{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,5]],"date-time":"2026-09-05T05:17:01Z","timestamp":1788585421086,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]],"date-time":"2026-09-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788393600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100016247","name":"Wroc\u0142aw University of Environmental and Life Sciences","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100016247","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05cs8k179","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Vet. Sci.","Veterinary Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The origins of veterinary medicine remain a subject of debate. The search for the \u201cfirst veterinarian\u201d has often led to the application of modern professional concepts to ancient societies. Among the Mesopotamian sources, particular attention has been given to ARM XXVI\/1, text 270 from the royal archives of Mari, in which Jean-Marie Durand described Ipiq-Enlil as une esp\u00e8ce de v\u00e9t\u00e9rinaire (\u201ca kind of veterinarian\u201d). Despite the potential importance of this interpretation for the history of veterinary medicine, it has never been critically examined in the veterinary literature. The present study reassesses the letter concerning Ipiq-Enlil in the light of Durand\u2019s philological commentary and compares it with other key Near Eastern sources relating to animal healthcare, including the Kahun Veterinary Papyrus, \u00a7\u00a7224\u2013225 of the Code of Hammurabi, the records concerning Ab\u016b-il\u012b\u0161u, and the seal of Ur-lugal-edinna. Our analysis indicates that the expression une esp\u00e8ce de v\u00e9t\u00e9rinaire represents Durand\u2019s philological interpretation rather than a literal translation of the cuneiform text. Comparison with other Near Eastern sources shows that practical knowledge relating to animal health was already well developed during the first half of the second millennium BCE. At the same time, the available evidence does not support the existence of a distinct veterinary profession in the modern sense. Instead, the case of Ipiq-Enlil points to an early stage in the differentiation of specialised animal healthcare from a shared medical tradition encompassing both humans and animals.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/vetsci13090903","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]],"date-time":"2026-09-03T11:08:53Z","timestamp":1788433733000},"page":"903","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Ipiq-Enlil and the Early Development of Veterinary Specialisation: Reassessing the Mari Letter from the Perspective of Veterinary History"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-5187-5324","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Agata","family":"Ma\u0142yszek","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biostructure and Animal Physiology, Wroc\u0142aw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, C.K. Norwida 31, 50-375 Wroc\u0142aw, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4357-2271","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maciej","family":"Janeczek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biostructure and Animal Physiology, Wroc\u0142aw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, C.K. Norwida 31, 50-375 Wroc\u0142aw, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"570","article-title":"Ein sumerischer Tierarzt","volume":"34","author":"Fuhr","year":"1966","journal-title":"Arch. Orient\u00e1ln\u00ed"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jones, S.D., and Koolmees, P.A. (2022). A Concise History of Veterinary Medicine, Cambridge University Press. 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Egyptological Memoirs.","DOI":"10.1163\/9789047404163"}],"container-title":["Veterinary Sciences"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2306-7381\/13\/9\/903\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,5]],"date-time":"2026-09-05T04:47:21Z","timestamp":1788583641000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2306-7381\/13\/9\/903"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]]},"references-count":23,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]}},"alternative-id":["vetsci13090903"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/vetsci13090903","relation":{},"ISSN":["2306-7381"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2306-7381","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]]}}}