In ancient Mesopotamia, the ašipu (also āšipu or mašmaššu) acted as priests. They were scholars and practitioners of diagnosis and treatment in the Tigris and Euphrates valley (now Iraq) around 3200 BC.

…expert in white magic, the āšipu or mašmašu, was able to help both in diagnosing the cause of the evil and in performing the appropriate rituals and incantation to fight it off. In earlier times the activities of the magicians seem generally to have been directed against the lawless demons…

Experts called ashipu (41.160.234) were responsible for performing all nonprivate magical acts in elite contexts, such as funerary and mortuary rites, or renewing images of the gods on behalf of the king. The ashipu could also act as an advisor to the Assyrian king.

Did the Mesopotamian healer/exorcist (the ashipu) apply methods of divination when making his diagnosis? Or was his method fundamentally different? To answer this I would ask: Is his diagnostic handbook and procedure divinatory in nature at all?

ashipu, who practiced divinatory and religious medicine. 7. The text of the Code of Hammurabi (c. 1700 BCE) differentiates religious healers in two classes: diviners, baru, who practiced hepatoscopy and made prognoses, and exorcists, ashipu, who determined what offense to gods or demons had brought about the disease. 8. Both

The exorcist (ashipu) possessed essential knowledge which originated directly from the god Enki/Ea and was given to humans by the goddess Nininsina (literally, "Lady of [the city of] Isin"). He or she warded off evil by uttering formulas and performing rituals and treatments.

Jan 1, 2010 · Much like people today, citizens of ancient Assyrian cities like Nineveh sought doctors (called ashipu) for help in dealing with their ailments that stretched from migraines to cancer. Ashipus were mainly specialist who practiced in specific areas like …

The first type of practitioner was the ashipu, in older accounts of Mesopotamian medicine often called a "sorcerer." One of the most important roles of the ashipu was to diagnose the ailment. In the case of internal diseases, this most often meant that the ashipu determined which god or demon was causing the illness.

Aug 31, 2023 · ashipu (plural ashipus or ashipu) ( historical ) A magical healer in ancient Mesopotamia . 1999 , JoAnn Scurlock, edited by Abusch & van der Toorn, Mesopotamian Magic , page 79 :

What does ashipus‎ mean? (historical) A magical healer in ancient Mesopotamia. Whatever the patient's requirements, however, the āšipu is unlikely to have had time to acquire more than a basic working knowledge of the medicaments which he was attempting to use.