-[gi.sub.4] and [x]-[sa.sub.3] = pu-ul-hi-tu, which may also indicate hydrophobia. In Sumerian Lugal, 171-72, the semen or saliva (a) of the rabid dog causes death: ur-idim-... -ge-en (for [gin.sub.7]) a da-bi-a mu-un-sur-sur-re, "(The asakku-demon), like a rabid dog..., drips the 'semen' (or saliva) over the side of his body."

THE CONTROL OF RABID DOGS IN THE OLD BABYLONIAN LAWS OF ESHNUNNA

When Goetze published the Laws of Eshnunna, [9] he did not realize that kalbum segum in laws 56-57 indicates a rabid dog, but translated "(if) a dog is vicious." [10] The rabies control laws are not found in the Code of Hammurabi. [ss][ss] 56-57 of the Laws of Eshnunna (A iv 20-24) read:

sum-ma ur-[gi.sub.7] se-gi-ma b[a-a]b-tum a-na be-li-su / u-se-de-ma ur-[gi.sub.7]-su la is-su-ur-ma / [lu.sub.2] is-su-uk-ma us-ta-mi-it / be-el ur-[gi.sub.7] 2/3 ma-na [ku.sub.3]-babbar [i.sub.3]-[la.sub.2]-e sum-ma sag-arad / is-su-uk (sic!, text: ik-ki-im)-ma us-ta-mi-it 15 [gin.sub.2] [ku.sub.3]-babbar [i.sub.3]-[la.sub.2]-e

If a dog becomes rabid and the ward authority makes that known to its owner, but he does not watch over his dog so that it bites a man and causes his death, the owner of the dog shall pay forty shekels of silver; if it bites a slave and causes his death, he shall pay fifteen shekels of silver.

A Mari letter (ARM 3, 18:15) alludes to rabid dogs: ki-ma ur-[gi.sub.7] sa-ge-e[e]m a-sa-ar i-na-as-sa-ku u-ul i-de, "Like a rabid dog, he does not know where he will bile (next)." The writer of the letter possibly knew that "during the early stages of the disease a rabid animal is most dangerous because it appears to be healthy and may seem friendly but will bite at the slightest provocation." [11]

RABIES IN EXTISPICY

Since rabies sometimes became epidemic among dogs in a particular area of Mesopotamia, it is often mentioned in the omen literature. Both extispicy and astrology on occasion predict an epidemic of rabies. The behavioral omens of the summa alu series do not predict rabies, but use the outbreak of rabies to foretell other disasters for a city or a state.

Three extispicy omens [12] record that a hole in the "increase" (sibtum) of the liver predicts rabies for a man or a dog, and death for a priest or priestess:

1) sum-ma i-na i-mi-it-ti si-ib-tim si-lum na-di a-we-lum is-si-gi, "If a hole is situated on the right side of the 'increase,' a man will become rabid."

2) Sum-ma i-na qa-ab-li-a-at s[i-ib-tim si-lum na-di ug-b]a-ab-tum i-ma-a-at [u-lu]-u pa-si-su-um i-ma-a-at, "If [a hole is situated] in the middle of the ['increase'], a priestess [or] a priest will die."

3) [sum-ma i]-na su-me-el si-ib-tim si-lum [ka-al-bu is]-si-gu-u, "[If] a hole is situated on the left side of the 'increase,' [dogs] will become rabid."

In YOS 10, 35:27, [13] holes on the "increase" of the liver also predict rabies among dogs: i-na mu-hi [mas.sub.2] si-lu 2 3 na-du ur-[[gi.sub.7].sup.mes] i-se-gu-u, "(If) two or three holes are situated on top of the 'increase,' dogs will become rabid." YOS 10, 18: 64-66 mentions that holes on the "path" (padanum) of the liver predict attacks of the three

poisonous animals--snake, scorpion, and rabid dog:

64. [summa (dis) i-na pa-da]-nim si-lum na-di mus i-na kaskal [lu.sub.2] i-na-as-sa-a-ak, "[If] a hole is situated [on the 'path'], a snake will bite a man on the road."

65. [summa i-na pa-da]-nim si-lu 2 na-du-u ti-bu-ut [gir.sub.2]-tab, "[If] two holes are situated [on the 'path'], (this portends) the attack of a scorpion."

66. [summa i-na pa-da]-nim si-lu 3 na-du-u ka-al-bu is-si-gu-u, "[If] three holes are situated [on the 'path'], dogs will become rabid."

In Standard Babylonian extispicy texts, Sumerian idim is used for Akkadian segu, and from Hh XIV 94-96 [14] we learn that ur-idim means "rabid dog": ur-idim = su-mu = kal-bu se-gu-u and ur-hul = lemnu, "the evil dog." In CT 20, 33: 89-89 we also find a rabid dog:

summa (be) nasraptu ([nig.sub.2]-tab) kima (gim) [zu.sub.2] sassari (sum-gam-me) putturat ([du.sub.8]-mes-at) ana...