Hypothesis: A terra cotta plaque [LMU 2551] from the Neo-Babylonian period (c.629-539 BCE), housed in the museum of the Archaeology Center at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, is a representation of right peripheral facial paralysis.
Background: Ancient representations of pathology are rare and often difficult to identify. This is particularly true of Assyrian-Babylonian cultures where, despite numerous surviving medical texts, artistic examples of disease are almost non-existent.
Methods: Precise caliper measurements and archaeological analysis of LMU 2551 were used to confirm the authors' hypothesis.
Results: The facial distortions portrayed in LMU 2551 are not accidental. Measurements show a pronounced asymmetry of the lower face where the length from the mid-philtrum to the oral commissure and from the lateral edge of the ala nasi to the mid-ipsilateral nasolabial fold are twice as long in the left than in the right side. The left eye is closed, whereas the right is widely open.
Conclusion: The described plaque is among the oldest representations of facial paralysis on record. It correlates with contemporary Babylonian texts describing neurological disorders but its function is unknown.