From Laxatives to Brain Surgery: Ancient Medical Practices

Wild Poppies, photo by Nandaro

In the Old Testament, illnesses were often God’s punishment for sins: “Yahweh will afflict you with consumption, fever, inflammation, with fiery heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. (Deut. 28:22) Or, as in the case of Job, they were a test given to you by God.

Historians and anthropologists agree that the people of the ancient world had nearly every illness that we have today, plus many more due to lack of sanitatio...