The Dog in The Ancient cuneiform texts

Abstract

Through the extrapolation of some cuneiform texts, the dog had a religious presence in Mesopotamia in terms of being a personal companion to many deities, especially the goddess Nun-Isina / Kola, the goddess of medicine and healing, which the dog considered its religious symbol. According to some researchers, the reason for this is that this Animals usually lick their wounds, and this in itself is a kind of medicine because its saliva contains antibacterial agents that work like antibiotics, although scientific clinical studies confirm the limited effect in promoting recovery from dog saliva.

        Small dog statues also played a role in the field in that some of them were devoted to the goddess Cola and her temples in the first place, as these statues were to protect and prevent the dangers and evils that evil spirits bring, by burying these statues, sometimes colored, under the thresholds of palaces In homes or in the corners of rooms, as some of those statues were used for religious-medical purposes, the purpose of which was to make an alternative to divert the evils of the patient towards the statue to get rid of them. Many parts of the body of a living dog and its secretions entered the manufacture of medicines in Mesopotamia.