What does it Say?
The Edwin Smith Surgical papyrus is a concoction of many different papyrus’ that if sewed together would form a book of sorts. The Surgical papyrus is an ancient Egyptian document written in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. The document entails roughly 48 cases on how to treat anything from the upper abdomen to the head, so long as it entails wounds or injuries in an adult male. The cases entail everything from the swelling of the brain, to a gaping shoulder wound.
What was it designed to do?
The papyrus is written as a sort of guide entailing: The title, Examination and prognosis, Treatment, and Explanations of the wounds/injuries. It’s believed that the way it was designed (explaining everything about the wound and procedures …show more content…
For example; in case 15, titled: practices for a perforation in his cheek, it lists the examination and prognosis of the patient and his wound/injury, as well as the treatment. The papyrus goes step by step describing what the wound should look like, especially in case of infection. “If you treat a man for perforation of his cheek and you find swelling on his cheek risen, black, and gone off, then you say about him: ‘One who has a perforation on his cheek: an ailment I will handle’”. This shows evident proof that the papyrus was promulgated for those caring for patients with …show more content…
In fact if it weren’t for Napoleon and his troops finding the Rosetta stone in 1799, reading ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics may have never been a possibility. It wasn’t even until 1822 that ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics was able to be deciphered. After that it took almost another fifty years to learn to read those hieroglyphics on the papyrus, by the time the entire surgical papyrus was translated it was much too late for Edwin Smith. Edwin Smith found the papyrus in 1862 and died in 1906, his wish was to know the contents of the papyrus, and he died without ever
The Edwin Smith Surgical papyrus is a concoction of many different papyrus’ that if sewed together would form a book of sorts. The Surgical papyrus is an ancient Egyptian document written in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. The document entails roughly 48 cases on how to treat anything from the upper abdomen to the head, so long as it entails wounds or injuries in an adult male. The cases entail everything from the swelling of the brain, to a gaping shoulder wound.
What was it designed to do?
The papyrus is written as a sort of guide entailing: The title, Examination and prognosis, Treatment, and Explanations of the wounds/injuries. It’s believed that the way it was designed (explaining everything about the wound and procedures …show more content…
For example; in case 15, titled: practices for a perforation in his cheek, it lists the examination and prognosis of the patient and his wound/injury, as well as the treatment. The papyrus goes step by step describing what the wound should look like, especially in case of infection. “If you treat a man for perforation of his cheek and you find swelling on his cheek risen, black, and gone off, then you say about him: ‘One who has a perforation on his cheek: an ailment I will handle’”. This shows evident proof that the papyrus was promulgated for those caring for patients with …show more content…
In fact if it weren’t for Napoleon and his troops finding the Rosetta stone in 1799, reading ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics may have never been a possibility. It wasn’t even until 1822 that ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics was able to be deciphered. After that it took almost another fifty years to learn to read those hieroglyphics on the papyrus, by the time the entire surgical papyrus was translated it was much too late for Edwin Smith. Edwin Smith found the papyrus in 1862 and died in 1906, his wish was to know the contents of the papyrus, and he died without ever