A comprehensive survey of medical knowledge and practice in ancient
Egypt, by leading authorities on the topic, new in paperback
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 three 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.
Illustrated with more than sixty 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.
