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Egyptian Medicine3000–500 BC

The History of Medicine

For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation.

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Egyptian medicine

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Egyptian’s medical knowledge and beliefs

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Egyptian surgical treatments

Egyptian surgery included mending broken bones and removing cysts, but no major surgery was done.

Treatment for a broken nose from the Papyrus, 1550 BC:

“…clean his nose with two plugs of linen and then insert two plugs soaked in grease into his nostrils. You should make him rest until the swelling has gone down, you should bandage his nose with stiff rolls of linen and treat him with lint every day until he recovers.”

This remedy is more than 3,500 years old. How would you say it compares with modern day treatments?

Egyptian religion required that the body stayed intact, meaning that embalmers extracted organs through small incisions and no dissections happened.

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Magical and religious treatments

Egyptians, like prehistoric Britons and Aborigines, believed in the presence of spirits, and many wore charms or amulets to ward off the evil ones.

They also believed that gods could both cause and cure disease. Temples were built where the sick could bathe in holy water or sleep overnight, in the hope that their god would send a cure.

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The Egyptians had many remedies for illnesses. They also relied on charms and worshipping gods. What does this tell us about the effectiveness of

their remedies?

The Egyptians’ medical knowledge was far superior to that of the ancient Britons or

Aborigines, yet their life expectancy was only marginally better. Why might medical progress

not result in improvement in health?

Questions