ABSTRACT

Iatromancy, or the use of divination and related methods to diagnose and treat illness, is documented in the earliest Chinese written records, the Shang oracle bone inscriptions (c.1200–1045 Bce). The dominant view of illness in the Shang attributed its occurrence to calamity inflicted on humans by ancestors and other spirits; scapulimancy and plastromancy (divination by burning ox scapulas or turtle shells) provided the Shang elite with a means to identify the spirit world source of the calamity and to eliminate the harm with sacrificial offerings or exorcistic action. 1 Throughout the first millennium Bce iatromancy continued to be practised with turtle and milfoil divination, and illness continued to be regarded as a calamity caused by the spirit world. The Zuozhuan 左傳 (Zuo Chronicle) account of the illness of the Lord of Jin 晉 in 541 Bce begins with the turtle diviners (buren 卜人), who name two spirits responsible for ‘making the calamity’ (wei sui 為祟). Subsequently, Physician He 醫和 provides a medical diagnosis based on ideas about qi 氣 ‘vapour’. 2 The account is noteworthy for juxtaposing the professional activities of diviners and physicians in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. Recently discovered manuscripts of divination and sacrifice found in fourth-century Bce tombs at Baoshan 包山 and Wangshan 望山, Hubei, attest to the continued faith in the iatromantic methods of the turtle and milfoil diviners to resolve the illnesses of elite clients. Both manuscripts use the phrase ‘there is calamity’ (you sui 有祟) to refer to the spirits identified in divination as the cause of illness, and record the sacrificial offerings and exorcistic measures used to eliminate the calamity. 3