Egyptian medical papyri

Egyptian medical papyri are ancient Egyptian texts written on papyrus which permit a glimpse at medical procedures and practices in ancient Egypt. These papyri give details on disease, diagnosis, and remedies of disease, which include herbal remedies, surgery, and magical incantations. Many of these papyri have been lost due to grave robbery. The largest study of the medical papyri to date has been undertaken by Humboldt University of Berlin and was titled Medizin der alten Ägypter ("Medicine of ancient Egypt"). Early Egyptian medicine was based mostly on a mixture of magic and religious spells. Most commonly "cured" by use of amulets or magical spells, the illnesses were thought to be caused by spiteful behavior or actions. Afterwards, doctors performed various medical treatments if necessary. The instructions for these medical rituals were later inscribed on papyrus scrolls by the priests performing the actions. These ancient Egyptian texts were written long before their discovery and publication, and many are now owned either privately or preserved at universities all over the world. The first papyri to be discovered would be the Berlin Papyrus, discovered and subsequently published by Heinrich Brugsch in 1863. Heinrich was the first to study this papyrus, and a translation did not become available until 1909, published by Walter Wreszinski. In 1875, the Ebers Papyrus, covering a broad concept of general pathology was published. Some 20 years later, the Kahun papyrus was published by F.L. Griffith in 1898, and this was the first published papyri about the practice of gynecology. The Ramesseum papyrus was discovered in the year 1898 at the bottom of a tomb-shaft, and was then left untouched until a few years later. In 1900, Percy Newberry started the process of unrolling and preserving the Ramesseum papyri so that it can be further studied and stored without threat of further wear and tear. In 1905 the Hearst papyrus was published by G.A. Reisner.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related publications (5)

Related concepts (4)

Ebers Papyrus

The Ebers Papyrus, also known as Papyrus Ebers, is an Egyptian medical papyrus of herbal knowledge dating to 1550 BCE (the late Second Intermediate Period or early New Kingdom). Among the oldest and most important medical papyri of Ancient Egypt, it was purchased at Luxor in the winter of 1873–1874 by the German Egyptologist Georg Ebers. It is currently kept at the Leipzig University Library in Germany. The papyrus was written in Ancient Egypt in 1550 BCE, during the late Second Intermediate Period or early New Kingdom, but it is believed to have been copied from earlier Egyptian texts.

Ancient Egyptian medicine

The medicine of the ancient Egyptians is some of the oldest documented. From the beginnings of the civilization in the late fourth millennium BC until the Persian invasion of 525 BC, Egyptian medical practice went largely unchanged and included simple non-invasive surgery, setting of bones, dentistry, and an extensive set of pharmacopoeia. Egyptian medical thought influenced later traditions, including the Greeks. Egyptian medical papyri Until the 19th century, the main sources of information about ancient Egyptian medicine were writings from later in antiquity.

Surgery

Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and/or instrumental techniques to physically reach into a subject's body in order to investigate or treat pathological conditions such as a disease or injury, to alter bodily functions (e.g. bariatric surgery such as gastric bypass), to improve appearance (cosmetic surgery), or to remove/replace unwanted tissues (body fat, glands, scars or skin tags) or foreign bodies. The subject receiving the surgery is typically a person (i.e. a patient), but can also be a non-human animal (i.

Explainability as fig leaf? An exploration of experts’ ethical expectations towards machine learning in psychiatry

The increasing implementation of programs supported by machine learning in medical contexts will affect psychiatry. It is crucial to accompany this development with careful ethical considerations informed by empirical research involving experts from the fi ...

2023

Machine learning and its impact on psychiatric nosology: Findings from a qualitative study among German and Swiss experts

The increasing integration of Machine Learning (ML) techniques into clinical care, driven in particular by Deep Learning (DL) using Artificial Neural Nets (ANNs), promises to reshape medical practice on various levels and across multiple medical fields. Mu ...

2023

MedCo(2): Privacy-Preserving Cohort Exploration and Analysis

Jean-Pierre Hubaux, Juan Ramón Troncoso-Pastoriza, Jean Louis Raisaro, David Jules Froelicher, Mickaël Misbach

Medical studies are usually time consuming, cumbersome and extremely costly to perform, and for exploratory research, their results are also difficult to predict a priori. This is particularly the case for rare diseases, for which finding enough patients i ...

IOS PRESS2020