masculinity in return. You have cast off the (sexual)
behaviour expected (of women); you have taken to yourself
the behaviour expected of man.’^5But we should tread carefully here. In today’s Western world, ritual
exhortations for a man to cast off his femininity could be regarded as
politically incorrect, especially if they risk eradicating the man’s
genuine sexuality–causing him further confusion about his sexual
identity. In this context, we might note that there is not a single
clearly identifiable reference to homosexuality in Hittite texts, though
one scholar has interpreted the text just quoted as a ritual antidote to
homosexuality.^6 Undoubtedly there was a homosexual element in
Hittite society. But the fact that there is no mention of it even in the
Hittite Laws, which include a long list of banned sexual activities,
indicates that it was not on the list of proscribed sexual offences.
THE HOLISTIC APPROACH
The Hittite world’s curers of diseases included physicians in the
conventional sense. Most of these were men, but we hear of a few
women doctors as well. All were very likely among the relatively
small group of literate members of Hittite society, for a number of
texts describe the procedures to be followed by doctors in the
treatment of such ailments as wounds, eye diseases, intestinal and
throat problems, and in the preparation and administering of
drugs. And many of the straightforward conditions requiring
medical treatment, like minor injuries caused by assault, could be
dealt with by basic medical procedures with prescriptions for
healing salves, potions and poultices made from various plant
extracts, minerals (like lead) and animal products (like blood,
bones, milk, fat and tallow), administered orally, anally, or
externally.
But Hittite medicine often involved a comprehensive,‘holistic’
approach to the treatment of patients. Practical medical procedures
were complemented or replaced by rituals, which included the
application of spells and incantations, and sometimes also by direct
appeals to the gods. Physicians and incantation priests often worked
122 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA