In all great writings, such as literature and song lyrics, the writer often associates certain emotions with body parts. If a person sees a crush, they may feel ”butterflies in their stomach.” If a person is experiencing a moment of pure happiness, they may say that their ”heart is full.” The same can be said if the person is experiencing heartbreak or a “churning in their stomach” if they’re feeling nervous or angry.
But what if someone said that their “liver was full” or that they felt “anger in their feet?” Emotions and the body are nothing new, but they may have felt different for ancient humans like the Ancient Mesopotamians.
After analyzing ancient cuneiform writings, an international research team believes that earlier humans may have felt emotions differently than we do today. These findings, published in the journal iScience, could indicate how our emotions and feelings evolve over time.
Pairing Emotion to Body
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Figure: Modern/PNAS: Lauri Nummenmaa et al., Mesopotamian: Juha Lahnakoski.
Happiness ‘lights up’ similar areas on both modern and ancient body maps, with the exception of the liver, which was more significant for the ancient Mesopotamians. Figure: Modern/PNAS: Lauri Nummenmaa et al. 2014, Mesopotamian: Juha Lahnakoski et. al 2024.
A multidisciplinary research team from the University of Helsinki, Aalto University, University of Turku, and Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz analyzed clay tablets with cuneiform scripts with over one million Akkadian words. According to the findings, the ancient Mesopotamians had a general understanding of their internal human anatomy.
“Even in ancient Mesopotamia, there was a rough understanding of anatomy,” said Professor Saana Svärd of the University of Helsinki, an assyriologist and lead researcher of the study, in a press release. “For example, the importance of the heart, liver, and lungs.”
Ancient Mesopotamians often described feeling positive emotions in the liver and used words such as “open,” “shining,” and “being full” to describe those feelings.
Read More: How Do Different Emotions Manifest In The Body?
Mapping Emotions
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Figure: Modern/PNAS: Lauri Nummenmaa et al., Mesopotamian: Juha Lahnakoski.)
Modern and Mesopotamian people experience love in a rather similar way. In Mesopotamia, love is particularly associated with the liver, heart and knees. Figure: Modern/PNAS: Lauri Nummenmaa et al. 2014, Mesopotamian: Juha Lahnakoski et al. 2024
About 10 years before the release of this project, Finnish researchers released a study indicating how emotions were mapped across the human body. The study discussed how emotions such as anxiety may be felt as a tightness in the chest or how love may present a warm sensation across the body.
According to the mapping study, our bodies react physically and mentally to these emotions to prepare us to run, fight, or obtain pleasurable interactions. The mapping study participants were presented with an emotion and then asked to color in on a body image where they felt that emotion.
Researchers from the ancient emotions study used the findings of the mapping study to create bodily maps for the ancient Mesopotamians.
“If you compare the ancient Mesopotamian bodily map of happiness with modern bodily maps, it is largely similar, with the exception of a notable glow in the liver,” said cognitive neuroscientist Juha Lahnakoski, a visiting researcher at Aalto University in a press release.
Read More: Humans Are the Only Animals That Cry — And We Don’t Know Why
Modern Day vs. Ancient Humans
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Figure: Modern/PNAS: Lauri Nummenmaa et al., Mesopotamian: Juha Lahnakoski.
Modern man experiences anger in the upper body and hands. In Mesopotamia, anger was associated specifically with the feet. Figure: Modern/PNAS: Lauri Nummenmaa et al. 2014, Mesopotamian: Juha Lahnakoski et al. 2024.
Another way the emotions of ancient Mesopotamians and modern humans differed was that modern humans tended to feel anger in their upper body, but the opposite was true for ancient Mesopotamians; they felt anger in their feet. And even though love may be felt in the heart by both groups of people, ancient Mesopotamians also felt love in the liver and knees.
“It remains to be seen whether we can say something in the future about what kind of emotional experiences are typical for humans in general and whether, for example, fear has always been felt in the same parts of the body. Also, we have to keep in mind that texts are texts and emotions are lived and experienced,” said Svärd in a press release.
Though it’s interesting to compare the emotions of ancient Mesopotamians and modern humans, the researchers say that it’s important to keep in mind that the modern body maps were created from first-hand emotions, while the ancient Mesopotamian maps were created based on what was written in the clay. Not everyone had access to reading and writing in ancient Mesopotamia, so their thoughts and experiences were left to the mercy of scribes.
A study like this is a first of its kind, but researchers believe that they can use the method of pairing emotions and body parts in other ancient languages to determine if other ancient people felt emotions in different ways.
“It could be a useful way to explore intercultural differences in the way we experience emotions,” said Svärd in a press release.
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A graduate of UW-Whitewater, Monica Cull wrote for several organizations, including one that focused on bees and the natural world, before coming to Discover Magazine. Her current work also appears on her travel blog and Common State Magazine. Her love of science came from watching PBS shows as a kid with her mom and spending too much time binging Doctor Who.
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