Of Dogs and Medicine in Mesopotamia and Beyond: Gula’s Inheritance

International audienceIn many ways, traditions from Ancient Mesopotamia have had an impact not only on neighbouring civilizations, but also on those that succeeded them. This can be seen with literary texts like myths, but such a situation can also be found elsewhere in more peculiar ways. It is the case with some aspects of medicine or, more exactly, aspects of a symbolic vision of medicine. Indeed, we find from early periods in Mesopotamia a clear association between the medicine goddess Gula and one specific animal, the dog. This is attested in all kinds of sources, from iconography to texts, and also through archaeological evidence. How such an association came to be, deserves to be given some thought. Indeed, cuneiform sources often depict dogs in a very negative way, presenting them as aggressive and dangerous, well aware of their role as a vector for diseases such as rabies. In the present work, we will focus on how such an animal could be associated with a goddess like Gula and medicine in general. To do so, we will work on a large scope of texts such as incantations, hymns and ritual descriptions related to the symbolic utility of the dog on this matter. We will then see how the relationship dog/medicine can be found in neighbouring civilizations in a way that leads us to think that a transfer occurred from Mesopotamia and was then assimilated in other cultural systems