LE ESPRESSIONI DELLA SOFFERENZA INDIVIDUALE NEI TESTI ASSIRO-BABILONESI

Suffering is an important theme in Mesopotamian sources. The purpose of the present study is to examine different words and expressions concerning the physical pain and the psychic suffering, written in various texts; medical and literary texts, omina and letters from the neo-Assyrian court. There are many verbs which describe specific kind of pain, like zaqātu ("piercing pain") and kasāsu ("gnawing pain"). If these verbs are common especially in medical texts (and in some cases in the literary text Ludlul bēl nēmeqi), other terms like nissatu ("suffering") and šipru ("affliction") are used in every kind of texts. Furthermore, I analyzed terms concerning the middle area of the body, libbu, the place where emotions and feelings come to life.