Medicine in Ancient Egypt

[guy]

Our knowledge of ancient Egyptian medicine is enriched by archaeological finds and three ancient Egyptian manuscripts:

The Ebers papyrus

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebers_Papyrus

The EdwIn Smith papyrus

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2989268/

The Brooklyn papyrus (It was named after the museum in New York holding the manuscript. The manuscript Is a handbook on snakes and treatment of snakebites.)

https://uir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/26760

Interestingly, recent archaeological studies of the Amenhotep I mummy showed that he was circumcised.
 

Quote

 

“Although ancient Egyptian medical texts and wall scribing imply the idea that Egyptians executed complicated medical operations, archeological excavations show a different story.”

  “Not many surgical tools were found during archeological removals, and so far, only one portrayal of surgical medical procedure was found — depicting male circumcision. There was no evidence of considerable surgeries in any of the 30,000 mummies inspected, so the general idea of ancient Egyptians executing complex medical procedures is false. Archeologists did find some traces of amputations, healed fractures and treated wounds, but Egyptians spared most of their surgical magic for the dead. 

Their view of the body was holistic, meaning they believed people have bodies and souls. As a consequence, there were different practitioners who took care of people's health: magicians, priests, and swnw, also known as natural healers. The latter most resembled modern-day doctors, using herbal medicine and — in some cases — even basic operations. They used some extreme measures for healing diseases, such as larvae and dung therapy, but more often they treated patients with herbs and other substances. Many of these substances are proven to contain healing properties, which shows that Egyptians knew more about pharmaceuticals then surgeries. Here are medical procedures that existed in Ancient Egypt explained.”       

 

https://www.grunge.com/719206/medical-procedures-that-existed-in-ancient-egypt/

I will need to do further research on this article. I find it hard to believe, however, that ancient Egyptians lacked even rudimentary surgical skills as suggested by the article. 
 

Herophilus (335-280 BCE) and his younger student Erasistratus (305-250 BCE) were famous for their human dissections (and possible vivisections) in Alexandria, Egypt.
 

https://www.bibalex.org/SCIplanet/en/Article/Details.aspx?id=10296

Edited January 28 by guy