Ancient Egyptian Medicine

In Sickness and in Health: Preventative and Curative Health Care

If one had to be ill in ancient times, the best place to do so

would probably have been Egypt. Not that an Egyptian's chances
of survival would have been significantly better than those of his
foreign contemporaries, but at least he he had the satisfaction of
being treated by physicians whose art was renowned all over the
ancient world.
Unlike the injuries caused by accidents or fighting, which were
dealt with by the zwn.w (sunu), or scorpion stings and snake
[37]

bites for which the xrp srqt (kherep serqet) , the exorcist
[37]

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.
Montemhet, 4th prophet of Amen, put his faith in the god he served:
I bow down to your (i.e. Amen's) name
May it be my physician,
May it drive pain away from me.
Statue inscription of Montemhet, Third Intermediate Period
M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume III, p.30
Preventive measures included prayers and various kinds of magic, above all
the wearing of amulets. The importance of the diet was partially recognized , [30]

and the natural human craving for diversity and rich well-irrigated soil resulted
in a diet which was mostly reasonably balanced: carbohydrates from cereals,
vitamins from fruit and vegetables, and proteins mostly from fish. Milk and
milk products were just occasionally consumed, as were legumes, seeds and
oil.

The healers and their art

The Egyptian priest-physician, wab sxmt (wab sekhmet) , had a number of [37]

important functions. First, to discover the nature of the particular entity

possessing the person and then attack, drive it out, or otherwise destroy it. This
was done by some powerful magic for which rituals, spells, incantations,
talismans and amulets were used. Sekhmet priests seem also to have been
involved in the prevention of plagues, inspection of sacrificial animals and
even veterinary medicine. Other healers like the zwn.w (sunu) and the zA.w [52]

(sau) seem to have had recourse to the same methods and scriptures as
[53]

the wab.
 The role deities and their servants played in the healing process is described
in the apocryphal story of Bentresh, a daughter of the chief of Bekhten, who
fell ill, and Ramses II sent her Thutemhab, a scribe experienced in his heart,
who can write with his finger. After Thutemhab had seen the princess and
concluded that she was possessed of a spirit, he returned to Egypt, and
Khonsu-in-Thebes-Beautiful-Rest agreed that Khonsu-the-Plan-maker, the
[51]

great god, smiting the evil spirits should be sent to Bekhten:

This god arrived in Bekhten in a full year and five months. Then the chief of
Bekhten came, with his soldiers and his nobles, before Khonsu-the-Plan-
Maker. He threw himself upon his belly, saying: "Thou comest to us, thou art
welcome with us, by command of the King Usermare-Setepnere (Ramses II)."
Then this god went to the place where Bentresh was. Then he wrought the
protection of the daughter of the chief of Bekhten. She became well
immediately.
Tale written down in the late first millennium BCE
James Henry Breasted Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Three, 433ff.
Physical medicines such as herbs were mostly expected to assuage the pain
only, while magic effected the cure. A section in the Papyrus Ebers is about [6]

charms and invocations used to encourage healing. One spell, recited before
taking an herbal remedy, reads as follows: "Come Remedy! Come thou who
expellest (evil) things in this my stomach and in these my limbs!" The wording
of these spells is often followed by a recommendation, such as: "Truly
excellent. Millions of times."
Not all of Egyptian medicine was based on wishful thinking (moreover we [8]

should never disregard the effect faith can have on our health), much was the
result of experimentation and observation, and physical means supplemented
the magical ones:
Magic is effective together with medicine. Medicine is effective together with
magic.
From the Ebers papyrus [19]

Apart from spiritual healing and herbal medicine, they practised massage
Examination of a woman aching in her legs and her calves after walking
You should say of it 'it is discharges of the womb'.
You should treat it with a massage of her legs and calves with mud until she is
well
Kahun Medical Papyrus [22]
and manipulation and made extensive use of therapeutic herbs and foods, but
surgery was only rarely part of their treatments. According to Herodotus there
was a high degree of specialization among physicians : [54]

The practice of medicine is very specialized among them. Each physician

treats just one disease. The country is full of physicians, some treat the eye,
some the teeth, some of what belongs to the abdomen, and others internal
diseases.
Herodotus, Histories 2,84
Nothing certain is known about the way physicians acquired their medical
knowledge, but one surmises that after (or in parallel to) their formation as
scribes they were apprenticed to practising healers. It has also been suggested
that the Houses of Life, associated with Sekhmet, were teaching centres for
physicians. When Harsiese, the fictional physician in the prologue to
[79][80]

the Instruction of Ankhsheshonq was called to the royal court he underwent

some quizzing by the king himself and then became a member of the medical
team looking after the pharaoh:
Pharaoh asked him many [things] and he answered them all. ////// of the chief
physician; and the chief physician did nothing without consulting Harsiese son
of Ramose about it. A few days later it happened that the chief physician went
to his fathers (i.e. died) Harsiese son of Ramose was made chief physician,
and he was given everything that belonged to the chief physician entirely...
The Instruction of Ankhsheshonq
M. Lichtheim: Ancient Egyptian Literature Vol. 3, p.161
Like all scribal professions medicine was a domain dominated by men. But
occasionally women succeeded not just in acquiring medical knowledge but
also in climbing to the top of the scribal hierarchy. An Old Kingdom female
physician named Peseshet left a stela which recorded her positions of Overseer
of Funerary Priestesses and of Overseer of Female Physicians . [45]

Many of the poorer Egyptians probably had little contact with real
physicians and called for the local medic, a workman like Paheripedjet at Deir
el Medina who was frequently excused from his normal duties to attend to the
sick. He seems to have had some medical knowledge, knew how to prepare
medicines and made home visits.

The medical knowledge

A few papyri have survived, from which we can learn about Egyptian
medicine:
The Edwin Smith Papyrus describing surgical diagnosis and treatments,
the Ebers Papyrus on ophthalmology, diseases of the digestive system,
the head, the skin and specific maladies like aAa, which some think may
have been a precursor of aids and others, perhaps more reasonably,
consider to have been a disease of the urinary tract, a compilation of
earlier works that contains a large number of prescriptions and recipes,
the Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus,
the Berlin Medical Papyrus,
the London Medical Papyrus.
the Hearst medical papyrus repeats many of the recipes found in the
Ebers papyrus.
the Demotic Magical Papyrus of London and Leiden contains a number
of spells for treating physical ailments.
 The treatments in these texts are often organized into groups. The Edwin
Smith Papyrus for instance opens with eight texts concerning head wounds,
followed by nineteen treatments of wounds to the face (forehead, eyebrows,
nose, cheeks, temples, mouth, chin), six descriptions of how to deal with
injuries to throat and neck, five dealing with collar-bones and arms, and seven
with chest complaints. It appears that all this knowledge dates to the third
millennium BCE, even though the papyrus itself is of a much later date. Some
important notions concerning the nervous system originated with the
Egyptians, a word for brain is used here for the first time in any written
language:
... the membrane enveloping his brain, so that it breaks open his fluid in the
interior of his head.
The Edwin Smith papyrus, case 6
Acting conservatively, they knew how to treat injuries to the brain without
killing the patient, but on the whole their understanding of the brain and its
functions was superficial: they considered thinking to be a function of the
heart.

Their dissection of bodies during mummification seems not to have added

greatly to their knowledge of the inner workings of the human body, possibly
because mummifiers and physicians did not move in the same circles, but also
because of the way the organs were removed: ripped out through a small
incision in the corpse's flank or, in the case of the brain, scooped out in small
portions through a nostril. They had some anatomical knowledge though, had
made the connection between pulse and heart, but did not have any
understanding of the circulation of the blood

Now if the priests of Sekhmet or any physician put his hands (or) his fingers
[29]

upon the head , upon the back of the head upon the two hands , upon the
pulse , upon the two feet , he measures (h't ) the heart , because its vessels are
in the back of the head and in the pulse ; and because its pulsation is in every
vessel of every member.
The Edwin Smith papyrus, case 1

This knowledge reached Greece through the doctors of Alexandria. The

anatomical properties they were best aware of were superficial, pertaining to
accessible body parts such as bones of limbs or the infants' fontanelles
fluttering under the fingers like the weak place of an infant's crown before it
becomes whole
The Edwin Smith papyrus, case 6
Often we cannot translate the specialist expressions used in the medical
texts, both of the affected body parts such as the mt.w, generally translated as
"vessels" or the like and apparently comprising blood vessels, sinews and
nerves, and the ingredients of their medicines. Sometimes their knowledge was
either not very exact or unfortunately expressed. One will wonder for a few
moments underneath what the bronchi were to be found:
"A dislocation in his two collar-bones" means a displacement of the heads of
his sickle-bone(s). Their heads are attached to the upper bone of his breast to
his throat, over which is the flesh of his gorge, that is the flesh that is over his
bosom. Two ducts (i.e. the bronchi) are under it: one on the right and (one) on
the left of his throat (and) of his bosom; they lead to his lungs.
The Edwin Smith papyrus, case 34
That this theoretical knowledge was often successfully applied is proven by
archaeological finds in the workers' tombs at Gizeh for instance. Skeletons
with broken arms that had been set, a man who had survived the amputation of
a leg by fourteen years and another brain surgery by two years.

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.

To renew bowel movements in a constipated child:

An old book, boil in oil, apply half on the belly to reestablish evacuation.
Ebers Papyrus
G. Maspero, Etudes de mythologie et d'achologie gyptiennes III, 1898, pp.289f.
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
[26]

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
While some Egyptians lived to a ripe old age like Ramses II or Psamtik I's
daughter Nitocris who reigned as God's Wife for more than sixty years, the age
at death was only in a minority of cases above thirty-five years,
with bilharziasis (schistosomiasis) - a disease difficult not to contract in a
country flooded for months every year - a common cause of anaemia, female
[71]

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
[6]

remedy .[17]

Insect borne diseases like malaria and trachoma, an eye disease, were [63]

endemic; plagues spread along the trade routes and a number of yadet renpet
(jAd.t rnp.t) epidemics reported in Egyptian documents are thought by some to
have been outbreaks of bubonic plague . The following charm has been [32]

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 all-knowing like Re? Who is thus
all-knowing? This god who blackens the body with char-coal? May this
Highest God be seized!
pHearst 11,12
After a German translation in Jrgen Kraus, Die Demographie des Alten gypten, Gttingen 2004, p.187
Mosquitoes also spread filarial worms which caused the
disfiguring elephantiasis . This disease was not very prevalent but caused
[43]

immense suffering to its victims.

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
[13] [76]

fever were responsible for many deaths, above all during spring and summer.
The ubiquity of water during the inundation brought with it a different set of
ailments, chief among them probably malaria, which were the main cause for
mortality in late autumn; while the cooler weather of autumn and winter seems
to have favoured the outbreak of respiratory illnesses. [75]

A child's vertebra showing signs of tubercular infection

Source: V.Easy

Trichinae afflicted the pigs , [69]

parasitic worms and tuberculosis the cattle and

[69]

were occasionally passed on to the human population.

Human tuberculosis was widespread; Leprosy on
[1] [34]

the other hand, caused by bacteria similar to the

tubercle bacillus, is badly documented and was [66]

apparently relatively rare, possibly because of an immunity TB sufferers

acquired. Some think that leprosy originated in Egypt and spread to the Levant
and Europe along the migration and trade routes, others contend that there is
no proof of its existence in ancient times.
Silicosis of the lungs, the result of breathing in airborne sand particles, is
documented and was a frequent cause of death, as was pneumonia .
[67] [68]

The various kinds of malignant tumors were almost as frequent then as

they are nowadays in comparable age and gender groups.
Eye infections are a common complaint in Africa. In ancient Egypt they
were at least in part prevented by the application of bactericidal eye paint. The
ingredients of some of the remedies may not have been as difficult to come by
in a civilisation, where the brain of the dead was removed in little bits from the
skull during mummification and discarded, as it would be in a modern western
country:
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
G. Maspero, Etudes de mythologie et d'achologie gyptiennes III, 1898, p.290.
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
[74][38] [3]

suffered, and probably dementia. [70]

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. Inbreeding, not infrequent among the royals, was
probably also not rare among the common people largely bound to the soil: 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; but there is no evidence that the union of healthy close relatives would
[77]

result in defective offspring in populations which are not isolated.

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."
The Edwin Smith papyrus, case 7

Instances of diseases, which are rare today, were also found: in a First
Intermediate Period cemetery at Abydos the skeleton of a child has been
discovered which had suffered from osteopetrosis. [28]

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.

Dietary deficiencies
A restricted diet caused or aggravated a number of ailments, some with fatal
outcome . There were times when malnutrition was widespread. Prehistoric
[35]

dental records suggest that health was poor during much of that period, and
improved with the increasing adoption of agriculture; but even in historic
[55]

times when the supply of food was generally assured, the growth of the
population was often stunted. Grown males reached a height of about 1.60 m
and females 10 cm less during the early Middle Kingdom . Remains of 400 [40]

paupers buried at Giza during the first millennium BCE and discovered by
Mark Lehner's AERA, show signs of malnutrition. there being a high
incidence of haematological disorders present in the [bone] material,
suggesting a sub-standard diet for this population. Bad nutrition caused many
[78]

other diseases as well. Because of vitamin and other deficiencies , dental [2]

abrasion, and bad mouth hygiene, caries and abscesses were the lot of many
ancient Egyptians. [61]

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. Cloves of
garlic have been found in Egyptian burial sites, including the tomb of
Tutankhamen and in the sacred underground temple of the bulls at Saqqara.
Many herbs were steeped in wine, which was then drunk as an oral medicine. [65]

Egyptians thought garlic and onions aided endurance, and consumed large
quantities of them. Raw garlic was routinely given to asthmatics and to those
suffering with bronchial-pulmonary complaints. Onions helped against
problems of the digestive system. (e.g. pEbers 192 ) [56]

Garlic was an important healing agent then just as it still is to the modern
Egyptian and to most of the peoples in the Mediterranean area: Fresh cloves
are peeled, mashed and macerated in a mixture of vinegar and water. This can
be used to gargle and rinse the mouth, or taken internally to treat sore throats
and toothache. Another way to take garlic both for prevention as well as
treatment is to macerate several cloves of mashed garlic in olive oil. Applied as
an external liniment or taken internally it is beneficial for bronchial and lung
complaints including colds. A freshly peeled clove of raw garlic wrapped in
muslin or cheesecloth and pinned to the undergarment is hoped to protect
against infectious diseases such as colds and influenza.
Coriander, C. Sativum (e.g. pHearst 102, 124 ) was considered to have
[57]

cooling, stimulant, carminative and digestive properties. Both the seeds and
the plant were used as a spice in cooking to prevent and eliminate flatulence,
they were also taken as a tea for stomach and all kinds of urinary complaints
including cystitis. Coriander leaves were commonly added fresh to spicy foods
to moderate their irritating effects. It was one of the herbs offered to the gods
by the king, and seeds were found in the tomb of Tutankhamen and in other
ancient burial sites.
Cumin, Cumin cyminum (e.g. pHearst 28, 55, 125 ) is an umbelliferous
[57]

herb indigenous to Egypt. The seeds were considered to be a stimulant and

effective against flatulence. They were often used together with coriander for
flavouring. Cumin powder mixed with some wheat flour as a binder and a little
water was applied to relieve the pain of any aching or arthritic joints.
Powdered cumin mixed with grease or lard was inserted as an anal suppository
to disperse heat from the anus and stop itching.
Leaves from many plants, such as willow, sycamore, acacia (e.g. pEbers
105, 415 ) or the ym-tree, were used in poultices and the like (e.g. pSmith
[56]

46 ). Tannic Acid derived from acacia seeds commonly helped for cooling
[20]

the vessels (e.g. pHearst 95, 249) and heal burns. Castor oil, (e.g. pEbers 25
and 251 ) figs (e.g. pEbers 41 ) and dates, were used as laxatives.
[56] [56]

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. Ulcers were treated with yeast, as were stomach ailments.

Some of the medicines were made from plant materials imported from
abroad. Mandrake (e.g. pHearst 109, 168, 185 ), introduced from Canaan and
[57]

grown locally since the New Kingdom, was thought to be an aphrodisiac and,
mixed with alcohol, induced unconsciousness. Cedar oil, an
antiseptic, originated in the Levant. The Persian henna was grown in Egypt
[31]

since the Middle Kingdom, and - if identical with henu mentioned in the Ebers
Papyrus - was used against hair loss. They treated catarrh with aloe which
came from eastern Africa. Frankincense , containing tetrahydrocannabinol
and used like hashish as pain killer (e.g. pKahun 12 ), was imported from
[49] [58]

Punt.

Minerals and animal products were used too. Honey and grease formed
[31]

part of many wound treatments, mother's milk was occasionally given

[20] [59]

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 . [20]

A cosmetics jar at the Cairo Museum bears the legend: "Eye lotion to be
dispersed, good for eyesight." An Egyptian papyrus from 1500 BCE discusses
recipes for treating conjunctivitis and cornea, iris, and eyelid problems. Lead-
based chemicals like carbonates and acetates were popular for their therapeutic
properties . [12]

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 . [33]

Surgery
At Saqqara there is the tomb of Ankh-Mahor, known as The Tomb of the
Physician. In one of the wall pictures two men are having their extremities
treated variously explained as manicure, massage or surgery. In the
accompanying text the patient implores the physician: Do not let it be painful.
The answer was ironical: I do (it) so you will praise it, (O) king! perhaps not in
the best Egyptian bedside manner.
At any rate, people at least occasionally survived surgery. Bodies of
amputees from as early as the Old and Middle Kingdoms have been found
which display signs of healing. Prostheses which show signs of wear, have
also been discovered. The reasons for these amputations are unknown and
none of the surviving medical texts mention the possibility of, let alone
reasons for amputation as a therapeutic treatment. [64]

Another picture shows

what looks like the
performance of a
circumcision of
adolescents (the only [21]

instance of a depiction of
this procedure) with the
hieroglyphs saying The
ointment is used to make it
acceptable, which has been
interpreted as meaning that
a local anaesthetic was
being used, though this reading is, as happens often in such inscriptions,
doubtful. Poppies (Spn) are occasionally mentioned in Egyptian medical
[36]

literature. The physicians must have had a pretty good idea of their properties.
It is difficult to estimate how pervasive the practice of circumcision was.
The remains of mummies are of little help and literary evidence is scarce.
During the New Kingdom both Merneptah and Ramses III had their slain
enemies emasculated and their genitals collected. The lack of circumcision
among the Libyans and their allies is repeatedly mentioned:

.... Libyans slain whose uncircumcised phalli were carried off: 6,359
as opposed to the
.... [Ek]wesh who had no foreskins, slain, whose hands were carried off, (for)
they had no [foreskins] ......
and again enemies of unknown origin
.... in heaps, whose uncircumcised phalli were carried off to the place where
the king was: 6,111 men ....
James Henry Breasted Ancient Records of Egypt Part Three, 588
The fact that they collected uncircumcised genitals as trophies may indicate
that this was unusual in their eyes.
Boys destined for priesthood were circumcised as part of the initial ritual
cleansing, which also included the shaving of the whole body. The practice of
circumcision became more universal during the Late Period, perhaps as part of
a rite of passage.
... the Colchians, Egyptians, and Ethiopians alone of all the races of men have
practised circumcision from the first. The Phoenicians and the Syrians who
dwell in Palestine confess themselves that they have learnt it from the
Egyptians, and the Syrians about the river Thermodon and the river
Parthenios, and the Macronians, who are their neighbors, say that they have
learnt it lately from the Colchians. These are the only races of men who
practise circumcision, and these evidently practise it in the same manner as
the Egyptians. Of the Egyptians themselves however and the Ethiopians, I am
not able to say which learnt from the other, for undoubtedly it is a most ancient
custom; but that the other nations learnt it by intercourse with the Egyptians,
this among others is to me a strong proof, namely that those of the
Phoenicians who have intercourse with Hellas cease to follow the example of
the Egyptians in this matter, and do not circumcise their children.
Herodotus Histories II
Female 'circumcision', a barbarity to this day even more common in
countries of equatorial East Africa than it is in Egypt, may have been practised
occasionally , though many think that the only textual reference is really non-
[14][23]

existent, the translation of the following passage being wrong and no mention
of women being made:
... I was circumcised, together with one hundred and twenty men, and one
hundred and twenty women ...
The Offering of Uha
c. 2400 BCE
The knives used had stone blades. Flint
or obsidian have edges sharper than
modern surgical steel. It is small wonder
that physicians would hesitate to replace
sharp flint blades with comparatively dull
metal ones, made first of bronze and later
of iron. 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 .
[10]

In the temple of Sobek there are reliefs

of medical instruments: bone saws, suction
cups, knives and scalpels, retractors, scales, lances, chisels and dental tools.
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.
[18]
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.
Upper jaw of Tao II Seqenenre.
The teeth are heavily worn, but healthy and tartar free
G. Elliot Smith, plate III

Caries and the destruction of the enamel

caused the loss of teeth at an early age and
often killed as well. Mutnodjmed, pharaoh
Horemheb's second wife and sister of
Nefertiti, had lost all her teeth when she died
in her forties. Djedmaatesankh, a Theban
musician who lived around 850 BCE
suffered from 13 abscesses, extensive dental
disease and a huge infected cyst, which probably killed her aged about 35 . [4]

On the other hand, if there was no abrasion due to lucky circumstances, a

person of the people would have a minimal incidence of caries and thus a
perfect set of teeth, thanks to the paucity of sugar in the diet of the ancient
[61][73]

Egyptians. The well-to-do, whose food was more refined, seem to have
suffered more from caries than the poor. During Roman times the incidence of
caries appears to have grown among the population at large, possibly due to an
increased consumption of sweeteners, but the level of tooth wear decreased,
perhaps thanks to better sieving. [77]

The Ebers Papyrus lists a number of remedies dealing with teeth, though the
complaint at times is a bit obscure.
Another remedy for treating an itching tooth until the opening of the flesh:
cumin, 1 part; resin of incense, 1 part; DAr.t-fruit, 1 part; crush and apply to
the tooth.
Ebers no. 742
After Jean-Claude Schwarz, La mdecine dentaire dans l'gypte pharaonique, Bulletin de la Socit d'gyptologie, Genve 2 (Novembre
1979)
Caries was rare during the predynastic and
became prevalent among upper class Egyptians as
early as the Old Kingdom. By the end of pharaonic
Egypt it was a disease which affected all social
strata. It was referred to as a worm gnawing a
[72]

tooth which is at least comprehensible to us, and it

has been suggested that they were sometimes
treated by fillings made of resin and chrysocolla, a
greenish mineral containing copper. There were
also remedies for strengthening a tooth,
for expelling aches from the mouth, and for treating
the blood eater - whatever that was. [60]

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)
G. Elliot Smith, plate XXXV

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. For most of ancient Egyptian history there was
little or no effective dental treatment available and sufferers mostly could [62]

only hope that the maxim in The Instruction of Ankhsheshonq: "There is no

tooth that rots yet stays in place" would come [39]

true speedily.
A few examples of restorative dentistry are
known. One mummy had three substitute teeth
skillfully tied to the abutment teeth with fine gold
wire, but it has been suggested that this was done
post-mortem.

The profession of dental physician seems to have existed since the early
third millennium: Hesi-re is the first known Doctor of the Tooth. But apart
from this and a few other, less famous, Old Kingdom instances, dentistry as a
medical specialty is rarely if at all mentioned until the Graeco-Roman Period.

Prostheses and cosmetics

Prosthesis worn by the owner while still alive,
3rd Intermediate Period;
Source: Jon Bodsworth

Prostheses were generally of a

cosmetic character, such as an artificial
toe made of cartonnage at the British
Museum, or added as a preparation for
afterlife such as a forearm on a mummy in Arlington Museum (England) and
an artificial penis and feet on another mummy in the Manchester Museum . A
wooden big toe prosthesis has also been found which must have improved [24]

the walking capabilities of its wearer, a fifty to sixty year old woman, after her
big toe had been amputated, possibly because of gangrene . A glass eye with a [27]

white eyeball and a black pupil, but lacking an iris, was probably inserted into
the empty eye socket of a mummy rather than used by a
living person . [42]

Cosmetic prosthesis, the toenail inlay has been lost;

Source: British Museum
 Physicians performed other cosmetic tasks as well. Apart from prescribing
lotions, salves and unguents for skin care, they also produced remedies against
the loss of hair and graying, which was combatted by an ointment made with
blood from the horn of a black bull. Hair loss was hoped to be stopped by a
mixture of honey and fats from crocodiles, lions, hippos, cats, snakes, and
ibex.

The role of Egyptian medicine in history

Egyptian physicians were much sought after in the Ancient World, despite
the fact that possibly but little was added to the canon of knowledge after the
First Intermediate Period (about 2000 BCE). Ramses II sent physicians to the
king of Hatti and many rulers, the Persian Achaemenids among them, had [16]

Egyptian doctors in attendance.

Their treatments were based on examination, followed by diagnosis.
Descriptions of the examination - the most exacting part of a physician's job -
are lengthier than both the diagnosis or the recommended treatment (cf.
the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus).
Another remedy: When you see a man in whose neck is mucilaginous matter
and he suffers from the joint of his neck, he suffers from his head and the
vertebrae of his neck are stiff, his neck is heavy. it is impossible to look at his
belly or very difficult.

Then you shall say: someone having mucilaginous matter in his neck.

Then you shall cause him to anoint himself and to apply ointment, so that he
will improve at once.
pEbers 294 (51,15ff)
after a German translation by Dr. Peter Brgger
The pots containing medicines were (at least occasionally) labeled, stating
the remedy's composition and how to use it. A certain little pink pot bears the

following hieratic inscription:

which, read from right to left, means:
Saw dust, acacia leaves, galena, goose fat. Bandage with it.
After Serge Sauneron: Une recette gyptienne de collyre, BIFAO 57 (1958), p.158
The label does not mention the body part to which the salve is to be applied,
but acacia tree products and galena were frequently used to treat eye
complaints.

Treatment was conservative: if no remedy was known then only such steps
were to be taken which would not endanger the patient. Some head wounds for
instance, considered as an ailment not to be treated might just be anointed
[20]

externally with an unguent forestalling infection or the patient might be tied at

his mooring stakes, until the period of his injury passes by in order to [20]

prevent him from causing further damage to himself.

On the other hand much of the ancient Egyptian pharmacopoeia and many
medical practices were ineffective, if not downright deleterious: e.g. excrement
used in medicines will only in the rarest of cases prove to be wholesome, and
if applied as wound dressing may well cause tetanus poisoning, yet dung
continued to be used in Europe until the Middle Ages. The reliance on magic
and faith may well have retarded the development of more rational views of
the causes of diseases and their cures. On the other hand, the strong belief of
the patient in the divine origins of the cure may well have been a large part in
its effectiveness, and in the absence of anything better often the only support a
physician could give the natural healing processes.
Egyptian theories and practices influenced the Greeks, who furnished many
of the physicians in the Roman Empire, and through them Arab and European
medical thinking for centuries to come . [48]

Picture sources:
[ ] Medicine bottle: Rosicrucian Order website
[ ] A child's vertebra: V. Easy
[ ] Surgical instruments at Kom Ombo: [44]

[ ] Toe prosthesis: Jon Bodsworth

[ ] Big toe prosthesis: British Museum website
[ ] Teeth tied together with wire: [44]

Footnotes:
[1] Andreas G. Nerlich of Munich found through DNA analysis of 26 New Kingdom and Late Period
Thebans that six of them had been infected by tuberculosis belonging to the human rather than the bovine
type. He thinks that up to 50% of the population may have been affected.
[2] Chronic anaemia 30%, osteopenia (vitamin D deficiency) 10%, scurvy (vitamin C) 10% (Nerlich)
[3] Osteoarthritis varied according to the burial places from 2 to 20% (Nerlich)
[4] Royal Ontario Museum: The faces of Djed, a CT-scan of a ROM mummy illuminates a life from
ancient Egypt accessed at http://www.rom.on.ca/programs/activities/egypt/articles/djed.php"
[12] Lead based medicines were banned only in the twentieth century CE because of their toxicity.
[13] There is no real proof for smallpox in ancient Egypt, but the mummy of Ramses V appears to have
smallpox lesions, and if he had contracted it he quite possibly died of the disease.
[14] Some say that no physical evidence for clitoridectomy has been found in female mummies, but there
are also claims to the contrary .
[23]

The female excision was customary in Egypt from the 2nd century BCE. (E. Feucht, op. cit.)
Strabo in his Geography said of the Egyptians: One of the customs most zealously observed among the
Aegyptians is this, that they rear every child that is born, and circumcise the males, and excise the
females, as is also customary among the Jews, who are also Aegyptians in origin, as I have already stated
in my account of them. (Geography, Book XVII, chapter 2, 5) . One should be wary of his testimony: In
[50]

the mainstream Jewish tradition there is no genital mutilation of females, but it was known among the
Ethiopian Jewry.
[16] The best known among these was Udjahorresne, who was the physician of Cambyses and Darius I.
His majesty (i.e. Cambyses) assigned me to the office of chief physician. He made me live at his side as
companion and administrator of the palace.
Statue inscription of Udjahorresne
M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume III, p.37
[18] International colloquium on cranial trepanation in human history: Dr. Richard Sullivan, Department
of Physiology, University College London, London (UK) - The place of trepanation in proto-surgical
practice in ancient Egypt (http://www.trepanation.com/master14.htm - inaccessible at least since January
2003)
[21] Some have suggested that it could be a depiction of a different procedure, such as another purification
ritual, the shaving of the pubic hair. They are right of course, but then it also could be lots of other things,
even an act of paedophilia.
[26] Frankfurter Rundschau: Gtter, Seher und rzte accessed at http://www.fr-
aktuell.de/ressorts/mensch_technik_umwelt/wissenschaft_und_technik/?
sid=b4bd99dbd85e4b5653af0d6f250eae9c&cnt=83295, December 2006
[29] As is also mentioned in the Ebers Papyrus, wab-priests, swnw-physicians or any other healers could
make use of these medical writings.
[30] The demotic Insinger Papyrus mentions a number of problems that might arise because of bad diets
or lifestyles, although its advice was kept very generalized. Excess rather than the deficiency was thought
to be the main issue. The long-term effects of alcohol, for instance, were not recognized and - if
ancient depictions are to be believed - obesity was not widespread.
The life that controls excess is a life according to a wise man's heart.
Vegetables and natron are the best foods that can be found.
Illness befalls a man because the food harms him.
He who eats too much bread will suffer illness.
He who drinks too much wine lies down in a stupor.
All kinds of ailments are in the limbs because of overeating.
He who is moderate in his manner of life, his flesh is not disturbed.
Illness does not burn him who is moderate in food.
Poverty does not take hold of him who controls himself in purchasing.
His belly does not relieve itself in the street because of the food in it.
M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume III, p. 190
[31] Papyrus Insinger contains the following maxim:
Cedar oil, incense, natron, and salt are [small (?)] remedy for healing his wounds.
M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume III, p. 199
[33] Pliny reports in his Natural History:
Cadmia acts as a desiccative, heals wounds, arrests discharges, acts detergently upon webs and foul
incrustations of the eyes, removes eruptions, and produces, in fact, all the good effects which we shall
have occasion to mention when speaking of lead. Copper too, itself, when calcined, is employed for all
these purposes; in addition to which it is used for white spots and cicatrizations upon the eyes. Mixed with
milk, it is curative also of ulcers upon the eyes; for which purpose, the people in Egypt make a kind of eye-
salve by grinding it upon whet stones.
Pliny, Natural History, Book XXXIV, chapter 23 - (eds. John Bostock, H.T. Riley)
[34] Until the last century many people, and physicians among them, considered the climate of Egypt to be
particularly advantageous for the health of TB sufferers. The Roman Pliny the Elder did not share the
opinion that it was being in Egypt which was good for one's health but rather the long voyage there:
There are numerous other medicinal resources derived from the sea; the benefit of a sea-voyage, more
particularly, in cases of phthisis, as already mentioned, and where patients are suffering from
haemoptosis, as lately experienced, in our own memory, by Annaeus Gallio, at the close of his consulship:
for it is not for the purpose of visiting the country, that people so often travel to Egypt, but in order to
secure the beneficial results arising from a long sea-voyage.
Pliny, Natural History, Book XXXI, chapter 33 - (eds. John Bostock, H.T. Riley)
[36] The tentative identification of Spn with poppy (e.g. Beinlich) is disputed by some scholars.
[37] On the transliteration and pronunciation of Ancient Egyptian
[39] M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol.3, p.175
[40] In a cemetery dated to Ramses II some 70 skeletons found by Manfred Bietak's team in the autumn of
2005 were abnormally small, and malnutrition appears to have been the cause. Grown females measured
only around 1.4 metres and males were about 10 cm taller [41]

[42] A. Lucas, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, chapter VII, p.98
[45] The article of P. Ghalioungi (s. below) contains a drawing of the stela and a photo of the relevant part
of the stela.
[48] The recipe symbol of apothecaries, , short for Latin "Recipe" (Take!) is thought by some to have
been derived from the Horus Eye (wadjet): . There is nothing to support this theory but a certain
semblance between the two symbols.
[49] In 1995 Nerlich found traces of the active agent of cannabis and some other plants, of nicotine and of
cocaine in a mummy which showed signs of a lung disease:
In addition, analysis for various drugs revealed a significant deposition of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC),
nicotine and cocaine in several organs of the mummy. The concentration profiles additionally provide
evidence for a preferential inhalation of THC, while nicotine and cocaine containing drugs seem to have
been consumed orally.
Andreas G. Nerlich, Franz Parsche, Irmgard Wiest, Peter Schramel, Udo Lhrs: Extensive pulmonary haemorrhage in an Egyptian mummy,
Virchows Arch (1995) 427:423-429, Springer-Verlag
The availability of nicotine and cocaine to the ancient Egyptians is still subject of debate.
[51] From the New Kingdom on the gods in the shape of their divine statues were often asked for advice
or appealed to to settle differences and court cases.
[52] The title of zwn.w appears to be connected to pain (swn, zwn) and suffering (swn.yt).
[53] The appellation of zA.w is derived from zA, amulet. It is often translated as magician. The zA.w was
associated with the goddess Serqet.
[54] Irenakhti, a 6th dynasty physician-in-ordinary to the king bore a number of medical titles:
Physician of the abdomen of the palace, guardian of the anus (proctologist), elder physician of the palace
Iri
...
Physician of the palace, magician of Serqet, inspector of physicians. Guardian of the secrets of the divine
words, Iri.
Physician of the eyes, Iri.
After a transliteration and German translation on the Thesaurus Linguae Aegytiae web site
S. Grunert ed.
Altgyptisches Wrterbuch, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften => Grabinschriften => Giza => Scheintr des Iren-achti
Whether this reflects real specialization or just the Egyptian mania for titles is hard to decide.
[55] Anne P. Starling, Jay T. Stock, Dental indicators of health and stress in early Egyptian and Nubian
agriculturalists: A difficult transition and gradual recovery, Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary
Studies, Department of Biological Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
[60] It is thought that the Blood Eater was connected to pus and caused clotting, which was considered to
be pathological. Scabs were removed to let the pus escape. (David & Lambert-Zazulak, op. cit. p.65)
[61] About one third of ancient Egyptians suffered from caries (David & Lambert-Zazulak, op. cit. p.58),
from which there was no real relief.
[62] David & Lambert-Zazulak, op. cit. p.70
[63] Andreas G. Nerlich, Bettina Schraut, Sabine Dittrich, Thomas Jelinek, and Albert R. Zink,
"Plasmodium falciparum in Ancient Egypt" in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Volume 14, Number 8
August 2008
[64] T. L. Dupras, L. J. Williams, M. De Meyer, C. Peeters, D. Depraetere, B. Vanthuyne, H. Willems,
"Evidence of amputation as medical treatment in ancient Egypt" in International Journal of
Osteoarchaeology, published online 13 Mar 2009, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
[65] A wine jar dated to 5100 BCE contained traces of herbal additives often mentioned in medical texts
as well as of tree resin, used as a preservative. As Robert K. Ritner, Professor of Egyptology at the
Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, said the herbs and spices could have been added for taste
and not necessarily for health. (Source: Patrick E. McGovern, Armen Mirzoian and Gretchen R.
Hall, Ancient Egyptian herbal wines, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United
States of America, approved 23 February, 2009, quoted in the Article "Study: Herbs added to 5,100-year-
old Egyptian wine" on the LDNews website, accessed 15.April 2009)
[66] Rosen, 1979, p.314
[67] Schwarz & King, 2003, p.387
[68] Bard & Shubert, 1999, p.605
[69] Schultz, Egypt: the World of Pharaohs, American Univ in Cairo Press, p.463
[70] Halioua et al., 2005, p.102f.
[71] Arthur W. Jones, 1975, suggests that schistosomiasis was less prevalent in ancient than it is in modern
Egypt, because the presence of the echinostoma parasites whose hosts are generally waterfowl, which in
ancient times were very numerous on the Nile, prevented the spreading of the much more dangerous
schistosoma in water snail which served as intermediary hosts for both species.
[72] Schwarz 1979, p.39
[73] "After examining research of more than 3,000 mummies, anatomists and paleopathologists at the
University of Zurich concluded that 18 percent of all mummies in case reports showed a nightmare array
of dental diseases." http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/mummies-teeth-disease-diagnosis.html
accessed 5th December 2009
[74] Atherosclerosis seems to have been especially prevalent among the upper classes and their families,
who, as part of their priestly perks, consumed the offerings brought to the gods, after these had had their
fill. These offerings contained great amounts of unsaturated fats from meat (beef, goosemeat) and cakes
and bread enriched with fats, high levels of salt used in meat preservation and alcohol. A team from
Manchester University found nine cases of vascular calcification in the hearts and arteries of a group of
sixteen mummies of high social status. They suggest that, as atherosclerosis was not very common among
the Egyptians at large, this points to the upper class diet having had its effects. (David et al. 2010)
[75] Scheidel 2010, p.5
[76] One of the most lethal among today's intestinal diseases, cholera, was unknown in the ancient
Mediterranean. (Scheidel 2010, p.5)
[77] Scheidel 2010, p.9
[78] http://www.unreportedheritagenews.com/2010/11/paupers-and-pyramids-400-poor-burials.html,
accessed 28.11.2010
[79] W. Westendorf, Ordnungssysteme in der altgyptischen Medizin und Ihre berlieferung in den
europischen Kulturkreis, Hamburg, 2001, 15,
[80] M. Weber, Lebenshaus in: Lexikon der gyptologie, Band 3, Wiesbaden, 1980, col.955

Bibliography:
Roger S. Bagnall, et al. The Demography of Roman Egypt
Kathryn A. Bard, Steven Blake Shubert, Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, Routledge,
1999
J. H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, 1906
J. H. Breasted, The Edwin Smith Papyrus
Rosalie David, Patricia Lambert-Zazulak, Egyptian Mummies and Modern Science, Cambridge University
Press, 2008
Rosalie David, Amie Kershaw, Anthony Heagerty, "Atherosclerosis and diet in ancient Egypt" in: The
Lancet, Volume 375, Issue 9716, Pages 718 - 719, 27 February 2010
Erika Feucht, "Pharaonic Circumcision" in : Sibylle Meyer (ed.): Egypt - Temple of the Whole
World/gypten - Tempel der ganzen Welt, Studies in Honour of Jan Assmann, Boston/Leiden 2003, S. 81-94
Paul Ghalioungui, Les plus anciennes femmes-mdecins de l'histoire, BIFAO 75 (1975), pp.159-164
F. Ll. Griffith, The Petrie Papyri: Hieratic Papyri from Kahun and Gurob
Herodotus, Histories II
Bruno Halioua, Bernard Ziskind, M. B. DeBevoise, Medicine in the days of the pharaohs, Harvard
University Press, 2005
Arthur W. Jones, "Ancient Egyptian Model for the Biological Control of Schistosomiasis" in Proceedings
of the Oklahome Academy of Science, vol. 55 (1975) pp.136-142
Jrgen Kraus, Die Demographie des Alten gypten
M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature
A. Lucas, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries
G. Maspero, Etudes de mythologie et d'achologie gyptiennes III
A. G. McDowell, Village Life in Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press, 1999
Andreas Nerlich, Albert Zink, Leben und Krankheit im alten gypten, Bayerisches rzteblatt 8, 2001
Andreas G. Nerlich, Franz Parsche, Irmgard Wiest, Peter Schramel, Udo Lhrs: Extensive pulmonary
haemorrhage in an Egyptian mummy, Virchows Arch (1995) 427:423-429, Springer-Verlag
Eva Panagiotakopulu, Pharaonic Egypt and the origins of the plague, Journal of Biogeography (2004) 31
Pliny, Natural History
J. F. Quack, Die Rolle des heiligen Tieres im Buch vom Tempel, IBAES IV, 2004
Jerome C. Rose, Paleopathology of the Commoners at Tell Amarna, Egypt, Akhenaten's capital city, Mem.
Inst. Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Vol. 101(Suppl. II): 73-76, 2006
George Rosen, Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences, Yale University. Dept. of the History
of Medicine, Project Muse, published by H. Schuman, 1979
Serge Sauneron, A propos d'un pronostic de naissance, BIFAO 60 (1960)
Serge Sauneron, Une recette gyptienne de collyre, BIFAO 57 (1958)
Walter Scheidel, Age and health in Roman Egypt, Version 1.0, February 2010, Princeton/Stanford Working
Papers in Classics, Stanford University
Jean-Claude Schwarz, "La mdecine dentaire dans l'gypte pharaonique" in Bulletin de la Socit
d'gyptologie, Genve 2 (Novembre 1979)
Marvin I. Schwarz, Talmadge E. King, Interstitial lung disease, B.C. Decker, 2003
Bernard Ziskind, Bruno Halioua; La conception du coeur dans lgypte ancienne, M/S : Mdecine
sciences, Volume 20
Zucconi, Laura M. (2007), Medicine and Religion in Ancient Egypt, Religion Compass 1 (1) January 2007,
pp.2637

[20] The Edwin Smith

Surgical Papyrus
[56] Extracts from the Ebers
 medical papyrus
[57] The Hearst medical
papyrus
[58] The Kahun
Gynaecological papyrus
[59] The Demotic Magical
Papyrus of London and
Leiden
Diodorus Siculus on
Egyptian Medicine
Personal Hygiene and
cosmetics

Index of Topics
Main Index and Search Page

Links (Opening in a new window)

These are just suggestions for further reading. I do not assume any
responsibility for the availability or content of these websites

:

:

, a translation of this
page into Greek, by Nikolaos
Zinas
[8] Medicine
[10] Ancient Egyptian
Surgery
[17] Ancient Egypt and
Today: Enough Scourges to
Go Around
[19] Altgyptische Medizin
[22] Manuscript for the
health of mother and child
(UCL website)
[23] Male and Female
Circumcision in Africa:
Pharaonic Egyptian and
Religious Origins
[24] Leben und Krankheit im
alten gypten by Dr Andreas
Nerlich, Dr Albert Zink
[27] Fancy footwork from
Ancient Egyptians
[28] Secrets in the Skeletons:
Disease and deformity attest
the hazards of daily life by
Brenda Baker
[32] Bubonic Plague Traced
to Ancient Egypt
[35] Molecular Evidence of
Bacteremia by
Gastrointestinal Pathogenic
Bacteria in an Infant Mummy
From Ancient Egypt by
Albert Zink, PhD, Udo
Reischl, PhD, Hans Wolf,
MD, PhD, and Andreas G.
Nerlich, PhD, MD
[38] Degenerative Vascular
Disease in the Egyptian
Mummy by A. T. Sandison
in Medical History, January
1962; Vol. 6(1): pp.7781.
[41] Grberfund widerlegt
"Pharaonen-Propaganda"
[43] The Mummy Detectives
[44] Krankheiten und
Heilknste
[50] Strabo Geography Book
XVII, Chapter 2
Medicine In Old Egypt
Neurosurgical Classic-XVII -
Edwin Smith Surgical
papyrus
Medicine in ancient Egypt by
Sameh M. Arab, MD , part 1
Medicine in ancient Egypt by
Sameh M. Arab, MD, part 2
Medicine in ancient Egypt by
 Sameh M. Arab, MD, part 3
Manuscripts for good health
2000-1000 BC (Petrie
Museum website)
Religious Traditions and
Circumcision by Gerald A.
Larue
La conception du coeur dans
lgypte ancienne by
Bernard Ziskind, Bruno
Halioua
Medicine by Robert K.
Ritner, excerpt from: The
Oxford Encyclopedia of
Ancient Egypt [2001] Article
Malaria in Ancient Egypt:
Paleoimmunological
Investigation on Predynastic
Mummified Remains by
Emma Rabino Massa,
Nicoletta Cerutti, A. Marin
D. Savoia
pHearst (Der Londoner
medizinische Papyrus), and
Der Medizinische Papyrus
des Britischen Museums,
transcriptions and German
translations by W. Wreszinski
Medizinische Schriften des
alten gypten
Feedback: Please report broken links, mistakes - factual or
otherwise, etc. to me. Thanks.