Egyptian Medicine
According to the dictionary, medicine is defined as “any substance or substances used in treating a disease or illness” (Dictionary.com). It has been stated that one of the oldest documented medicine are those of the Ancient Egyptians, which were also one of the first to have practicing physicians who prescribed medicine. Aside from having practicing physicians prescribe medicine mainly from herbs and animals, the ancient Egyptians were also the first to practice surgical procedures and soon became very knowledgeable about the human anatomy through mummification. Popular history doesn’t credit Egyptian medicine to a lot of today’s western medicine practices. Surgery and herbal medicine are one of the few contributions that …show more content…
The Ancient Egyptian Medicine: The Papyrus Ebers was translated from the German Version by Cyril P. Bryan. Papyrus is material that is made out of plant stems and it was used for writing and painting in the ancient Egyptian times. The Papyrus Ebers was written c.1500 B.C. and it received its name after Georg Moritz Ebers, the Egyptologist who found the papyrus around 1872 in a tomb in Thebes, Egypt. Not only is the Papyrus Ebers the most famous, but it is also very lengthy because it contains collections of writing from at least forty different sources. This book states that the Papyrus Ebers “consists mainly of a large collection of prescriptions for a number of named ailments, specifying the names of the drugs, the quantities of each, and the method of administration” ( Bryan, Cyril P., pg. xv). Within the Papyrus Ebers there are also sections that talks about diagnosis, symptoms, treatment of injuries and diseases, disease in the eye, diseases of women, and the interaction of the heart and the vessels. In total, there were 811 prescriptions that were enclosed in the papyrus which become useful for a variety of illness “from the sting of a wasp to the bite of a crocodile, from a trivial ache to the most loathsome disease” (Bryan, Cyril P., pg. …show more content…
It has been said that “In practicing the history of medicine we must naturally base our researches upon the oldest material we have, and consequently Egyptian medicine is the foundation upon which the structure of a great science has been erected, because it antedates the earliest medical records of other countries by many centuries” (Dawson, Warren R., pg.10) . They were the first to have practicing physicians, prescribe medicine, perform small-scale surgeries, invent tooth fillings, and become very knowledgeable of the human anatomy through mummification. Although the ancient Egyptians were the first to make available all of these procedures, popular history doesn’t give the Egyptians credit for a lot of the practices that are now seen
According to the dictionary, medicine is defined as “any substance or substances used in treating a disease or illness” (Dictionary.com). It has been stated that one of the oldest documented medicine are those of the Ancient Egyptians, which were also one of the first to have practicing physicians who prescribed medicine. Aside from having practicing physicians prescribe medicine mainly from herbs and animals, the ancient Egyptians were also the first to practice surgical procedures and soon became very knowledgeable about the human anatomy through mummification. Popular history doesn’t credit Egyptian medicine to a lot of today’s western medicine practices. Surgery and herbal medicine are one of the few contributions that …show more content…
The Ancient Egyptian Medicine: The Papyrus Ebers was translated from the German Version by Cyril P. Bryan. Papyrus is material that is made out of plant stems and it was used for writing and painting in the ancient Egyptian times. The Papyrus Ebers was written c.1500 B.C. and it received its name after Georg Moritz Ebers, the Egyptologist who found the papyrus around 1872 in a tomb in Thebes, Egypt. Not only is the Papyrus Ebers the most famous, but it is also very lengthy because it contains collections of writing from at least forty different sources. This book states that the Papyrus Ebers “consists mainly of a large collection of prescriptions for a number of named ailments, specifying the names of the drugs, the quantities of each, and the method of administration” ( Bryan, Cyril P., pg. xv). Within the Papyrus Ebers there are also sections that talks about diagnosis, symptoms, treatment of injuries and diseases, disease in the eye, diseases of women, and the interaction of the heart and the vessels. In total, there were 811 prescriptions that were enclosed in the papyrus which become useful for a variety of illness “from the sting of a wasp to the bite of a crocodile, from a trivial ache to the most loathsome disease” (Bryan, Cyril P., pg. …show more content…
It has been said that “In practicing the history of medicine we must naturally base our researches upon the oldest material we have, and consequently Egyptian medicine is the foundation upon which the structure of a great science has been erected, because it antedates the earliest medical records of other countries by many centuries” (Dawson, Warren R., pg.10) . They were the first to have practicing physicians, prescribe medicine, perform small-scale surgeries, invent tooth fillings, and become very knowledgeable of the human anatomy through mummification. Although the ancient Egyptians were the first to make available all of these procedures, popular history doesn’t give the Egyptians credit for a lot of the practices that are now seen