Marten Stol, born in Oldekerk, the Netherlands, in 1940. Ph.D. from Leiden University. Professor of Akkadian, Ugaritic and Ancient Near Eastern History at the VU University, Amsterdam
Fellow (1 September 2000 – 30 June 2001)
I participated in the nucleus “Rethinking the History of Medicine: ‘Rationality’ and ‘Magic’ in Babylonia and the Graeco-Roman World” and my main objective was to write the book “Babylonian Medicine”, for the Handbuch der Orientalistik. Chapters of the book on the following topics were presented and discussed in the nucleus: authority and orthodoxy in Babylonian medical practice, the anatomy of the head, the heart, lung diseases, and skin diseases – to the Babylonians uncanny ailments. Dr. I.L. Finkel (The British Museum) came over to discuss with me our plan to make an edition of Babylonian gynaecological texts. I benefited much from the co-operation with other specialists in the history of medicine in the nucleus.