Animals in the Ancient Mesopotamian Diet: Prohibitions and Regulations Related to Meat in the First Millennium BCE

This article includes at first two introductory paragraphs in which I consider the Sumerian and Akkadian words referring to interdictions and their relevance in the realm of dietary regulation, and then present the texts dated to the first millennium BCE that provide the most useful information on the relationship between Mesopotamian people and meat, with a particular reference to its ban. Then, I discuss in detail the types of prohibited animals and the particular circumstances in which vetoes were observed, giving some practical examples particularly from the hemerological texts. Finally, the consequences of the infringement of dietary proscriptions are discussed, together with the countermeasures taken in order to appease the gods and regain a pure status.