28 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



covered by the German Egyptologist and novelist, George M. 

 Ebers in 1872. It was written in hieratic script and is lacking in 

 general anatomical information (Ranke, '33). 



D. Babylonia 



Babylonia, which existed between 5000 and 539 B.C., in the 

 area localized around the Persian Gulf, was characterized by being 

 populated with people whose religious thinking was on a primi- 

 tive, polytheistic level. Like Egypt, each city had its own god, 

 which served as its protector and patron but others of various 

 origin and type hovered nearby. Some of the earliest deities were 

 identified with such celestial planets as the moon, sun and Venus. 

 Spokesmen for the gods (priests) became the kings or rulers. One 

 of the reasons accounting for the prevailing polytheism was that 

 wars between the cities were frequent and the conquering groups 

 were successful in imposing their gods upon the vanquished. 



Basically, the universal belief of savages predominated in the 

 thinking of Babylonians. Misfortune of every kind, especially 

 those of disease and death, were thought to have been caused 

 by evil spirits which were motivated either spontaneously or by 

 instigation of human enemies. There was only one defense against 

 these unseen essences and that was by means of magic, the use 

 of certain gestures and words, which had to be developed to the 

 level of a detailed and mysterious art; these rites were trans- 

 mitted from generation to generation. The most important chal- 

 lenge in each situation was to detect the mischiefmaker; without 

 knowing this, any magician was powerless to act. Shamanism was 

 also practiced where a powerful spirit, under the dominating con- 

 trol of a sorcerer, might be ordered to detect the demon causing 

 any specific trouble. 



Eventually, the gods were solicited to defend the members 

 of a city against malignant foes. A natural sequel to this was the 

 development of the concept that demons have the power to harm 

 the living only when permitted to do so by his own god or gods; 

 these came to be judged more powerful than any ordinary human 

 magician. Neutralization M'^.iinst injury was best performed, in 

 the minds of the c iti/cm \ , by propitiation of a god who had been 



