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INTRODUCTION
Ancient egyptian medicine refers to the practices of healing common illnesses in ancient egypt from c 33rd century BC untill the persian invasion of 525 BC. This medicine was highly advanced for the time, and included simple, noninvasive surgery, setting of bones and an extensive set of pharmacopoeia.
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INTRODUCTION
Unlike the injuries caused by accidents or fighting, which were dealt with by the zwn.w (sunu), or scorpion stings and snake bites for which the xrp srqt (kherep serqet), the exorcist of Serqet, knew the appropriate spells and remedies, illnesses and their causes were mysterious. The Egyptians explained them as the work of the gods, caused by the presence of evil spirits or their poisons, and cleansing the body was the way to rid the body of their influence. Incantations, prayers to the gods - above all to Sekhmet the goddess of healing, curses, and threats, often accompanied by the injection of nasty smelling and tasting medicines into the various bodily orifices, were hoped to prove effective.
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SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Until the 19th century, the main sources of information about ancient Egyptian medicine were writings from later in antiquity. Homer c. 800 BC remarked in the Odyssey: "In Egypt, the men are more skilled in medicine than any of human kind" and "the Egyptians were skilled in medicine more than any other art. The Greek historian Herodotus visited Egypt around 440 BC and wrote extensively of his observations of their medicinal practices. Pliny the Elder also wrote favorably of them in historical review.
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SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Hippocrates (the "father of medicine"), Herophilos, Erasistratus and later Galen studied at the temple of Amenhotep, and acknowledged the contribution of ancient Egyptian medicine to Greek medicine. In 1822, the translation of the Rosetta stone finally allowed the translation of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions and papyri, including many related to medical matters. Other documents as the Edwin Smith papyrus (1550 BC), Hearst papyrus (1450 BC), and Berlin papyrus (1200 BC) also provide valuable insight into ancient egyptian medicine. The Edwin Smith papyrus for example mentioned research methods, the making of a diagnosis of the patient, and the setting of a treatment.
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SOURCES OF INFORMATION
The Ebers papyrus c.1550 BC is full of incantations and foul applications meant to turn away disease-causing demons, and also includes 877 prescriptions. It may also contain the earliest documented awareness of tumors, if the poorly understood ancient medical terminology has been correctly interpreted. Other information comes from the images that often adorn the walls of Egyptian tombs and the translation of the accompanying inscriptions.
WRITINGS
Throughout the 3,000 year long history of the Ancient Egyptians, they used three kinds of writings in their religious, secular, and medical texts. They began with hieroglyphics, transitioned to hieratic, and finally developed demotic. At different times in history, all three writing styles were used in recording the history and happenings of the ancient Egyptian world.
Hieroglyphic Writing Hieratic Writing Demotic Writing
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HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING
The hieroglyphic scripts are of a pictorial nature and the oldest written form of the ancient Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs represented consonants, or groups of consonants. Hieroglyphics can be used in two ways. As a direct representation, where the symbol means just what it shows. More often symbols were used phonetically, meaning it did not stand for itself, but for its name Some hieroglyphic symbols had more than one meaning, and each symbol had a distinct sound associated with it. There were no vowels in hieroglyphic writing, and more than one consonant were often symbolized.
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HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING
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HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING
The Egyptian word for doctor was swnw. Above, a) Full writing for the word doctor, which is rarely seen, b) Form for the word doctor normally seen, c) Writing for female doctor, and d) Unusual form of word for doctor.
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HIERATIC WRITING
Hieratic is considered the "priestly" script, and was extensively used on manuscripts and paintings in the ancient Egyptian world up to about 650B.C.. It was adapted from hieroglyphic script for a quicker record of events or literature that were of less significance. The early hieratic has a more fluent form than hieroglyphs, and the individual signs are less pictorial and more abbreviated. The hieratic inscriptions were usually written in black ink with a brush made of reed.
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HIERATIC WRITING
TOP-HIERATIC/BOTTOM-HIEROGLYPHIC TRANSLATION
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DEMOTIC WRITING
Demotic writing saw its beginnings during the 25th/26th Dynasty, 747 B.C. - 525 B.C. This writing language developed out of hieratic, as hieratic developed from hieroglyphic, and was more illegible and the strokes were quicker than hieratic. Demotic texts are never transcribed into hieroglyphs because of the difficulty involved in finding a lost image in a short hand of a short hand. It was mostly used in administrative and private texts, but also in stories and inscriptions. However, Demotic never replaced hieratic completely. In fact, during the height of demotic writing, hieratic was still being used in religious texts.
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DEMOTIC WRITING
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PAPYRUS
Papyrus (pronounced /ppars/) is a thick paperlike material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. Papyrus is first known to have been used in ancient Egypt (at least as far back as the First dynasty), but it was also used throughout the Mediterranean region. Ancient Egypt used this plant as a writing material and for boats, mattresses, mats, rope, sandals, and baskets.
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MEDICAL PAPYRUS
Every medical discipline throughout history and throughout the world has developed a way to record the observations and remedies inherent to any medical discipline. The ancient Egyptians were one of the first to begin a systemic record of their ventures into medical practice. These papyri are a testament to the ingenuity and skill that is evident in Egyptian medicine.
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However, ancient Egyptians incorporated both trends into one distinct form of medical practice that endured for thousands of years.
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12TH CENTURY BC
4TH OR LATER CENTURY BC 2ND AND LATER CENTURY BC
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DEITIES -- MYSTICISM
The Egyptians brought a number of deities into close relationship with medicine. They did this through the creation of religious imagery and artifacts. By worshiping and praying to these artifacts, ancient Egyptians felt that they would conjure the relative powers of each god or goddess. The literature of the temples preserved prescrptions used for the treatment of patients. These prescriptions were taken while making invocations to the gods Ra, Isis, or Horus. It is thought that Egyptian medicine was purely empirical and became magical through the influence of the Babylonian priests. However, mysticism certainly had an enormous impact on the practice and progression of medicine in the Egyptian world.
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DEITIES -- MYSTICISM
"The protective goddess Taweret, as depicted in this statue amulet dated 1,000 B.C., was believed to have a special role in childbirth. This statue has the head of a hippopotamus, the legs and arms of a lion, and the tail of a crocodile. This type of idolic representation was widespread in ancient Egyptian medicine."
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DEITIES -- MYSTICISM
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PRACTICES
Medical knowledge in ancient Egypt had an excellent reputation, and rulers of other empires would ask the Egyptian pharaoh to send them their best physician to treat their loved ones. Egyptians had some knowledge of human anatomy . For example, in the classic mummification process, mummifiers knew how to insert a long hooked implement through a nostril, breaking the thin bone of the brain case and remove the brain .
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PRACTICES
Egyptian physicians were aware of the existence of the pulse and of a connection between pulse and heart. Quite a few medical practices were effective, such as many of the surgical procedures given in the Edwin Smith papyrus. Mostly, the physicians' advice for staying healthy was to wash and shave the body, including under the arms, and this may have prevented infections. They also advised patients to look after their diet, and avoid foods such as raw fish or other animals considered to be unclean.
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PRACTICES
Many practices were ineffective or harmful. Michael D. Parkins says that 72% of 260 medical prescriptions in the Hearst Papyrus had no known curative elements, and many contained animal dung which contains products of fermentation and molds, some of them having curative properties, but also bacteria posing a grave threat of infection. Being unable to distinguish between the original infection and the unwholesome effects of the faeces treatment, they may have been impressed by the few cases when the patient's condition improved.
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PRACTICES
The author of the Smith Papyrus even had a vague idea of a cardiac system, although not of blood circulation and he was unable, or deemed it unimportant, to distinguish between blood vessels, tendons, and nerves. They developed their theory of "channels" that carried air, water and blood to the body by analogies with the River Nile; if it became blocked, crops became unhealthy and they applied this principle to the body. If a person was unwell, they would use laxatives to unblock the "channels".
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PRACTICES
Heart as key to concepts of anatomy and physiology
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HERBAL MEDICINE
Herbs played a major part in Egyptian medicine. The plant medicines mentioned in the Ebers papyrus for instance include opium, cannabis, myrrh, frankincense, fennel, cassia, senna, thyme, henna, juniper, aloe, linseed and castor oil though some of the translations are less than certain. Egyptians thought garlic and onions aided endurance, and consumed large quantities of them.
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HERBAL MEDICINE
Raw garlic was routinely given to asthmatics and to those suffering with bronchial-pulmonary complaints. Onions helped against problems of the digestive system. Coriander, C. Sativum, was considered to have cooling, stimulant, carminative and digestive properties. Cumin, Cumin cyminum, is an umbelliferous herb indigenous to Egypt. The seeds were considered to be a stimulant and effective against flatulence.
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HERBAL MEDICINE
Leaves from many plants, such as willow, sycamore, acacia or the ym-tree, were used in poultices. Tannic Acid derived from acacia seeds commonly helped for cooling the vessels and heal burns. Castor oil, and dates, were used as laxatives. Tape worms, the snakes in the belly, were dealt with by an infusion of pomegranate root in water, which was strained and drunk. The alkaloids contained in it paralyzed the worms' nervous system, and they relinquished their hold.
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HERBAL MEDICINE
Ulcers were treated with yeast, as were stomach ailments. Honey and grease formed part of many wound treatments, mother's milk was occasionally given against viral diseases like the common cold, fresh meat laid on open wounds and sprains, and animal dung was thought to be effective at times. Malachite used as an eye-liner also had therapeutic value. In a country where eye infections were endemic, the effects of its germicidal qualities were appreciated even if the reasons for its effectiveness were not understood .
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SURGERY
First surgeons in history First circumcision scene-shown carved on the wall of 6th Dynasty painting.
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SURGERY
The knives used had stone blades. Flint or obsidian have edges sharper than modern surgical steel. When metal instruments were finally used to any extent, the act of cauterizing accompanied it. In some procedures, the blade was heated until it glowed red, and then used to make incisions. It cut as well as sealed up the blood vessels, limiting bleeding
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SURGERY
Trepanation, practiced in many early cultures for a number of reasons, is not mentioned in any of the medical papyri, but seems to have been performed occasionally using mallet and chisel. Just 14 skulls, some healed or partially healed, have been found. Limb amputations were also performed.
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DENTISTRY
As their diet included much abrasive material (sand and small stone particles from grinding the corn) the teeth of elderly ancient Egyptians were often in a very poor state. Mutnodjmed, pharaoh Horemheb's second wife and sister of Nefertiti, had lost all her teeth when she died in her forties. The Ebers Papyrus lists a number of remedies dealing with teeth, though the complaint at times is a bit obscure.
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DENTISTRY
Head of the mummy of Amenhotep III. He had lost some of his front teeth due to alveolar abscesses of which he was still suffering at the time of his death. (The matter filling the mouth cavity is resin used during mummification)
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DENTISTRY The profession of dental physician seems to have existed since the early third millennium: Hesi-re is the first known Doctor of the Tooth.
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DENTISTRY
There were also remedies for strengthening a tooth, for expelling aches from the mouth, and for treating the blood eater - whatever that was. Swollen gums were treated with a concoction of cumin, incense and onion. Opium, the toxicity of which was well known, might be given against severe pain. At times holes were drilled into the jawbone in order to drain abscesses. But extraction of teeth, which might have saved the lives of many a patient, was rarely if ever practised.
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Prosthesis worn by the owner while still alive, 3rd Intermediate Period
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MEDICAL/SURGICAL KIT
1) knives; (2) drill; (3) saw; (4) forceps or pincers; (5) censer; (6) hooks; (7) bags tied with string; (8, 10) beaked vessel; (11) vase with burning incense; (12) Horus eyes; (13) scales; (14) pot with flowers of Upper and Lower Egypt; (15) pot on pedestal; (16) graduated cubit or papyrus scroll without side knot (or a case holding reed scalpels); (17) shears; (18) spoons.
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MEDICAL/SURGICAL KIT
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Mummification
Autopsies of mummies
Dissection of animals
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THE DISEASES
Everyday complaints like stomach upsets, bowel trouble and headaches went probably mostly untreated, even if the physicians could offer remedies: For the evacuation of the belly: Cow's milk, 1; .grains, 1; honey 1; mash, sift, cook; take in four portions. To remedy the bowels: Melilot 1; dates, 1; cook in oil; anoint sick part. To refresh an aching head: Flour, 1; incense, 1; wood of wa, 1; waneb plant, 1; mint (?), 1; horn of a stag, 1; sycamore (?) seeds, 1; seeds of [ (?)], 1; mason's plaster (?), 1; seeds of zart, 1; water, 1; mash, apply to the head.
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THE DISEASES
The common cold plagued the ancient Egyptians as it still does us today, and their remedy, the milk of a mother who has given birth to a boy, was probably as effective as anything we have got today. Moreover they had a tried and true spell to go with it. May you flow out, catarrh, son of catarrh, who breaks the bones, who destroys the skull, who hacks in the marrow, who causes the seven openings in the head to ache. (Ebers papyrus)
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THE DISEASES
Bilharziasis (schistosomiasis) - a disease difficult not to contract in a country flooded for months every year - a common cause of anaemia, female infertility, a debilitating loss of resistance to other diseases and subsequent death. The Ebers Papyrus addresses some of the symptoms of the disease and in two columns discusses treatment and prevention of bleeding in the urinal tract (haematuria). The Hearst Papyrus cites antimony disulfide as a remedy.
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THE DISEASES
Insect borne diseases like malaria and trachoma, an eye disease, were endemic; plagues spread along the trade routes. The following charm has been interpreted as referring to the plague, as one of its symptoms is a dark discoloration of the skin: Spell for the disease of the Asiatics: Who is allknowing like Re? Who is thus all-knowing? This god who blackens the body with char-coal? May this Highest God be seized! (Hearst papyrus)
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THE DISEASES
Infectious diseases were rampant in the relatively densely populated Nile valley, where practically the whole population lived within a narrow strip of land along the river, which at times was only a few hundred metres wide, and their incidence was dependent to some degree on the seasons. Smallpox, diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid, jaundice and relapsing fever were responsible for many deaths, above all during spring and summer.
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THE DISEASES
Trichinae afflicted the pigs, parasitic worms and tuberculosis the cattle and were occasionally passed on to the human population. Human tuberculosis was widespread; Leprosy on the other hand, caused by bacteria similar to the tubercle bacillus, is badly documented and was apparently relatively rare.
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THE DISEASES
THE DISEASES
Silicosis of the lungs, the result of breathing in airborne sand particles, is documented and was a frequent cause of death, as was pneumonia. The various kinds of malignant tumors were almost as frequent then as they are nowadays in comparable age and gender groups. Eye infections were at least in part prevented by the application of bactericidal eye paint. Prescription for the eye, to be used for all diseases which occur in this organ: Human brain, divide into its two halves, mix one half with honey, smear on the eye in the evening, dry the other half, mash, sift, smear on the eye in the morning. (Ebers papyrus)
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THE DISEASES
The hard physical toil, often repetitive, caused great harm to the bones and joints of the labourers after only a few years of being subjected to it. Those who survived into old age were victims of the same infirmities that still plague the aged like cardio-vascular diseases, arthritis, from which Ramses-II suffered, and probably dementia. Congenital diseases were not infrequent and often brought about early death as the burials of infants bear out. Their causes may have been environmental, nutritional or social. the occurrence of a sixth finger or toe in mummies, interpreted by some as the result of inbreeding, has been noted a number of times, as has the high incidence of spina bifida occulta in the Bahariye Oasis during Graeco-Roman times.
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THE DISEASES
Open wounds were often treated with honey, but sepsis was one of the commonest causes of death. When lockjaw set in due to a tetanus infection, physicians knew they were powerless against this affliction: Thou shouldst say regarding him: "One having a gaping wound in his head penetrating to the bone, perforating the sutures of his skull; he has developed ty, his mouth is bound, (and) he suffers with stiffness in his neck. An ailment not to be treated. (Edwin Smith Papyrus)
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THE DISEASES
In a First Intermediate Period cemetery at Abydos the skeleton of a child has been discovered which had suffered from osteoporosis. Little is known about pregnancy and childbirth in ancient Egypt, and on the basis of a few literary hints one surmises that, unless there were extraordinary problems, physicians were not involved. There was a store of knowledge concerning women, as is reflected in the Kahun Gynaecological papyrus, the Greater Berlin Papyrus and others, which dealt with urinary problems, pains in the abdomen, legs and genitals, fertility and conception.
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THE DISEASES
Poliomyelitis or polio
THE DISEASES
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