Troels Pank Arbølls first monograph, Medicine in Ancient Assur (2021), was an innovative microhistorical study of the training and career of a healer from the 7th century BCE in the city Assur (located in northern Iraq), and he has published articles on ancient conceptions of illness, the reality behind medical ingredients, zoonosis, as well as the iconography of demons and animals. He is currently engaged in research on Mesopotamian medicine, magic, epidemics, the transmission of knowledge in the ancient world, and the study of ancient DNA. By combining traditional and interdisciplinary approaches, his research aims to increase the temporal depth of humanity’s scientific history while broadening our understanding of early therapeutic practices, disease conceptualization, and knowledge production.
