Konferenzen
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2017, September 26-27 (MPIWG Berlin)
MedComm: "Medical Commentaries and Comment(aries) on Medicine"
BabMed’s 2017 workshop is on the subject of medical commentaries, hosted at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) Berlin. The BabMed workshop is a follow-up of an event held in August 2016 at the MPIWG Berlin on the subject of mathematical and medical commentaries.
MedComm 2017 is convened under the cooperative joint direction of Markham J. Geller, Glenn W. Most, Karine Chemla, and Lorraine Daston. The workshop concentrates on medical commentaries and more general observations on ancient medicine in the Ancient Near East, as well as Greece and China, from perspectives of history of science.
Speakers include: Heinrich v. Staden (Princeton), Paul U. Unschuld (Charité Berlin), Nils P. Heeßel (Marburg), Glenn W. Most (Pisa), Vivian Nutton (UCL London), Enrique Jiménez (Madrid), Klaus Wagensonner (Yale), Henry Stadhouders (Utrecht), and Giulia Ecca (BBAW Berlin).
The MedComm 2017 programme and announcement poster are available for downloads.
Contact: Markham J. Geller: mgeller@zedat.fu-berlin.de
MedComm Video Documentation
Please note our video documentation of the MedComm workshop including a brief trailer and interviews with speakers Glenn Most, Heinrich von Staden, Marten Stol and Vivian Nutton conducted during the course of the Event.
There is also a full documentation of the workshop available, divided into several parts:
Intro ; Session 1 ; Nils P. Heeßel ; Session 2 ; Session 3 ; Session 4
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2017, July 27 (RAI Marburg)
BabMed panel on the 63rd Rencontre Assyiologique Internationale
BabMed – Texts and Studies in Babylonian Medicine
convened by M.J. Geller, Freie Universität Berlin
The BabMed project invited researchers working on areas of Babylonian medicine and magic to present their research results, based upon textual work and analyses of Heilkunde in Mesopotamia and its periphery. Members of the BabMed team present their own work on medical texts from the large corpus best known from British Museum and Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin. The intention is to recover theories and techniques of diagnosis and treatment in order to acquire a more comprehensive view of how Babylonian medicine functioned in relation to other contemporary systems of medicine in the ancient world, and to avoid further fruitless discussion of the roles of the asû and āšipu / mašmaššu within diagnosis and therapy.
Contact: Markham J. Geller: mgeller@zedat.fu-berlin.de
For further details please see the website of the 63rd RAI Dealing with Antiquity: Past, Present & Future and the BabMed talks webpage.
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2017, April 20 ‒ July 13 (Berlin)
BabMed Seminar 4
Religion versus Medizin? Positionen, Kontroversen, Perspektiven
gemeinsam konzipiert von Markham J. Geller und Almut-Barbara Renger
in Kooperation mit dem Institut für Religionswissenschaft, Freie Universität Berlin
Sommersemester 2017
Religion und Medizin sind in der europäischen Kulturgeschichte auf vielfältige Weise miteinander verbunden. Die Ringvorlesung geht dieser wechselseitigen Verwiesenheit in einer wissensgeschichtlichen Tour d’Horizon nach.
Vortragende verschiedener Disziplinen führen in ausgewählte Aspekte der Medizin- und Religionsgeschichte ein und erörtern, inwiefern der Umgang mit Gesundheit, Krankheit, Geburt, Sterben und Tod historisch und kulturell von Interrelationen medikaler und religiöser Handlungsfelder – und sei es auch ‚nur‘ durch Abgrenzung dieser voneinander – geprägt ist. Die Veranstaltung fragt nach Verbindungen, Kontroversen und (Neu-)verknüpfungen von Religion und Medizin in Geschichte und Gegenwart, indem sie religiöse und säkulare Dynamiken und Verflechtungen beider Felder in den Blick nimmt.
Dabei werden sowohl religiös fundierte Konzepte vorgestellt, die Vorstellungen von Heil und Heilung zusammenführen, als auch dezidiert profane Positionen und Perspektiven diskutiert.
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Vortragende/Respondenten: Daniel Boyarin (Univ. of California, Berkeley); Alexandra Grieser (Trinity College, Dublin); Karl E. Grözinger (Univ. Potsdam/Zentrum für Jüdische Studien, Berlin); Dimitri Gutas (Yale University/Graduate School of Muslim Cultures, FU Berlin); Volker Hess (Charité Berlin); Rainer Kampling (FU Berlin); Alexandra von Lieven (FU Berlin); Dorothea Lüddeckens (Univ. Zürich); Johannes G. Mayer (Univ. Würzburg); Johannes Niehoff-Panagiotidis (FU Berlin); T. Sebastian Richter (FU Berlin, angefragt); Sabine Schleiermacher (Charité Berlin); Sarah Skotnicki (FU Berlin), Alexandra Stellmacher (FU Berlin); Gotthard Strohmaier (FU Berlin/BBAW); Katja Triplett (Univ. Göttingen); Paul U. Unschuld (Charité Berlin).
Der Programmüberblick zur Ringvorlesung als PDF zum Download.
Die beiden Ankündigungsplakate der Ringvorlesung können sie hier downloaden: Teil 1 und Teil 2.
Die Ringvorlesung BabMed Seminar ist für Studierende aller Berliner Universitäten offen und kann regulär als Lehrveranstaltung belegt werden, vgl. Vorlesungsverzeichnis der Freien Universität Berlin, SoSe 2017.
Das Radio feature im Deutschlandfunk zur Vorlesungsreihe, Sendetermin am 20. April 2017, ist hier online nachzuhören.
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2017, February 20-22 (Berlin)
BabMed Internal Workshop
'Newly excavated Aramaic texts on clay vessels and ostraca dealing with divination, session II’.
by Esther Eshel, Prof. of Bar-Ilan University, Israel and M.J. Geller, Freie Universität Berlin
The workshop is to follow up on the first session on the Maresha text corpus in September 2016. The Maresha corpus (from a 3rd century BCE Idumean city of Maresha in southern Israel) represents a large body of Aramaic texts dealing with themes usually associated with Mesopotamian science (e.g. divination), hinting at similar texts which probably existed in Mesopotamia but have never been found because of the fragile nature of writing materials. The newly found materials are expected to give significant information on Aramaic disease names and materia medica, which is extremely rare to find in excavated texts.
Further specialists used to working on divination and related themes have been invited to join the group of experts.
Contact/Organizers
Esther Eshel: see personal website
Markham J. Geller: mgeller@zedat.fu-berlin.de
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2016, October 15 ‒ 2017, February 15 (Berlin)
BabMed Seminar 3
Physiognomik zwischen Orient und Okzident
Physiognomy ‒ Knowledge Traditions & Transfers
convened by Markham J. Geller & Gian Franco Chiai
in cooperation with: Institut für Alte Geschichte, Freie Universität Berlin
Wintersemester 2016/17
Physiognomy (from Greek ‘physis‘ – nature, stature and ‘gnome’ – insight, knowledge) is the discipline that deduces from visible external traits of the human body, primarily the face, to inner qualities such as intelligence, temperament, individual preferences, and personal character. The earliest material is known from Mesopotamian sources where physiognomy was in use especially for divination purposes. The oldest sources dealing with physiognomy date from the Old Babylonian period (18th to 16th cent. BCA), a time of an impressive output of scientific and technical tractates. In Ancient Greece, where the origins of physiognomic theory is often traced to a Persian background (Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Zopyros), references to physiognomic considerations and descriptions of the human physique are to be found both in literary texts and works of art. The first systematic treatises on physiognomy go back to disciples of Aristoteles. Physiognomy thus must be regarded as a wide-spread form of knowledge documented in both Oriental and Occidental cultures.
The BabMed seminar series sets out to retrace the aspects of physiognomic knowledge, its origins and its transformations throughout different eras -- the ancient world, Mediaeval times, Renaissance -- and cultural spheres – Ancient Persia, the Arabic speaking world and the Jewish culture.
Speakers are: Daniel Boyarin (Berkeley), Alberto Cantera Glera (FU),Gian Franco Chiai (FU), Johanna Fabricius (FU), Markham J. Geller (FU), Klaus Geus (FU), Matteo Martelli (BBAW), Rosa Maria Piccione (Torino), Beate Pongraz-Leisten (ISAW, NYU), Lucia Raggetti (FU), Eric Schmidtchen (FU), Alessandro Stavru (FU), Bernd Roling (FU), Stefanie M. Rudolf (FU).
For detailed programme information on all sessions, please click here.
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Die Ringvorlesung BabMed Seminar ist für Studierende aller Berliner Universitäten offen und kann regulär als Lehrveranstaltung belegt werden, vgl. Vorlesungsverzeichnis WS 2016/2017.
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2016, September 19-21 (Berlin)
BabMed Internal Workshop
'Newly excavated Aramaic texts on clay vessels and ostraca dealing with divination’.
by Esther Eshel, Prof. of Bar-Ilan University, Israel and M.J. Geller, Freie Universität Berlin
These texts represent a large body of Aramaic texts dealing with themes usually associated with Mesopotamian science (e.g. divination), hinting at similar texts which probably existed in Mesopotamia but have never been found because of the fragile nature of writing materials. This group of texts from a 3rd century BCE Idumean city of Maresha in southern Israel have significant information to provide on Aramaic disease names and materia medica, which is extremely rare to find in excavated texts. The material requires considerably more work from specialists used to working on divination and related themes.
Contact/Organizers
Esther Eshel: see personal website
Markham J. Geller: mgeller@zedat.fu-berlin.de
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2016, June 6-7 (Berlin)
BabMed Annual Workshop 4
Cultural Systems of Classification: Sickness, Health and Local Biologies.
Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Medical Cultures in Anthropology and the Historical Sciences
June 6-7, 2016, Freie Universität Berlin
Contact/Organizers
Ulrike Steinert (mail to: ulrike.steinert@fu-berlin.de)
Markham J. Geller (mail to: mgeller@zedat.fu-berlin.de)
Click here for conference programme.
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2016, February 16-17 (Berlin)
BabMed Annual Workshop 3
Physiognomy and Ekphrasis: The Mesopotamian Tradition and its Transformation in Graeco-Roman and Semitic Literatures
Contact/Organizers
J. Cale Johnson (mail to: jcale@zedat.fu-berlin.de)
Alessandro Stavru (mail to: alessandro.stavru@fu-berlin.de)
Conference details and programme
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2015, 15. Oktober - 15. Februar 2016 (Berlin)
BabMed Seminar 2
Greek and Babylonian Medicine – A Comparative View
Wintersemester 2015/2016
Dienstag 6-8 pm, Bibliothek TOPOI-Haus, Hittorfstraße 18, 14195 Berlin
organisiert durch: Markham J. Geller/Principal Investigator BabMed
in Kooperation mit TOPOI Exzellenzcluster Freie Universität Berlin
In der Veranstaltungsreihe BabMed Seminar 2 präsentieren Forscher aus dem BabMed Team sowie Experten der angrenzenden medizinischen Wissenschaften Ergebnisse aus ihrer aktuellen Forschungsarbeit. Das Hauptaugenmerk liegt hierbei auf der Erarbeitung möglicher Verbindungen zwischen Theorie und Praxis in den verschieden medizinischen Systemen der Antike.
Sprecher sind u.a.: Markus Asper (HU Berlin), Markham J. Geller (BabMed), J. Cale Johnson (BabMed) und Alessandro Stavru (SFB 980, FU Berlin), Paul U. Unschuld (Charité Berlin), Elizabeth M. Craik (St. Andrews) und Giulia Ecca (BBAW Berlin).
Eine Übersicht zu den einzelnen Veranstaltungen der Reihe finden Sie hier.
BabMed Seminars ist für Studierende aller Berliner Universitäten offen und kann regulär als Lehrveranstaltung belegt werden, vgl. Vorlesungsverzeichnis WS 2015/2016.
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2015, September 20 (Jerusalem)
BabMed Workshop
Medical Knowledge from Ancient Babylonia to Talmudic Babylonia
Contact/Organizer: Aaron Amit, aaron.amit@biu.ac.il
Bar-Ilan University, BabMed Israel
On September 20, 2015, Israel prize winner Shamma Friedman and head of the BabMed partner project at Bar-Ilan University invites the public to discuss the links in medical knowledge between the Babylonian eras of Ancient Mesopotamia and the Bavli.
Deputy head of project, Aaron Amit, will give insights to the textual research achieved during the project’s course, contributions by Gideon Bohak from Tel Aviv University as well as Markham J. Geller and Tanja Hidde from Freie Universität Berlin shall discuss further aspects of linkage between the two cultures.
September 20, 2015, at 2.30 pm
The Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem
Gideon Bohak, Tel Aviv University: Aramaic Manuals of Divination from Late Antiquity.
Tanja Hidde, Freie Universität Berlin: Bulmos/Boulímos in the Talmudic Tradition.
Markham J. Geller, Freie Universität Berlin: Goodbye Julius Preuss: Unexpected Instances of Medicine in the Bavli.
Aaron Amit, Bar-Ilan University: סוסכינתא – An Obscure Disease and a Dubious Cure in Bavli Yebamot 64b.
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2015, July 21-22 (Berlin)
BabMed Annual Workshop 2
Healing Through Fumigation in Mesopotamia and the Ancient World
Contact/Organizer: Strahil V. Panayotov, strahil.panayotov@fu-berlin.de
Freie Universität Berlin, BabMed – Babylonian Medicine
2015, 25. June (Bern)
BabMed Panel: Descriptivism and Probative Metaphor in Cuneiform and Post-Cuneiform Technical Literature
Contact/Organizer: J. Cale Johnson
Freie Universität Berlin, BabMed – Babylonian Medicine
In line with the theme of the RAI 61 (Geneva and Bern), namely ‘Text and Image’, the Descriptivism and Probative Metaphor workshop will look at the contrast between metaphor and descriptive language in the technical disciplines. This emphasis is particularly clear and theoretically interesting in descriptions of internal anatomy, which often licenses metaphorical language or one kind or another, and also in descriptions of plants and stones, for example, in the šammu šikinšu and abnu šikinšu lists. These lists develop a formulaic linguistic repertoire for the description of natural objects, and this descriptivism operates in a quite different way from the metaphor-driven phenomena that we find in discussions of internal anatomy.
For those elements of human anatomy that are not easily available for visual inspection, metaphors can often act as a probe or heuristic device, allowing for the conceptualization of functional or correlational relationships of one kind or another. Alongside a classification of descriptive practices, therefore, the panel will also seek to define those parts of human anatomy that require the use of probative metaphors. Conceptual metaphor theory offers one clear paradigm for these questions, but we also hope in the context of the workshop to investigate how metaphor-driven approaches can be compared or contrasted with descriptive paradigms.
This panel is the third BabMed workshop panel and like previous BabMed panels it will strive to include talks dealing with commensurable materials from postcuneiform Mesopotamia and the broader history of technical literatures. The first of these panels was held in 2013 at the American Oriental Society (Portland, Oregon) and focused on technical compendia, while the second, at the RAI in Warsaw last year, focused on patients, patronage and performative identities. The proceedings of the first panel are currently in press at De Gruyter, while the second volume from RAI Warsaw is currently in preparation and will likely appear as a RAI Workshop volume with Eisenbrauns.
Detailed program of the BabMed panel:
Markham J. Geller: "The image of Babylonian medicine within medical history"
Annie Attia: "Eye anatomy and symptoms: Images and realities"
Henry Stadhouders: “How much is that doggie in the window, woof woof?” – Retrieving the pedigree of an orphaned figurine
Strahil V. Panayotov: "Healing in images and text: The sickbed scene"
Maddalena Rumor: "Purging pollution: sikillu in Mesopotamian and Graeco-Roman purification rituals"
Eric Schmidtchen: "Depicting demons activity through symptom descriptions"
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2014, 13.-14. Oktober (Berlin)
BabMed Annual Workshop 1: Diagnose und Anatomie
Kontakt/Organisator: M.J. Geller
Freie Universität Berlin, BabMed – Babylonian Medicine
2014, 21.- 25. Juli (Warschau)
Patients and patronage: At the intersection of the Mesopotamian technical disciplines and their clients.
A panel at the 60th RAI “Fortune and Misfortune”
2014, Warsaw, July 21-25
Contact/Organizer: J. Cale Johnson
Freie Universität Berlin, BabMed – Babylonian Medicine, jcale@zedat.fu-berlin.de
The BabMed panel this year, entitled "Patients and Patronage,” will focus on the interaction between technical disciplines such as medicine and astronomy and their clients and patrons, in particular the way in which the concrete activities of these technical disciplines affected perceptions of fortune and misfortune in their individual lives. This is the second in an on-going series of panels on technical literature in the ancient Near East and welcomes both contributions dealing with cuneiform sources as well as papers on the later history of these materials in the Semitic or Slavic languages.
Detailed program of the BabMed panel: http://blogs.fu-berlin.de/babylonianmedicine/2014/07/19/patients-and-patronage-panel-at-the-60th-rencontre-internationale-assyriologique/
2014, 24. April - 10. Juli (Berlin)
BabMed Seminar 1
Im Sommersemester 2014 findet zum ersten Mal die Veranstaltungsreihe BabMed Seminar statt. Wissenschaftler verschiedener Fachdisziplinen stellen in Einzelvorträgen Beiträge zu Aspekten der Medizingeschichte zur Diskussion.
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2013, 2. Dezember (Berlin)
BabMed Project Launch: The Official Opening of BabMed
Both Professor Peter-André Alt, President of the Freie Universität Berlin and Professor Karin Gludovatz, Dean of the Department of History and Cultural Studies at Freie Universität Berlin were on hand to congratulate the PI Mark Geller and his team at the festive opening of BabMed on December 2, 2013. The programme also included a lecture by Professor Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert (University of Leipzig) on the reciprocal influences of Egyptian Medicine on Babylonian Medicine (and vice versa). Aaron Amit from project partner Bar-Ilan University (and also one of the BabMed project advisors) spoke about “Two Rabbinic Precedents for the Philological Study of Ancient Medicine.”
The subsequent reception provided an opportunity for the more than one hundred guests to raise their glasses to the success of the BabMed project.