.
The reading list suggested by Paul Longmore is certainly useful. A few of
the same and some different items below include my brief annotations, and
also a little material from nearby ancient and medieval Middle Eastern
societies, which may shed light on interpretations of disability references
in Biblical literature. (They might also provide some alternatives to the
subjective reading back of current eurocentric agendas into ancient Middle
Eastern texts...)
Of course, on some current views there are no references to "disability" in
the ancient literature. Either it is considered that there was no such
generic term for conditions of disablement or infirmity, but everything
refered to was specific - a blind man, a paralysed woman, a leper etc but
no "disabled people" as a collective entity; or it is objected
that "disability" is socially produced, and is a different matter from
bodily impairments arising from birth hazard, illness, accident or ageing,
or attributed to the activities of God.
Much allegorical interpretation was made by the Church Fathers, as may be
found in their commentaries on the relevant Biblical texts. Luther has a
number of interesting comments on the same texts, often in dialogue with
the earlier doctors of the Church but sometimes relying on his pastoral
interests and sympathies with disabled people of his own time. (The 55-
volume English translation "Luther's Works", 1955-1986, gives a number of
index references for the usual disability categories, though by no means an
exhaustive set).
ABRAMS, Judith Z. (1998) Judaism and Disability. Portrayals in Ancient
Texts from the Tanach through the Bavli. Washington
DC: Gallaudet UP. xi + 236 pp.
Detailed analysis of disability texts in rabbinic Judaism,
giving a great deal of context to e.g. some of the 'proof
texts' often casually and ignorantly handled in 'Christian'
works on disability. Abrams understands (and sometimes almost
seems to share) the mentality and hermeneutics of the earlier
rabbinic commentators. Useful bibliography.
ALSTER, Bendt (1997) Proverbs of Ancient Sumer. The world's earliest
proverb collections. 2 vols, Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press.
Dated before 2500 BC, the proverb collections appear in Vol. I in
Roman transliteration and probable English translation (where known). Vol.
II provides commentary, glossary and 133 plates. Excluding various
duplicates (unless their commentary includes additional points), the
proverbs including clear reference to disability are serial numbered: 1.66
lame, halt, (comments in II: pp. 347-348); 2.61, bad hearing (II: 366);
2.120, lame, halt (II: 373); 5.57, deaf; 10.11, paralyzed; 11.85, lame;
12 Sec.C9, paralyzed; 13.22 - 13.25, lame (II: 429); 15 Sec.B6, halt (II:
433); 17 Sec.B3, paralyzed (II: 436); UET 6/2 339 (p. 322), deaf; MDP
27,111, lame, paralyzed (II: 480). Nine of these concern physical
disability, though in two cases the point of the proverb is not at all
obvious. Three involve deafness or impaired hearing, but in two the hearing
problem is incidental to the proverb. There are some proverbs concerning
fools (not listed here). Proverbs where a reference to disability is less
clear, but may be deduced or appears conjecturally in the commentary, are:
1.29, blind (II: 344); 2.43, maimed, voice problem (II: 364); 3.142, eye
problem (II: 390); 5.50, possibly lame (II: 402-403); 8 Sec.B11, blind?
(II: 414); 8 Sec.B35, eye problem (II: 416-417); 21 Sec.A16, club foot?
(II: 443-444); 21 Sec.D3, temporary mental confusion? (II: 444). Some of
these conjectural meanings at least make up for the obvious lack of
blindness proverbs in the initial batch. Of course, the first of those
listed above (1.66: "In the city of the lame, the halt are couriers"), is
known in many later languages by the equivalent, "In the land of the blind,
the one-eyed man is king".
DRIVER GR & MILES JC (1935) The Assyrian Laws edited with translation and
commentary. Oxford: Clarendon.
Infliction of disabling punishments, mutilations and
disfigurements, the severity being adjusted according to perceptions of
the nature and seriousness of the offence, was widespread in the region,
and considerable detail is available; see e.g. pp. 22-33, 47-49, 80-85, 289-
293, 343-347, 355-357, 369, 383-395, 424-425, 432-433, 459, 465, 468, 495.
Some parallels are drawn with Hebrew practices.
GINZBERG, Louis (1909-1959, reprinted 1968) The Legends of the Jews.
Transl. from German, by H. Szold. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society
of America. 7 volumes.
Vol. IV: 382-283 (and notes in vol. VI: 458-459) tells a story from
the Jewish community living in exile in Persia. Among them was the nobleman
Mordecai, whose niece Esther reportedly became the wife of King Ahasuerus
(probably Xerxes I, regn. 486-465 BC). Of Mordecai it is written that
he "knew the language of the deaf mutes." Two examples are given in which
Mordecai correctly interpreted important signed (or at least gestural)
messages by deaf people. The Book of Esther may have achieved written form
in the 2nd or 3rd century BC. The legend concerning Mordecai is hard to
date.
HALLO, W.W. (1969) The lame and the halt. Eretz-Israel 9: 66-70.
Philological discussion of terms in Sumerian, Akkadian etc,
focusing on the proverb "in the city of the lame, the halt is courier" and
showing evidence of differentiation between levels of physical disability
in the Old Babylonian period.
HOLDEN, Lynn (1991) Forms of Deformity. Journal for Study of
the Old Testament Supplement Series 131. Sheffield: JSOT Press.
370 pp.
Revised doctoral thesis. A curious and repetitive motif-
index of bodily abnormality, deformity or disability referred
to in Jewish literature, commentary and legend from antiquity
to the 12C., across a wide area of the Middle East.
LOEBL WY & NUNN JF (1997) Staffs as walking aids in ancient Egypt and
Palestine. J. Royal Society of Medicine 90: 450-54.
"The Instruction of Amenemope." (BM Papyrus 10474.) English transl.: M.
Lichtheim (1976) Ancient Egyptian Literature. A Book of Readings. Vol II:
The New Kingdom, 146-63. Berkeley: Univ. California Press.
c. 1100 BC. Ch.2:1 "Beware of robbing a wretch, of attacking a
cripple". Ch.25:8-12 "Do not laugh at a blind man, nor tease a dwarf, Nor
cause hardship for the lame. Don't tease a man who is in the hand of the
god [i.e. ill or insane]..."
MARX, Tzvi (1993) Halakha and Handicap: Jewish Law and Ethics
on disability. Amsterdam.
[Efforts to find and read this at the British Library were
unsuccessful, several times, 3/4 years ago! Judith Abrams's bibliog
indicates that it was self-published by Marx - not a disrecommendation, but
perhaps a reason why it's a little elusive!]
NUNN, John F (1996) Ancient Egyptian Medicine. London: British Museum. 240
pp.
Well received work by medically qualified Egyptologist. Good
indexing of impairment / disability. See (overlapping) entries:
achondroplasia, ageing, Bes, club foot, crutch, deafness, deformities,
dwarf, ear, elephantiasis, eye, harpist, hump-back, hydrocephalus,
industrial, kyphosis, neurological, night, physiotherapists, pituary,
poliomyelitis, pseudo-hypertrophic, rickets, trachoma, trauma, trephining,
etc.
PAHLAVI TEXTS. Part I. The Bundahis, Bahman Yast, and Shayast
La-Shayast, transl. E.W. WEST (1880) Sacred Books of the East
vol. 5. Oxford: Clarendon.
This and subsequent volumes translate some surviving
theological and legal texts (as known in the 1880s) of
Zoroastrianism, presumed to derive from Avestan texts now lost.
Translator remarks on frequent difficulties and uncertainties
of his work. Notes below are very tentative.
Bundahis (or The Original Creation). ch. XV: 1-5 (transl.
pp. 52-54), creation story, first man and first woman, and a
tree "whose fruit was the ten varieties of man" - with note to
XV: 31 (pp.59-60) where footnote 6 discusses ten varieties of
'monsters', recalling legends of strange races in India. See
also racially offensive ch. XXIII: 1-2 (p.87).
Shayast La Shayast (or The Proper and Improper). ch. II:
97, fnt.5 (p.270), meanings of 'armest', including 'lame,
crippled, immobility'. V: 7 (pp. 292-93) excuses deaf and
dumb person who cannot make proper response to prayers. VI: 1-
2, "The deaf and dumb and helpless" ('armest': ftn 2 gives
probable meaning here, "an idiot, or insane person"), though of
correct behaviour and disposition, "is incapable of doing good
works". X: 35 (p.332), a woman is fit for some priestly duties
among women; ftn 6 cites Avestan passage in which "any woman
who is not feeble-minded" can perform some priestly duties for
children.
PAHLAVI TEXTS. Part II. The Dadistan-i Dinik and the Epistles
of Manuskihar, transl. E.W. WEST (1882) SBE vol. 18. Oxford:
Clarendon.
Dadistan-i Dinik (or Religious Opinions of Manuskihar son
of Yudan-Yim, Dastur of Pars and Kirman, A.D. 881). ch. LXII:
4, on inheritance, seems to suggest that a son (or his wife)
"who is blind in both eyes, or crippled [armest - see previous
annotation] in both feet, or maimed in both his hands" receives
twice the share of an able-bodied son.
Epistles of Manuskihar. Epistle II, ch. I: 13 (p.329),
ref. to "Zaratust the clubfooted (apafrobd)". Ftn. 2 suggests a
recent person named Z., "who had endeavoured to conceal the
deformity that disqualified him" from the high priesthood. See
also Introduction (p. xxvi).
Appendix. III, on the meaning of Khvetuk-Das, 'next-of-kin
marriage'. p.407 discussing risks of divorce, mentions "vice
and fraud and the misery of deformity" as faults which may
secretly be attributed to a man.
PAHLAVI TEXTS. Part III. Dina-i Mainog-i Khirad; Sikand-Gumanik
Vigar; Sad Dar, transl. E.W. WEST (1885) SBE vol. 24. Oxford:
Clarendon.
Dina-i Mainog-i Khirad (or Opinions of the Spirit of
Wisdom). Ch. XV: 1-6 and ftn 2 (p.42), refers to "the poorest
and most secluded (armesttum) person" (see earlier annotation
on 'armest') who maintains honesty in thought, word and deed,
will have good works imputed to him even though incapable of
actually performing such works. Ch. XXVI: 4-6, (p.56), the
blind person who has achieved learning and understanding "is to
be considered as sound-eyed". XXXVII: 36 (p.75), blessedness
of one "who provides lodging accommodation for the sick and
secluded [`armest'] and traders".
Sikand-Gumanik Vigar (or the Doubt-Dispelling
Explanation). V: 63-64 (p.144), if an eye, ear, nose, limb etc
is disabled, one of the other organ is no substitute. X: 64
(p.170), mention of "manual gestures" among ways in which
Zoroaster preached and convinced King Gustasp. XII: 64-70
(p.207), blindness figures with darkness, ignorance etc in a
list of "demoniacal peculiarities".
Sad Dar of The Hundred Subjects. Ch. LXIV: 2-5 (pp.326-
27), penalties for theft include amputation of ear and (at
third offence) of right hand, as well as a fine and prison
sentence.
PAHLAVI TEXTS. Part IV. Contents of the Nasks, transl. E.W.
WEST (1892) SBE vol. 37. Oxford: Clarendon.
Contents of the Nasks as stated in the Eight and Ninth
Books of the Dinkard. Ch.s XVII & XVIII (pp.39-43), the
'assault code' and 'wound code' detail various injuries and
impaired abilities. XX: 111 (p.68), and XXI: 1-6) (pp.74-75),
punishments on the limbs of sinners. XXII: 2 (p.77), on
children's education and their moral responsibility.
PREUSS J (1978) Biblical and Talmudic Medicine, transl. F Rosner from
German original, publ. 1911. New York: Sanhedrin Press.
Much detail on disabilities, e.g. pp.206-209 & 230-239
(deformities, malformations), 270-280 (eye problems), 289-293 (ear
problems), 299-321 (neurological & mental disorders), 402-407 (peri- & post-
natal activities), from Hebrew, Aramaic & Greek texts over some two
millennia in Palestine.
STIKER, H-J (1999) A History of Disability, transl. W Sayers. University of
Michigan Press. xvii + 239 pp.
pp. 23-37 (and notes pp. 209-210) concern "The Bible and
disability: the cult of God". Stiker is wisely cautious in his
interpretation, underlining the highly conflicted nature of the game down
the ages; but he finds a strong coherence in the Jewish texts, radically
disrupted by the rule-breaking Galilean rabbi.
STOL, Marten & VLEEMING, Sven P (eds) (1998) The Care of the Elderly in the
Ancient Near East. Leiden: Brill. vii + 280 pp.
TARAPOREWALA, Irach Jehangir Sorabji (ed. & transl.) (1922) Selections from
Avesta and Old Persian (First Series). Part I. Calcutta University.
On pp. 216-242 (romanised text and English transl. of Vendidad
II.20-43), the exclusion of people with deformities is depicted (with
alternative rendering in the sense of moral, rather than physical,
depravity, pp. 223, 237-238). The `eugenic' lesson is noted by Taraporewala
(p. 229).
WASERMAN M & KOTTEK SS (eds) (1996) Health and Disease in the Holy Land:
studies in the history and sociology of medicine from ancient times to the
present. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen.
Useful background, though very little about disability.
WERTLIEB, Ellen C. (1988) Attitudes towards disabilities as
found in the Talmud. J. Psychology and Judaism 12 (4) 192-214.
Quotes extensively from Talmudic lore and rabbinic
interpretations, with a view to rebutting the suggestion that
negative attitudes towards disabled people were promoted in the
early Hebrew literature.
WILSON, JV Kinnier & REYNOLDS EH (1990) Translation and analysis of a
Cuneiform text forming part of a Babylonian treatise on epilepsy. Medical
History 34: 185-98.
Dating from several centuries BC, copying parts of the oldest known
written account of epilepsy.
ZABA, Z. (1956) Les Maximes de Ptahhotep. Prague: Editions de l'Académie
Tchécoslovaque des Sciences.
Sayings ascribed to Ptahhotep (fl. 2450 BC) transl. from the
Egyptian hieroglyphs into French. Includes an eloquent lament over bodily
decay and impairments of sight and hearing with old age (pp. 69-70).
ZWIEBEL, Abraham (1994) Judaism and deafness: a humanistic heritage. In: CJ
ERTING, RC JOHNSON, DL SMITH & BD SNIDER (eds) The Deaf Way. Perspectives
from the International Conference on Deaf Culture [1989], 231-238.
Washington DC: Gallaudet UP.
Briefly reviews Jewish textual evidence of deaf people's status,
and its effects on European cultures, with some anecdotal evidence of deaf
people in the Jewish diaspora.
m99m
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