Modern and Mesopotamian people embody emotions in different ways Modern/PNAS: Lauri Nummenmaa et al. 2014, Mesopotamian: Juha Lahnakoski 2024
The inhabitants of Mesopotamia must have known grief, fear, love and awe – but they didn’t necessarily think about them in the same way we do. An analysis of cuneiform texts shows that these ancient people felt disgust in their shins, suffering in their armpits and sexual arousal in their ankles. The work reveals the important hold that culture and knowledge have over our understanding of our own feelings.
