![]() Other examples of specific uses of plants for particular illnesses and physical problems were: Extracts of plants were used as purgatives and tannins from plants were used for the treatment of burns. Plant materials included tree resins such as frankincense, myrrh, and manna. Minerals such as antimony and copper were used as astringents or antiseptics. Animal products included animal fats such as fat from the hippopotamus, as well as ox spleen, pig’s brain and tortoise gall (with honey). They made medicines from animals, minerals, and plants. Many people would keep a statue of Bes near the front door to keep demons from entering the household.Įgyptian physicians were best known for their creation and dispensation of medicines. Bes also drove away mischievous beings that caused minor problems like falling down or getting sick from bad food. These demons, they feared, would put a curse on the child or mother. Bes, for example, was a popular household god throughout Egypt who served to protect women from demons during childbirth. People prayed to gods, also, to scare away demons. For example, people prayed and made offerings to Sekhmet, the goddess of healing. Some healers in Ancient Egypt appealed to religion for their treatments. Physicians observed the course and theorized about the causes of specific diseases. It is they which give fluid and air to it.ĭiagnoses were made through careful observation, involving touching, seeing, and smelling the patient and taking a pulse. There are four vessels to the lung and to the spleen. There are four vessels to the liver it is they which give it fluid and air, which afterwards cause all diseases to arise in it by overfilling with blood. The breath of life enters into the right ear, and the breath of death enters into the left ear. There are four vessels in his nostrils, two give mucus and two give blood. If a doctor, priest of Sekhmet, or magician, places his hand of fingers on the back of the head, hands, stomach, arms of feet, then he hears the heart. The Elbers Papyrus (1500 BC) offers an idea of how the tube network was theorized by the Egyptians:įorty-six vessels go from the heart to every limb. In the medical texts the physician often started by specifying the contents that a particular tube was carrying, such as blood, air, mucus, urine, semen, water, feces and good or evil spirits. The tubes ran between the heart and the anus and then went to various parts of the body. Also, insects and parasites from the Nile River led to infections and lifelong illnesses.Įgyptians viewed the body as consisting of a network of tubes, including blood vessels, ducts, nerves, tendons, and muscles. Sand blown by the wind caused lung and breathing diseases as well as dental problems arising from eating sand in the food. ![]() Many diseases in Ancient Egypt originated from the environmental conditions. The ancient remains also show different therapeutic procedures. One can find in ancient papyruses, such as (e.g., Edwin Smith papyrus (2800 BC) descriptions of diseases such as arthritis, tuberculosis, and urinary stones. The first medical school opened there in the first dynasty, and many others followed.Įgyptian medical practices have been determined through study of hieroglyphic material, pictures in tombs, and body remains, especially from mummies. The Egyptians had an elaborate health care system. ![]() Medicine and disease in Ancient EgyptĪncient Egypt was one of the largest and most advanced centers of health and healing in the ancient world. Egyptian medicine, art, architecture, social structure and customs that existed at the time of Menes’s remained relatively stable over the next 3000 years and through its 31 dynasties each with several kingships. Around 3150 its first king Menes unified two separate states, upper and lower Egypt. In its earliest days, a kingship developed that was to be the means of governmental for its next 3000 years. The beginnings of ancient Egypt recorded is dated to be around the same time as that of Mesopotamia-3500 BC. Ancient Egypt - 3500 BC to 100 BC Overview ![]()
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