The Surpu: exorcism of antisocial personality disorder in ancient Mesopotamia

The history of the medical description of personality disorders is generally accepted as starting in the late eighteenth century with Pinel. However there may be a much earlier record of the problems of severe personality disorder. In this article we examine the Surpu, an ancient Mesopotamian incantation written in cuneiform on tablets found at the palace of Asurbanipal originating in the eighth century BC. The Surpu is an incantation by a man who seeks exorcism from what seems to be numerous anti-social traits and behaviours and is quoted in this article below. A comparison is made between the traits contained in the Surpu and items of anti-social personality disorder as expressed in the ICD-10 and DSM-IV. This shows that almost all the items contained in these modern glossaries were also recorded in the Surpu incantation. Anti-social personality disorder was probably recognised in ancient Mesopotamia but was described in the religious, rather than the legal or medical literature of the day.