Ancient Egyptian Medicine Curius Institutio a Curatio Vetustas "Texts"

Medical Papyrus

Every medical discipline throughout history and throughout the world has developed a way to record the observations and remedies inherent to any medical discipline. The ancient Egyptians were one of the first to begin a systemic record of their ventures into medical practice. These papyri are a testament to the ingenuity and skill that is evident in Egyptian medicine. (To learn how papyrus was made, click here.)

The Egyptian Medical Papyri include a mixture of straight forward medical examinations and conclusions, along with discussions of treatments and remedies to resolve the diagnosis. Two distinct trends are discernible in Egyptian medicine, as revealed in the medical papyri. The "magico-religious trend" focused on incantation, prayer, and worship to the gods. The "empirico-rational trend" was based on experience and observation, but was lacking in mystical features. However, ancient Egyptians incorporated both trends into one distinct form of medical practice that endured for thousands of years.

(To learn more about these medical papyri, please click on the statue depicting the Egyptian soul.)

--The ka, a part of the Egyptian soul, as depicted in this statuette. The Egyptians actually had multiple souls: ka, ba, khat, shan, ab, ba, khaibit, khu, sekhem, and ren. The ka is described as being independent of the body, but a copy of the physical body, or a subtle body that is capable of projecting away from its physical counterpart and taking a look around.--

Egyptian Writing

Throughout the 3,000 year long history of the Ancient Egyptians, they used three kinds of writings in their religious, secular, and medical texts. They began with hieroglyphics, transitioned to hieratic, and finally developed demotic. At different times in history, all three writing styles were used in recording the history and happenings of the ancient Egyptian world.

(To learn more about Egyptian writing, please click on a link below.)

HomePage

Images

Texts

Technology

Mummification

---

Mission & Ethics Statement

This museum is operated by Ryan Greiner at Creighton University

My address is rgreiner1@hotmail.com

Please fell free to visit our course syllabus

Any comments would be greatly appreciated------->Comment Card

---