Ancient Egyptian medicine employed advanced surgical practices, while the prevention and treatment of diseases relied mostly on natural remedies and magical incantations. In the first of two volumes, The Medicine of the Ancient Egyptians explores these two different aspects, using textual sources and physical evidence to cast light on the state of ancient medical knowledge and practice and the hardships of everyday life experienced by the inhabitants of the land on the Nile.
The first part of the book focuses on ancient Egyptian surgery, drawing mainly on cases described in the Edwin Smith papyrus, which details a number of injuries listed by type and severity. These demonstrate the rational approach employed by ancient physicians in the treatment of injured patients. Additional surgical cases are drawn from the Ebers papyrus. The chapters that follow cover gynecology, obstetrics, and pediatric cases, with translations from the Kahun gynecological papyrus and other medical texts, illustrating a wide range of ailments that women and young children suffered in antiquity, and how they were treated.
The second volume explores a wide range of internal medical problems that the Egyptian population suffered in antiquity, and various methods of their treatment. These include ailments of the respiratory, digestive, and circulatory systems, chiefly heart diseases of various types, coughs, stomachaches, constipation, diarrhea, internal parasites, and many other medical conditions.
Drawing on formulas and descriptions in the Ebers papyrus and other surviving ancient Egyptian medical papyri, as well as physical evidence and wall depictions, the authors present translations of the medical treatises together with commentaries and interpretations in the light of modern medical knowledge.
The ancient texts contain numerous recipes for the preparation of various remedies, often herbal in the form of pills, drinks, ointments, foods, or enemas. These reveal a great deal about ancient Egyptian physicians and their deep understanding of the healing properties of herbs and other medicinal substances.
Illustrated with many photographs and line drawings, The Medicine of the Ancient Egyptians is highly recommended reading for scholars of ancient Egyptian medicine and magic, as well as for paleopathologists, medical historians, and physical anthropologists.