Ašipu

Schwemer explains that Babylonian tradition itself "considered this corpus of texts to be of great antiquity, ultimately authored by Enki-Ea himself, the god of wisdom and exorcism.

[4] At the time, ideas of science, religion and witchcraft were closely intertwined and formed a basis of ašiputu, the practice used by ašipu to combat sorcery[5] and to heal disease.

[6][better source needed] The ašipu studied omens and symptoms to formulate a prediction of the future for a subject and then performed apotropaic rituals in an attempt to change unfavourable fate.

[7][better source needed] Ašipu directed medical treatment at the Assyrian court, where they predicted the course of the disease from signs observed on the patient's body and offered incantations and other magic as well as the remedies indicated by diagnosis.

[9] The purpose of the visit was to identify the divine sender of the illness based on the symptoms of a specific ailment.

Monumental stone relief (probably) of an Apkallu figure from the Temple of Ninurta in the Assyrian city of Kalhu , formerly believed by some experts to be a representation of an āšipu "exorcist-priest", [ 1 ] who functioned as a healer and doctor [ 2 ]