Ancient Egypt Medicine

Questo romanzo prende spunto dal “Papiro chirurgico” datato attorno al 1550 a.C. Si immagina una storia che si snoda fra le mura di un istituto di ricerca di Boston, un appartamento di Parigi e una dimora nell’Antico Egitto. Protagoniste sono due donne alle prese con l’arte medica: una deve risolvere un difficile problema diagnostico in TAC, l'altra è intenta a tramandare il proprio sapere.

This thesis explores the history of medicine in ancient Egypt between the Middle and New Kingdoms, and offers a case study highlighting the use of religion and magic in healing and analyzing health inequity. I am interested in medical practices, treatments, diagnosis methods, and access to healthcare in the ancient world. I seek to bridge the gaps and help unify the knowledge surrounding ancient Egyptian medical practices and contribute to the studies in the history of medicine. I explore types of diseases that commonly affected the ancient Egyptians and how they integrated religion and magic into their understanding and treatment of diseases. My main area of research focus is how hierarchical society influences health inequities in the ancient world and specifically focuses on women’s health in ancient Egypt. This thesis will demonstrate that there was differential access to healthcare in ancient Egypt based on gender and class. This thesis contextualizes medical texts within their broader roles in healthcare and utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to re-examine assumptions about medicine in the ancient world.

The scent kit includes six of my scent reconstructions, which are all based on my PhD research on the sense of smell in ancient Egypt. It also includes a detailed description of the significance of each scent for the ancient Egyptian culture.
(1)  Mendesian
(2)  Mummification
(3)  Kyphi
(4)  Ancient Egyptian garden fragrance
(5)  Flowers at the pond
(6)  Scent of ancient Egyptian festivals
Price: 120€ + shipping

This paper focuses on part of my Manchester MSc dissertation; the plants prescribed as treatments for the illnesses described in the 21 paragraphs of the last section of the Ebers Papyrus. This is a treatise on tumours, which is now considered to relate to oncological concerns, bearing in mind the problem of the translations made so far, as some plants are still unidentified today.

Health was a constant concern in life and even the deceased needed extra care so that they would be at their prime when enclosed in the sarcophagus; and in the possession of magical ‘weapons’ so that when they reached the Afterlife, they would be in complete possession of all their physical abilities. Medicine in ancient Egypt was trying to restrain all malefic beings from action and to preserve the well-being of the individual. Through this work, all descriptions and conceptions observed in the existing legacy of ancient Egypt will lead to conclusions that attest this unique duality: its main aim is to synthesize information from ancient Egyptian daily life; everything that has been written upon it and analyzed until today, throughout the world, in different perspectives and several languages, thus giving a contribution for international research and also possible future contributions for medicine and Egyptology. This work is divided into four chapters: Chapter 1: Sources of Information; Medical and Magical Papyri; Chapter 2: Heka –“the art of the magical written word”; Chapter 3: Pathological types; Chapter 4: Medical-magical prescriptions and their ingredients; this list is a description that contemplates from the global perspective to details, revealing all, from general existing sources to particular ingredients used in prescriptions.

En la Antigüedad, la Medicina siempre se revistió de innegable importancia entre las poblaciones; sus orígenes se remontan a prácticas místicas y esotéricas, mezcladas con un poco de realidad e innovación médica, en el seno de las brillantes sociedades de Mesopotamia y Egipto. Sigue siendo, un interesante legado de los tiempos remotos de la Antigüedad, que poco a poco se fue desarrollando, hasta culminar en realizaciones médicas de admirable envergadura y de científica notabilidad.
Ante todo, la Medicina puede ser vista como una vía de salida del dolor y del sufrimiento. Los diagnósticos, tratamientos y prescripciones médicas se podían equiparar a una salvación de los "males divinos" o de los espíritus malévolos que invadían el organismo humano. Las fuertes creencias egipcias de que cualquier dolencia venía por decisión divina, o porque la actitud humana no estaba siendo la mejor, estaban muy inculcadas.

Publication with detailed commentary of Ostracon DOW 113 from the collection of Sten V. Wångstedt. The current location of the ostracon is unknown, and the author has worked from a photograph. The medico-magical spell inscribed on the object, which is a rarity in demotic but paralleled thematically in earlier Egyptian, Greek, and Coptic, is dated palaeographically to the third or second century BCE.

This work focuses on pathogenic elements found in the Ebers papyrus: a series of prescriptions that are believed to be the remains of a ?book of tumours? which deals with what appear to have been benign ganglionic masses, polyps, sebaceous cysts, varicose veins and aneurysms. Discussion of this Treatise on Tumours (paragraphs 857-877) includes the previous probable identification of a disease, the analysis carried out to date by several Egyptologists, and my own interpretation which combines the linguistic approach adopted by these scholars in the past, and the medical observations of scientists in more recent years: in total we have descriptions of neoplasias versus swellings. This work also includes some references to the plants mentioned as treatments for the illnesses described in the 21 paragraphs of the Papyrus? last section on tumours (what it is now thought to be oncological concerns) taking into account the problem of translation, since some plants are still unidentified today.References are made to material evidence found in Egyptian mummies in several sites revealing the presence of a tumour.

Since its discovery by Battiscombe Gunn, it is believed that Saqqara's Ostrakon is able to improve our understanding of how Egyptians designed curved elements, but the geometric significance of the hieratic values is still uncertain. Indeed, in order to obtain an indisputable result, the distance between the vertical ordinates is required, and this distance is not explicitly indicated on the limestone artefact.
But since there were no algebraic formulas at the time of the Pharaohs, a simple grid-based procedure was developed such as those used by the Egyptians to reproduce the scale drawings, to try to decipher the geometric meaning of the curve drawn on the find.
To conclude, this simple process permits to understand that the five hieratic values of the Saqqara Ostrakon describe a segmental arch whose span and rise correspond to the architectural proportions of several Egyptian tombs and arches, and that the numerical sequence of the artefact could be considered the most "ancient" mathematical formula of the circle.

Merit Ptah is widely described as "the first woman physician and scientist" on the Internet and in popular history books. This essay explores the origins of this figure, showing that Merit Ptah came into being in the 1930s when Kate Campbell Hurd-Mead misinterpreted a report about an authentic ancient Egyptian healer. Merit Ptah gradually became a prominent figure in popular historical accounts during second-wave of feminism, and, in the twenty-first century she appeared in Wikipedia and subsequently spread throughout the Internet as a female (sometimes black African) founding figure. The history of Merit Ptah reveals powerful mechanisms of knowledge creation in the network of amateur historians, independently from the scholarly community. The case of Merit Ptah also pinpoints factors enabling the spread of erroneous historical accounts: the absence of professional audience, the development of echo chambers due to an obscured chain of knowledge transmission, the wide reach of the Internet, the coherence with existing preconceptions, the emotional charge of heritage, and even - in the case of ancient Egypt - the tendency to perceive certain pasts through a legendary lens. At the same time, the story of Merit Ptah reveals how important role models have been for women entering science and medicine.

Since its discovery by Battiscombe Gunn, it is believed that Saqqara's Ostrakon is able to improve our understanding of how Egyptians designed curved elements, but the geometric significance of the hieratic values is still uncertain. Indeed, in order to obtain an indisputable result, the distance between the vertical ordinates is required, and this distance is not explicitly indicated on the limestone artefact.
But since there were no algebraic formulas at the time of the Pharaohs, a simple grid-based procedure was developed such as those used by the Egyptians to reproduce the scale drawings, to try to decipher the geometric meaning of the curve drawn on the find.
To conclude, this simple process permits to understand that the five hieratic values of the Saqqara Ostrakon describe a segmental arch whose span and rise correspond to the architectural proportions of several Egyptian tombs and arches, and that the numerical sequence of the artefact could be considered the most "ancient" mathematical formula of the circle.

Pectus excavatum is one of the common congenital anomalies, yet there seems to be a suspicious absence of any cases or descriptions of this deformity from antiquity. This could represent a real change in disease prevalence but is more likely just due to an inadequate reporting in medico-historical literature. The current study reviews reports of computed tomography (CT) scans of 217 ancient Egyptian mummies, revealing 3 presumed cases of this deformity. Therefore, pectus excavatum was in fact present already in ancient times, with prevalence roughly similar to the modern one.

An iconography that normally belongs to colossal Kushite statuary is identified in an amulet that depicts short-limbed dwarfism—a Pataikos amulet. But Pataikoi depended on their anatomical iconography for their apotropaic function(s) and the Kushite iconography in question was primarily propagandistic. The circumstances that may have led to this conflation are discussed, and neurophysiology research is reviewed that explains how amulets could have had real-life apotropaic effects.

Este trabalho aborda a pesquisa paleopatológica com especial foco na identificação do cancro como doença existente no antigo Egipto e o estudo deste papiro médico nas suas várias traduções e transcrições e a colecção de dados relativamente aos casos encontrados.

O uso de material antigo (tanto papiros médicos como restos humanos) estudado com a tecnologia disponível, pode servir a pesquisa possibilitando a descoberta de prováveis tratamentos para o cancro; a relevância de achados futuros é óbvia, dada a importância desta doença.

Os resultados não são definitivos pois mais material humano é encontrado quase mensalmente, seja em escavações no Egipto seja disperso por colecções particulares, mas as conclusões preliminares, deste trabalho, que foi a base da tese de mestrado da autora em Biomedicina em Egiptologia, grau obtido em Manchester em Dezembro de 2008, demonstra que o cancro estava presente na sociedade do antigo Egipto.

Esta apresentação foca uma série de prescrições que se pensa serem uma reminiscência de um “Tratado de Tumores” do antigo Egipto, que trata também de massas benignas, polipos, quistos, veias varicosas e aneurismas. A discussão deste Tratado (parágrafos 857-877 do papiro Ebers) inclui a prévia identificação provável destas doenças em traduções mais antigas, a análise levada a cabo até ao presente por egiptólogos e médicos em restos humanos do antigo Egipto (mumificados e esqueletizados) e outra literatura.

São feitas algumas referências a provas materiais encontradas em material humano egípcio em vários sítios, que revelam presença de tumores.

A contribuição das técnicas biomédicas e forenses para a egiptologia tem um papel muito importante. Estes estudos não são possíveis de prosseguir só com conhecimentos históricos e literários, pois seria uma abordagem unilateral a esta matéria.

Embora mais exemplos de cancro no antigo Egipto possam ser encontrados no futuro, esta é uma tentativa de sintetizar numa colecção actualizada referências a estas doenças afectando as populações egípcias: o cancro e doenças infecciosas relacionadas do fígado, pois este é o órgão mais afectado, presentemente liderando o tipo de cancros no Egipto (figado e canais biliares), pois as doenças endémicas do Egipto actual parecem não ter tido grandes alterações desde os tempos faraónicos.

Sendo a palepatologia uma ciência demonstrando a presença de enfermidades em restos humanos e animais de épocas mais antigas, segundo a definição de Ruffer em 1913, o estudo da incidência de neoplasias em humanos no antigo Egipto pode ser considerada uma secção desta ciência.

The science and art of medicine has always been an integral part of the history of Egypt. Medical
practice in ancient Egypt was based on the most advanced knowledge compared to other regions. Muslim
scholars helped in the transmission of medical practice through the medieval period from the decline
of ancient teaching to the rise of modern learning. Kasr Al Ainy school of Medicine, established in 1827,
continues the glory of medicine in Egypt as one of the biggest and oldest medical schools not only in Egypt
but also in the world.
Keywords: medicine, ancient Egypt, Kasr Al Ainy, paleopathology, mummies

The earliest physician recorded in history is Athotis (Aha), one of the first rulers of ancient Egypt. While it is debatable whether the story of a king-physician is a fact or just a legend, it is clear that ancient Egyptian medicine developed around the time of his reign. The fortunate combination of earlier medical observations, the development of script, and favorable social conditions made the dawn of ancient Egypt also the dawn of medicine.

Deadline: PES XXXIII (2024): March 31, 2024 

Prague Egyptological Studies (PES) is a bi-annual double-blind peer-reviewed English journal published by the Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, in Prague. The journal was published regularly since 2002 in Czech and starting from 2015 also in English. Newly since 2021, two English issues per year have been issued, dedicated to ancient Egyptian and Nubian (Sudanese) prehistory and history, from the prehistory to Late Antiquity.

The journal accepts archaeological reports as well as original studies on any aspect of ancient Egyptian and Nubian material culture, religion, language and history, or the history of Egyptology and the reception of ancient Egypt in later periods. In addition, it welcomes primary studies focusing on the wider interdisciplinary scope of Egyptology, such as environmental archaeology, archaeozoology and archaeobotany, as well as new research in applied sciences. The journal also includes book reviews on recently published monographs in the above-mentioned fields.

Manuscripts for consideration by the editorial board of PES should be submitted as a word and pdf document to journal’s official email at prague.egyptological.studies@gmail.com. Be sure to supply your name, affiliation, and e-mail.

Midwifery in Ancient Egypt was a highly regarded activity, almost completely controlled by women. Many scholars have claimed that midwives had no specific name in the Ancient Egyptian language and their activity was not recorded. However, this probably happened because they transmitted their knowledge orally and delivery was seen as a normal event of life which required a special intervention only when the lives of the mother and the child were endangered: some Egyptian papyri preserve diagnoses and treatments for difficult births, showing an advanced level of expertise based on empirical experimentation.
In addition, defining the Ancient Egyptian midwife as a healer would be a simplification, since she also seemed to have important ritual functions. For instance, the midwife pronounced the spells and she used her equipment of magical artefacts to ease a difficult labor; she was also believed to foresee the destiny of the child at the time the  umbilical cord was cut. 
Finally, her prestigious role is suggested by her identification in the Papyrus Westcar with female deities whose function was also mysteriously linked to music and dance.
Having considered the complex role of the midwife in Dynastic Egypt, is it possible that some aspects of the Pharaonic midwifery survived in Egypt until the Graeco-Roman period? Which part of the Egyptian medical tradition was adopted by the Greek and the Roman medical writers? Which magical-religious aspects were inherited by Graeco-Roman midwives?
To find a possible answer to these questions, this paper will explore a wide range of written and material sources, looking for elements of continuity and change of midwifery in Graeco-Roman Egypt by a social, a medical and a magical-religious point of view.

Summary The present paper discusses the finding of an hemispherical drinking cup between the heads of the femurs of a lady identified as Sattjeni A in a Late 12th Dynasty tomb in Qubbet el-Hawa, which has been catalogued as 34aa. The woman suffered a traumatic injury in her pelvis, which provoked her pain, sterility and iatrogenic pain. The presence of the ceramic with remains of organic material with evident signs of combustion is compared to similar treatments recorded in different papyri, one of them (P. Kahun) almost contemporary to the burial. The analysis of the textual sources has allowed us to relate this find to the medical treatments prescribed by the ancient specialists in the 12th Dynasty.

With a focus on science in the ancient societies of Greece and Rome, including glimpses into Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China, The Oxford Handbook of Science and Medicine in the Classical World offers an in depth synthesis of science and medicine circa 650 BCE to 650 CE.

The Handbook comprises five sections, each with a specific focus on ancient science and medicine. The second section covers the early Greek era, up through Plato and the mid-fourth century bce. The third section covers the long Hellenistic era, from Aristotle through the end of the Roman Republic, acknowledging that the political shift does not mark a sharp intellectual break. The fourth section covers the Roman era from the late Republic through the transition to Late Antiquity. The final section covers the era of Late Antiquity, including the early Byzantine centuries. The Handbook provides through each of its approximately four dozen essays, a synthesis and synopsis of the concepts and models of the various ancient natural sciences, covering the early Greek era through the fall of the Roman Republic, including essays that explore topics such as music theory, ancient philosophers, astrology, and alchemy.

The Oxford Handbook of Science and Medicine in the Classical World guides the reader to further exploration of the concepts and models of the ancient sciences, how they evolved and changed over time, and how they relate to one another and to their antecedents. There are a total of four dozen or so topical essays in the five sections, each of which takes as its focus the primary texts, explaining what is now known as well as indicating what future generations of scholars may come to know. Contributors suggest the ranges of scholarly disagreements and have been free to advocate their own positions. Readers are led into further literature (both primary and secondary) through the comprehensive and extensive bibliographies provided with each chapter.

There are hints in Pliny that the grammarian Apion wrote a work of pharmacy, but the evidence in Pliny is tenuous and somewhat contradictory, and some has even been emended away. Apion is rarely considered a pharmacist, although there are parallels of grammarians—contemporary with Apion—who wrote on pharmacy. Moreover, three overlooked passages provide a much stronger case for pharmaceutical work by Apion. The surviving recipes prescribe mineral-based compounds as remedies, confirming the evidence in Pliny’s index, and they are also consistent both with Greek and Egyptian medical practice.