This document provides an overview of ancient Egyptian medicine between 3000 BC and 500 AD. It discusses prominent figures like Imhotep who was considered the first physician, as well as ancient medical texts like the Kahun Gynecological Papyrus, Ebers Papyrus, and Edwin Smith Papyrus. These papyri contained case studies of wounds and treatments using herbal remedies. The document also describes Egyptian knowledge of anatomy, clinical examination techniques like palpation and percussion, dental practices, surgical instruments, common diseases, and examples of herbal remedies.

1. Dr. Adel M. Farrag
MBBS, MS, MD
Pediatrician
ANCIENT MEDICINE
Mohammed Salman

2. ANCIENT MEDICINE
(3000BC – 500AD)
Egyptians : 3000 BC - 1000 BC
Greeks : 1000 BC - 500 BC
Romans : 500 BC -
500AD
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3. HOW DID MEDICINE DEVELOP IN
ANCIENT EGYPT?
•Wealthy country.
•Wars, Temples, Pyramids.
•Farmers.
•Trading with other Civilizations.
•Documentations
• Hieroglyphic language and medical papri.
• Walls of temples and tombs.
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4. CD 1/3/2
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7. CD 1/3/27
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9. IMPHOTEP
2600 BC
•Became the God of medicine for Egyptians and Greeks at 500 BC
.
•Hippocrates appeared 1000 years following Imphotep.
•He was the engineer of the step pyramids in Saqqara.
•He was also an astronomer and architect.
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10. THE MEDICAL PAPYRI
•The first medical texts, date from late 12th Dynasty to 20th Dynasty
(2000-1090B.C)
• Seven medical papyri:
•The Kahun Gynecological Papyrus
•The Ebers Papyrus
•The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus
•The Hearst
•The Chester
•The Berlin
•The London
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11. MEDICAL PAPYRI
The Kahun (1825 B.C)
•Gynecology.
The Ebers (1534 B.C)
•Internalmedicine and
•Herbal remedies.
The Edwin Smith (1600
B.C)
•Surgery and
•Surgical Instruments.
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12. KAHUN GYNACHOLOGICAL PAPYRUS (1825 B.C)
Discovered in Lahun temple at Fayum city (near to cairo)
and is kept now in University of London .
Starting by a brief description of gynecological symptoms
and anatomy of reproductive organs.
Conception.
Contraception and vaginal applicants:
“crocodile dung + 45ml honey + sour milk”
Testing for pregnancy.
Methods for diagnosing the sex of the fetus.
A case report of a fistula between bladder and vagina
with incontinence of urine.
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13. EBERS PAPYRUS (1534 B.C)
Found between the legs of a mummy in the Theben
necropolis and then later was purchased by an Egyptologist
George Ebers from an antique dealer at Luxor city.
The most lengthy of the medical papyri. constitutes a huge
roll of 20 meters long and 30 cm wide dealing mainly with
internal medicine, concentrating on diseases of the stomach,
anus, eye, skin, extremities and dental diseases as well as
some anatomical and physiological data.
Ebers papyrus includes 877 treatment recipes for different
diseases and more than 400 drugs were discribed.
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14. EDWIN SMITH PAPYRUS (1600 B.C)
Considered the most important surgical documents in ancient
medicine. This papyrus appeared with a person called Mostafa
Agha at 1862 who sold it to an antique dealer Edwin Smith.
After his death, His daughter donated the papyrus to the New
York Academy of science.
The papyrus is 5 meters long and is chiefly concerned with
surgery, It described 48 cases of wounds in the Head, Neck,
Shoulders and chest but ended abruptly in a middle of a
sentence. For unknown reason!!
The papyrus discussed a vast majority of different bone
fractures and gave description of some of surgical instruments
used that time.
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15. ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY-I
From the medical papyri:
“If you examines a man having a gaping wound in his head
penetrating the bone, smashing his skull and rending open
the brain of his skull, you should palpate his wound, you
should find that smash which in his skull like those
corrugations which form in molten copper, and something
therein throbbing and fluttering under fingers, like the weak
place of an infant’s crown before it becomes whole when it
has happened there is no throbbing and fluttering under
fingers until the brain of his skull is rent open and he
discharges blood from both his nostrils, and he suffers with
stiffness in his neck.”
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16. CONCEPTS OF ANATOMY AND
PHYSIOLOGY
Terms for external body parts Studies of battlefield injuries
Hieroglyphic terms for face Perforated skull of pharaoh Seqenera
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17. ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY-2
FROM THE MEDICAL PAPYRI:
•“It is there that the heart
speaks.”
•“It is there that every
physician and every
priest of sekhmet places
his fingers ---he feets
something from the
heart.”
•“There are vessels in
him for every part of the
body.”
•“It speaks forth in the
vessels of every body
parts.”
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18. MUMMIFICATION
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19. CLINICAL EXAMINATION-I
From the medical papyri :
•Medical History.
“If you ask of him concerning his malady and he speaks not to you”
•Inspection:
“You should inspect his wounds.”
“His eyebrows are drown, while has face is as if he wept.”
Inspection in ancient medicine also included inspection of body discharges like urine, stool,
sputum or blood.
•Palpation:
“You should put your finger on it, you should palpate his belly”.
• Palpation of the pulse.
• Palpation of the fractures for crepitus
• Palpation of tumors; Ancient Egyptians learned how to differentiate between solid
tumor and an aneurysm.”
“Hemispherical swelling at the vessel, which increases in volume beneath the
fingers at each pulsation. It ceases to throb if one exerts pressure with the finger in
the direction of the current.
• Palpation for inguinal hernia;
“If you examini a swelling of the covering at of his belly’s horns above his pudenda (sex
organs) then place finger on it and examine his belly”.
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20. Percussion :
“And examine his belly, and knock on the finger”.
“Place the hand on the patient and tap”.
Bed tests :
For hernias : “If you examine his that has come
out and has arisen by cough, it is a swelling of the
covering of his belly. It is a disease which I will
treat”.
 For Cervical Vertebrac :
“Say to the patients: look upwards and
dawnwards,if he is not able to do this, he is
suffering from a dislocation of the vertebra of the 20

21. DENTAL MEDICINE
HESYRE
• Many dental procedures and dental prescriptions were found in many medical
papyri like treatment of pyorrhea, dental caries, abscesses, loose teeth and tooth
extraction, treatment of mouth ulcers and even jaw dislocation.
 Study of Mummies:
• One mummy from the 4th dynasty (2625-2510 B.C)was found with surgically
produced holes to drain an abscess under the first lower molar teeth.
• Other mummy of the same period was found with a looses tooth fixed with a gold
wire bridge to a neighboring tooth.
• Another mummy of a relatively recent period ( Greco-Roman) was found with an
artificial teeth holding a maxillary bridge by asilver wire.
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22. SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS
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23. SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS
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24. SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS
3150-2181 B.C
1570-1293 B.C
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25. SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS
4000 BC
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26. Surgical Needles
3000 BC
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27. HERNIAS
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28. CIRCUMCISION
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29. TREPHINING
• What is trephining?
• Even trephining was not mentioned in surviving
medical papyri but there are strong evidence of
surgically induced holes in skull of mummies.
• Evidences of trephining in skull of mummies.
• Procedures for trephining
1. Using hammer and chisel.
2. Using a convex scraper with a wide radius.
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30. EXAMPLES FOR REMEDIES IN MEDICAL
PAPYRI:
 For Constipation:
“ Berries of castor oil tree, chew and swallow down with beer in order to clear
out all that in the body”.
“ If not effective then add: ¼ leaves of castor oil. 5/6 dates of male palm, 1/6
cyprus grass, 1/16 stalk of poppy plant, 1/16 coriander, ½ cold beer-keep moist,
strain and take for 4 days”.
 For diarrhoea:
“ 1/8 green onion, 1/8 freshly cooked gruel, ¼ oil and honey, 1/16 wax, 1/3
water-cook and take for 4 days”.
 For migraine:
“ Fish siluris (an electric fish) in fat and oil”.
 For cough:
“ Inhalation at honey, milk, caroob, eolocynth and date”.
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31. PATTERN OF DISEASE
Diseases commonly effecting Egyptians
•Parasitic Diseases
-found in the mummy of Nakht
•Bacterial and Viral Infections Tuberculosis
-found in the spine of Nesparehan, a priest in 21st Dynasty
-hump-backed individuals in pre-dynastic period
-bas-relief painting from serving girl with hump-backed
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32. PATTERN OF DISEASES
Poliomyelitis or polio
Clubfoot of King Siptah
(above) and deformed foot of
Roma (right)
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33. Small pox
•Diseases of the eye-Trachoma, Distortion of the eyelid
*Night blindness-cured with roasted and crushed ox liver
*Cataracts-treated with a mixture of tortoise brain and honey
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34. THANK YOU
Mohammed Salman