„Und setzet eure Worte nicht auf Schrauben”︁ Medizinische Semiotik vom Ende des 18. bis zum Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts - Gegenstand und Forschung

There is no doubt that medical semiotics are having a revival at the moment. Different aspects of yesterday's and today's interest in semiotics and in the historical interpretation of signs of disease in the context of theory and history of medicine can be illuminated: their deciphering as the history of the sign in medicine by historic science, their overestimation by philosophy during the Age of Enlightenment, their reduction to a phenomenology of medicine and natural science during the first half of the 19th century and their transformation to medical diagnostics since the middle of the 19th century and recently even their functionalization as methodical instrument within the history of science. The following will show the change in meaning of medical semiotics. Modern development and especially the transition to medicine, based on natural science, will be emphasized.     

Book reviews

The Political Environment of Planning in Iran, 1971–83: From Monarchy to Islamic Republic. By Hossein Razavi and Firouz Vakil. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1984. xi + 194 pp.

An Historical Geography of Iran. By W. Barthold. Translated by Svat Soucek. Edited with an Introduction by C. E. Bosworth. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1984. xv + 285 PP.

The Soviet Union and Iran: Soviet Policy in Iran from the Beginning of the Pahlavi Dynasty until the Soviet Invasion of Iran in 1941. By Miron Rezun. Alphen aan den Rijn: Sijthoff and Noordhoff International Publishers; Geneva: Institute Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales, 1981. xi + 390 pp. Illustration, Notes, Tables, Appendices to p. 395. Bibliography to p. 419. Index to p. 425.

Iran: Politics and Government under the Pahlavis: An Annotated Bibliography. By Dariush Gitisetan. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1985. 201 pp.

Artisans and Guild Life in the Later Safavid Period. By Mehdi Keyvani. Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1982. xii + 339 pp. No price indicated. Paperback.

The Reign of the Ayatollahs: Iran and the Islamic Revolution. By Shaul Bakhash. New York: Basic Books, 1984. x + 250 pp. Notes to p. 262. Index to p. 276. Cloth, $18.95.

The Path of God's Bondsmen from Origin to Return (Mersad al‐'ebad men al‐mabda’ ela ‘1‐ma'ad); A Sufi Compendium by Najm al‐Din Razi, Known as Daya. Translated from Persian, with introduction and annotation, by Hamid Algar. Persian Heritage Series, edited by Ehsan Yarshater, No. 35. Delmar, New York: Caravan Books, 1982. 537 pp.

Cities & Trade; Consul Abbott on the Economy and Society of Iran, 1847–1866. Edited with an Introduction by Abbas Amanat. London: Ithaca Press, 1983. xliv + 256 pp. £14.50.     

Zwischen investitur und testament beobachtungen zur rezeption des josuabuches im liber antiquitatum biblicarum

Bible scholars feel the sexual heat of Jael's assassination of Sisera but deny the fire. Victor Matthews says these verses are about hospitality, not sex. Mieke Bal says they are about maternity, not sex. Yair Zakovitch says they used to be about sex, but the sex has been censored out. My close reading evidences that the Jael-Sisera episode is indeed about sex—about a woman's sexual dominance over a man. Using more of the text than other explications, this understanding reveals the bawdy ridicule of Sisera and resolves the difficulties that adhere to previous analyses. Arguing the synchronicity of Judges 4 and 5, it illuminates these chapters' correspondence and agreement, their identical style of ironic humor, and their unifying linguistic craftsmanship.