[The solution of curses: thoughts on the oriental conception of disease and medical science]

With the aid of the seventh century BC 'special library' of an exorcist, found in Ashur, it can be demonstrated that an exorcist (asipu) was not only entrusted with magico-religious treatments, but also with seemingly rational medical therapies. Using the example of instructions for the treatment of a disease called mămĭtu ('curse'), the Assyro-Babylonian concept of the cause and effect of a disease (which is tied to the Mesopotamian world view) shall be set forth and it will be shown that the 'magico-religious' and 'medical' therapy are merely constituting two phases of treatment which are based on the same common imagination of illness and healing.