古代近东的健康医疗:以黎凡特地区为中心

Health Care in the Levant

本文向读者介绍古代近东的健康医疗世界,以及残疾研究对此类研究具有启发性的重要意义,然后介绍了来自黎凡特地区自新石器时代至公元前第1千纪末期的诸多相关证据。总而言之,在'文明'出现之始,特别是这一时期的城市化进程,给人类健康带来了新的挑战。这些挑战包括对慢性患病人口的管理、对公共健康进行资金投入量的决策制定,以及对医生及用药供给的维护,特别是针对精英阶层。此外,政府认识到流行病会加速整个城市或帝国的衰亡。近东地区所存在的各类健康医疗体系为应对这些挑战给予了不同回应。事实上,许多针对健康医疗的基本问题和回答(比如国家投资水平、医药费用的规则)是第一次在古代近东地区完成的。

This article introduces the reader to the world of Health Care in the ancient Near East and the heuristic importance of Disability Studies for studies on these matters and then surveys the evidence on these matters from the Levant,since Neolithic times to the end of the first millennium BCE.All in all,the advance of'civilization',and urbanization in particular,posed new challenges to human health.Challenges included the management of chronically ill populations,determining the level of state investment in public health,and maintaining a supply of consultants and medications,especially for the elite.In addition,governments recognized that epidemics could hasten the demise of an entire city or empire.The parallel and overlapping health care systems in the Near East provided a variety of responses to these challenges.In fact,many of the basic problems and responses pertaining to health care(e.g.,level of state investment,regulation of medical fees)were first articulated in the ancient Near East.