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Esagil-kin-apli
Esagil-kin-apli was the ummânū, or chief scholar, of Babylonian king Adad-
apla-iddina, 1067–1046 BCE, as he appears on the Uruk List of Sages and
Scholars (165 BCE)[i 1] listed beside him and is best known for his Diagnostic
Handbook, Sakikkū (SA.GIG), a medical treatise which uses symptoms to
ascertain etiology, frequently supernatural, and prognosis, which became the
received text during the first millennium.

He was a “prominent citizen of Borsippa” from a learned family as he was

referred to as the “son” of Assalluḫi-mansum, the apkallu, or sage, of
Hammurabi’s time, c. 1792–1750 BCE.

Works

The Exorcists Manual

The Exorcists Manual[i 2] is sometimes described as a vademecum or

handbook and is a compendium of the works all those aspiring to master the
āšipūtu or craft of exorcism, should be cognizant. These include exorcism
rituals, royal rituals, medical knowledge, incantations and omen series.[1] It
begins, "Incipits of the Series belonging to the art of exorcism (mašmaššūtu),
established (kunnu) for instruction (izhu) and testing (tāmartu), all to be read
out."[2] It is actually composed of two manuals, the first concerning
kakugallūtu, “exorcism corpus,” and išippūtu, “esoteric knowledge,” and the
second of which begins on the reverse line 4 stating that what follows on lines 5
to 20 is the manual of the exorcist according to the scholar Esagil-kin-apli and
then goes on to list works such as the great omen series of astrological (Enūma
Anu Enlil) and terrestrial (Šumma Ālu) portents.[3]

The Esagil-kīn-apli catalogue

Subtitled the niṣirti E[zida], “secret of Ezida,” this is extant in a Neo-Assyrian

and a Neo-Babylonian copy.[i 3] It provides a biographical introduction and
then Esagil-kīn-apli provides an explanation for the new edition of the
diagnostic compendium SA.GIG (Sakikkû) and the physiognomic series
Alamdimmû, which he describes “(Regarding) the twin series, their
arrangement is one.” Although the Catalogue of Texts and Authors credits the
authorship of the two works to the god Ea, it is this catalogue together with the
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 codicil on the Sakikkû which suggest otherwise. The catalogue opens with an
index of sorts, providing incipits for each of the tablets together with the
number of their lines.[4]

Alamdimmû

Šumma alamdimmû, “if the form,” contains physiognomic omens on twenty-

seven tablets. In his catalogue, Esagil-kin-apli describes the work as: “...
(concerning) external form and appearance (and how they imply) the fate of the
man that Ea and Assaluḫi/Marduk (?) ordained in heaven.” The term
alamdimmû, “form” or “figure,” comes from the Sumerian alam.dímu.
Following the first twelve tablets of the Šumma alamdimmû proper, the work is
subdivided into sections beginning with Šumma nigdimdimmû, “if the
appearance” or “shape,” on two tablets, whose extant copies are too
fragmentary to interpret.[5]

The section named Šumma kataduggû, “if the utterance,” on one tablet
describes the consequences of utterances and habitual conduct and shares
characteristics with omens from the Šumma ālu, “if a city,” terrestrial omen
series. The section beginning Šumma sinništu qaqqada rabât, “if a woman’s
head is large,” on two tablets provides omens based on the appearance of a
woman. The Šumma liptu section, “if a spot” or “mole,” was probably complete
on nine tablets, eight devoted to the location of blemishes on males and one on
females. The final tablet, Šumma šer’ān pūt imittišu ittenebbi, “if the vein on
the right side of his forehead throbs,” concerns itself with involuntary
movements.[6]

The Sakikkū (SA.GIG)

In the colophons of the two extant catalogues of diagnostic and physiognomic

omens, the origin of the Sakikkū, “symptoms,” (Sumerian: SA.GIG: “diseased
veins/muscles”) is given. Esagil-kīn-apli relates that he assembled the
diagnostic omens to produce the received text for the first millennium during
the reign of Adad-apla-iddina. He says of these omens, “that since long ago had
not been organized into a new edition but was tangled like threads and had no
master edition.”[nb 1] The primary purpose of the diagnosis was to identify the
divine sender of the disease, as this was perceived to be a message from a deity.
He applies a logical set of axioms and assumptions, including the need to
inspect the symptoms of a patient in order to come up with a diagnosis, and
arranges the more than 3,000 entries systematically from head to foot, left
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 (inauspicious) to right (auspicious), and in the color sequence red/brown,
yellow/green, black or white, and two shades of uncertain hue on 40 tablets as
this is the number of the god Ea who gave man diagnostic knowledge.

It is divided into six chapters of unequal length and starts with a two-tablet
section beginning “when the exorcist goes to the house of a sick person,”[nb 2]
which provides the omens that one might encounter on the way such as a multi-
colored pig (patient has dropsy).[7] The second chapter, “when you approach
the sick man,” is arranged a capite ad calcem, “inspection from the head to the
feet,” and was attributed to the authorship of the deity Ea. It was complete in
twelve tablets, the first seven of which are devoted to the head. The third
chapter on infectious diseases, “if he is sick for one day and…” includes the
course of the disease.[8]

The fourth chapter exclusively deals with neurological syndromes including

epilepsy, seizures, strokes, ghosts and gods and contains the few magical
prescriptions contained within the work. The catalogue names the five
tablets[nb 3] of this chapter, “if miqtu (a “fall”) falls upon him and…,” “if a
man’s face has been struck by palsy,” “if the hand of a spirit turns him into an
an.ta.šub.ba (sudden seizure “fallen from heaven”),” “if Lugal.ùr.ra is born
with him,” and “if he is ill and opens his mouth all the time.”[9] The fifth
chapter, consisting of five tablets, possibly treats with specific diseases such as
those evidenced by skin lesions and fever. The 33rd tablet is dedicated to giving
the name to a disease based upon its nature. The sixth and final chapter, also
consisting of five tablets on the woman and infants, “if a fertile woman is
pregnant,” concerns gynecology, in which the gender and fortune of the unborn
child are diagnosed by the symptoms encountered during the course of the
pregnancy, such as the change in shape and color of the nipples.[8]

Inscriptions
1. W 20030,7 the Seleucid List of Sages and Scholars, obverse line 16,
recovered from Anu’s Bīt Rēš temple during the 1959/60 excavation.
2. KAR 44 at CDLI (http://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P3
69026) (ref. P369026) rev 5-20.
3. From Nimrud, ND 4358 + 4366, and from Babylon, BM 41237 + 46607 +
47163.

Notes
1. ša ul-tu ul-la zarâ(sur.[gibil]) [la] ṣab.tu4 ù kīma(gim) qê.gumeš parkū/egrū.
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 (gib)[meš-ma gabarâ(gaba.ri)] là īšû(tuku).
2. enūma anta bīt marsi āšipu illku…
3. Tablets XXVI (BM 47753 from Babylon), XXVII (SU51/92+ from Sultantepe),
XXVIII, XXIX and XXX although the latter is not extant.

References
1. Dale Launderville (2011). Celibacy in the Ancient World. The Liturgical
Press. p. 408.
2. Markham J. Geller (2010). Ancient Babylonian Medicine: Theory and
Practice (https://archive.org/details/ancientbabylonia00gell). Wiley-Blackwell.
p. 137 (https://archive.org/details/ancientbabylonia00gell/page/n151).
3. A. R. George (2003). The Babylonian Gilgamesh epic: introduction, critical
edition and cuneiform Texts, Volume 1. Oxford University Press. p. 30.
4. M J Geller (2000). "Incipits and Rubrics". Wisdom, Gods and literature.
Eisenbrauns. pp. 226, 242–254.
5. Francesca Rochberg (2004). The heavenly writing: divination, horoscopy,
and astronomy in Mesopotamian Culture (https://archive.org/details/heavenlywrit
ingd00roch). Cambridge University Press. pp. 87 (https://archive.org/details/h
eavenlywritingd00roch/page/n116)–88.
6. M Popovic (2007). Reading the Human Body (https://archive.org/details/reading
humanbody00popo_353). Brill. pp. 72 (https://archive.org/details/readinghuma
nbody00popo_353/page/n92)–85.
7. Irving L. Finkel (1988). "Adad-apla-iddina, Esagil-kin-apli, and the series
SA.GIG". In Erle Leichty; Maria Dej Ellis (eds.). A Scientific Humanist:
Studies in Memory of Abraham Sachs. Philadelphia: University Museum.
pp. 143–59.
8. Heeβel, N. P. (2004). "Diagnosis, divination and disease: Towards an
understanding of the rationale behind the Babylonian Diagnostic
Handbook.". In Horstmanshoff, H. F. J.; Stol, M.; Van Tilburg, C. (eds.).
Magic and rationality in Ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman medicine
(https://archive.org/details/magicrationality00hors). Brill. pp. 97 (https://archive.org
/details/magicrationality00hors/page/n113)–116.
9. Marten Stol (1993). Epilepsy in Babylonia. Styx Pub. pp. 55–56.

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