Emotions in Early Human History: What Were Ancestors' Emotional Experiences?

Emotions in Early Human History: What Were Ancestors' Emotional Experiences?

In the ancient world, understanding the human body was deeply intertwined with philosophy and spirituality, as evidenced by the various theories on the location of emotions and the soul. This article explores the beliefs of four ancient cultures – Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome – and how they attributed emotions and the soul to different parts of the human body.

In Mesopotamia, the early theory of humours and bodily fluids influencing mood may have originated, with emotions believed to be rooted in internal bodily influences. Although precise beliefs about the body's emotional centers are less explicitly documented, the liver was associated with happiness and joy [1].

Contrastingly, in ancient Egypt, emotions and spiritual aspects were linked to balance, truth, and cosmic order, symbolized by stillness and silence. The goddess Ma’at represented these concepts, embodying the idea that truth and order were embodied in a harmonious bodily or spiritual state rather than a specific organ [2].

The debate about the epicenter of the human soul started in classical Greece in the 5th century BC. Aristotle defended the heart, while Hippocrates favoured the brain [3]. Greek thinkers held varying opinions, with the liver, heart, and brain all being proposed as the soul's seat [4].

The Romans, inheriting Greek ideas, generally believed emotions resided in the heart, consistent with the Greek tradition espoused by Aristotle and popular during that era [4]. Additionally, Roman medical theory, influenced by Hippocrates and Galen, framed emotions within the humoral theory: bodily fluids governed temperament and emotions [5].

The study led by Professor Saana Svärd analyzed over a million words of Akkadian texts to determine where the ancient inhabitants of Mesopotamia felt emotions. The findings concluded that the liver was considered a fundamental organ in life and human emotional experience [6].

Interestingly, the liver had a unique status as a source of divination and vehicle of the will of the gods throughout history. In Greece and Rome, the liver was considered the book where the gods wrote their will, and hepatoscopy (reading the liver to predict the future) was practiced [7].

The liver, lungs, and feet were other important parts of the human body for the ancient Mesopotamians. For instance, love "impacted" especially on the knees, while the liver was related to happiness, the lungs and feet were related to anger and fear [8].

In ancient Egypt, the heart was considered the center of all human emotionality and the place where the soul and, therefore, life resided [9]. The heart was crucial for Osiris' judgment in the afterlife and the main organ of the circulatory system, where the vital force and the "summary" of the deceased's entire trajectory resided [10].

It is worth noting that the brain was unimportant to the ancient Egyptians, who extracted it from the body through the nostrils and discarded it without further consideration [10]. In contrast, the liver is the only organ in the body that can regenerate.

These beliefs illustrate how ancient cultures integrated anatomy, philosophy, and spirituality to explain emotions and the soul’s location within the body [1][2][4][5]. The study on Mesopotamian emotions provides valuable insights into the ancient world's understanding of human emotions and the body.

References:

1. The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Near Eastern Religions
2. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt
3. The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Political Thought
4. The Oxford Classical Dictionary
5. The Cambridge History of Medicine, Volume 1
6. The liver and emotions in ancient Mesopotamia
7. Ancient hepatoscopy: a review of the literature
8. Love and the body in ancient Mesopotamia
9. Ancient Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife
10. Ancient Egyptian medical practices
11. The study of ancient Mesopotamia revealed that the liver was considered a crucial organ in their understanding of human emotions, a fundamental aspect of life and health-and-wellness.
12. In sharp contrast, the Egyptians attributed the center of human emotionality and the seat of the soul to the heart, while disregarding the role of the brain in emotions, as demonstrated in their medical practices and beliefs about the afterlife.
13. Greek and Roman thinkers, influenced by the humoral theory, believed emotions resided in the heart, although opinions on the soul's location varied, and different organs such as the liver, heart, and brain were proposed as possible seats of the soul in the field of psychology and science.

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