Carole Reeves - Egyptian Medicine

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Egyptian Medicine
Carole Reeves
2
Cover illustration
Carpenters making a catafaIque. A workman is having his ann examined
(top right) whilst another screams as a hammer falls on to his foot (top left).
A further workman applies eye paint to a colleague's eyes (bottom lett).
Facsimile painting by Norman de Garis Davies
from the tomb ofIpuy, Deir el-Medina, Nineteenth Dynasty.
(Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 30.4./16.)
3
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 5
CHRONOLOGY 7
I. INTRODUCTION 9
2. HEALTH AND HYGIENE 11
3. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION 21
British Library Calaloguing in Publication Data:
Reeves, Carole.
Egyptian Medicine. _
(Shire Egyptology Series; No. IS).
I. Title. II. Series.
932.
ISBN 0- 7478-0]27-4.
4. DISEASES AND DEFORMITIES 33
5. THE MEDICAL PAPYRI 49
6.
DRUGS AND THE PRESCRIPTION 55
Published in 200] by
SHIRE PUBLICATIONS LTD
Cromwell House, Church Street, Princes Risborough,
Buckinghamshire HP27 9AA. UK.
(Website: www.shirebooks.co.uk)
7.
GLOSS ARY OF MEDICAL TERMS 63
8. FURTHER READING 67
9. MUSEUMS 69
Series Editor: Barbara Adams.
INDEX 71
Copyright
©
Carole Reeves, 1992.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic
or
mechanical,
including photocopy. recording.
or
any information storage
and retrieval system. without permission in writing
from the pnblishers.
Number 15 in the Shire Egyptology series.
ISBN 074780127 4.
First published 1992; reprinted 200 I.
Printed in Great Britain by
CIT Printing Services Ltd.
Press BUildings. Merlins Bridge, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire SA61 IXF.
4
5
Acknowledgements
List of illustrations
It is
~y'pri~ilege
to extend acknowledgement to the many individuals
an~
msntutions who offered guidance, encouragement and practical
assistance
during the production of this book. Long before it began,
however, I was drawn into
~n
appreciation of the history of medicine by
John
L.
Thornton, former LIbrarIan to St Bartholomew's Hospital Medi-
~al ~oll~ge,
wh?se
e~tensive
knowledge of medical history fired my
rmagrnanon.
It
IS
to him that lowe an incalculable debt.
My thanks extend to the libraries, universities and museums who
have allowed me to use illustrations from their collections and to Barbara
Adams and Angela Thomas for their advice and criticism. Most of the
line drawings have been specially prepared by Helena Jaeschkc
(Archaeoptyx Archaeological Drawing Services) and I proudly acknow-
ledge her assistance.. David Burder took many of the splendid photo-
graphs which appear
III
the book. Acknowledgement is made to W.
J.
Murnane and Penguin Books Limited for permission to reproduce the
chronology.
8. Hieroglyphic word for
sinw
0:
:physician'
page
~2.
.
9. Statue of Imhotep, chief physician to Pharaoh Djoser, Third Intcnncdiate
Period
page 22
10. Wood relief of Hesire, a chief of physicians and dentist, Third Dynasty
page
23
11. Limestone stele of Iry, a chief of court physicians, Fourth Dynasty
page
23
12. Reconstruction of the temple at Edfu, Greek Period
page 24
13. A sick man bringing gifts to the god Horus, Third Intermediate Period
page
25
14. Hieroglyphs representing external and internal parts of the
~ody
page 26
15. Wall relief of surgical instruments, Kom ambo, Roman Penod
page
27
16. Words using the 'outpouring' hieroglyph determinatives
page 27
17. Hieroglyphic words for 'sweat', 'inflammation', 'nutter', 'weep' and
'honey'
page
28
18. Hieroglyphic words for diseases caused by injury, breathlessness and a
fracture or dislocated bone
page
28
19. Wall relief depicting a circumcision scene, Sixth
Dy~astypage
29
20. Nebamun giving a remedy to a prince of Mesopotamia, EIghteenth Dynasty
page
30 . .,
21. Wooden figurine depicting kyphosis as well as a chest deformity, FIfth
Dynasty
page
32
22. Statuette depicting Pott's disease, Predynastic
page
32
23. Five fishermen with evidence of schistosomiasis, Sixth Dynasty
page 34
24. A potter with gross genital hypertrophy, Sixth Dynasty
page 35
25. Wall relief showing the pendulous breasts of old age, Twelfth Dynasty
p~e~
.
26. X-ray showing calcification of the femoral artenes
page 36
27. Neferhotep, a grossly obese harpist, Middle Kingdom
page 37
28. X-ray showing gall-stones in the gall bladder
page 38
29. The Queen of Punt, Eighteenth Dynasty
page 38
30. Cavitation of left maxilla in multiple basal-cell naevus syndrome
page 39
31. Dentigerous cyst cavity in multiple basal-cell naevus syndrome
page 39
32. Bifid ribs in multiple basal-cell naevus syndrome
page 39
33. A servant carrying a water jar, Eighteenth Dynasty
page 40
34. X -ray showing degenerative changes of the spine
page 41
35. Osteochondroma of the femur, Fifth Dynasty
page 42
36. Wall relief of a blind harpist, Eighteenth Dynasty
page 42
37. Hieroglyphic word for an eye disease
page 42
38. The achondroplasic dwarf Djehor, Late Period
page 43
39. Alabaster boat with an achondroplasie dwarf at the helm, Eighteenth
Dynasty
page 43
1. The effects of famine, Fifth Dynasty
page 10
2. The workmen's village, Deir el-Medina, New Kingdom
page
13
3. A man vomiting at a banquet, Eighteenth Dynasty
page 14
4. Severe dental attrition, Twenty-first or Twenty-second Dynasty
page
16
5. Glazed terracotta vase probably used to hold human milk
page 19
6. Hieroglyphs meaning 'to give birth'
page
19 .
7. Women seated on birthing stools, Korn ambo, Roman Penod
page 20
6
Egyptian Medicine
7
40. The dwarf Seneb with his wife and children, Sixth Dynasty
page 44
41. Limestone statue of a Bes-god depicted as a dwarf, Graeco-Roman Period
page
45
42 The doorkeeper Ruma, portraying the typical appearance of poliomyelitis,
Eighteenth Dynasty
page 45
43.
Statue of Akhenaten revealing his effeminate physique, Eighteenth Dynasty
page
46
44. Statue of Tuthmosis IV revealing pronounced gynaecomastia, Eighteenth
Dynasty
page 46
45. Stele of Amenophis III revealing gynaecomastia and effeminate atrir«,
Eighteenth Dynasty
page
46
46. Statuette of Tutankhamun showing his gynaecoruaxtia, Eighteenth Dynasty
page
47
47. The infant Tutunkhamun emerging from a lotus flower, Eighteenth Dynasty
page 48
48.
X-ray of a mummified foetus from the tomb of Tutankhamun, Eighteenth
Dynasty
page 48
49. A page from the Ebers Papyrus, New Kingdom
page
51
50. Four bronze knives from Gurob, Eighteenth to Nineteenth Dynasties
page
50
51.
The four hieroglyphs which represent the word 'knife'
page
51
52. Column Xl of the Edwin Smith Papyrus, Second Intermediate Period but
copied from an Old Kingdom text
page
51
53. Kahun
Medical Papyrus, Twelfth Dynasty
page 52
54. Tutankhamun's mandrake and poppy bracelet, Eighteenth Dynasty
page
50
55. Princess Meretaten offering a mandrake plant to
Srnenkhkarc,
Eighteenth
Dynasty
page
56
56. I .adies at a banquet, Eighteenth Dynasty
page
56
57.
Seti I offering incense to Osiris, Nineteenth Dynasty
page 57
58. Hieroglyphic determinatives meaning mineral, plant and herb
page
57
59. Pottery juglets from Cyprus, used to carry opium, Eighteenth Dynasty
page
58
60.
Painted wall relief of an ibis, Fifth Dynasty
page 60
61. A pharmacist's carrying case, Eleventh Dynasty
page 61
62. The eye of Horus and the hieroglyphs for the fractions of the prescription
page 61
63. Map of ancient Egypt
page 62
Chronology
From W. J. Murnane,
The Penguin Guide to Ancient Egypt,
1983, and including
names of those rulers mentioned in the text.
Neolithic Period before 5000 BC
Fayum A
Predynastic
Period
c.5000
- 3300 BC
Protodynastic
Period
c.3300
- 3050 BC
Early Dynastic
Period
3050 - 2613 Be
3050 - 2890 Dynasty I
Horus Aha (Athothis)
Horus Djer
2890 - 2682 Dynasty II
2686 - 2613 Dynasty III
2668 - 2649
Djoser
Old Kingdom
2613 - 2181 BC
2613 - 2498 Dynasty IV
2589 - 2566
Khufu
2558 - 2532
Khaefre
2532 -
2504 Mycerinus
2498 - 2345 Dynasty V
2491 - 2477
Sahure
2375 - 2345
Unas
2345 - 2181 Dynasty VI
2278 - 2184
Pepi II
First
Intermediate
Period
2181 - 2040 BC
2181 - 2040 Dynasties VII-X
2134 - 2060 Dynasty XI (Theban)
Middle Kingdom 2040 - 1782 BC
2060 - 1991 Dynasty XI
1991 - 1782 Dynasty XII
1897 - 1878
Sesostris II
Second
Intermediate
Period
1782 - 1570 BC
1782 - 1650 Dynasties XIII and XIV
(Egyptian)
1663 - 1555 Dynasties XV and XVI
(Hyksos)
1663 - 1570 Dynasty XVII (Theban)
8
Egyptian Medicine
9
New Kingdom
1570 - 1070 BC
1
Introduction
1570 - 1293
1518 -1504
1504
-
1450
1498 - 1483
1453 - 1419
1419 - 1386
1386 - 1349
1350 -1334
1336 - 1334
1334 - 1325
1293 - 1185
1293 - 1291
/29/ - /278
/279 - 1212
12/2 -
1202
Jl93
-
1187
1185 - 1070
Jl85
-
1/82
1182 -
1/51
]]45 -
1141
Dynasty XVIII
Tuthmosis II
Tuthmosis IJ1
Hatshepsut
Amenophis II
Tuthmosis IV
Amenophis III
Amenophis IV (Akhena1en)
Srnenkhkare
Tutallkhamun
Dynasty XIX
Ramesses I
Seti I
Ramesses II
Merneptah
Siptah
Dynasty XX
Sethnakhte
Ramesses
III
Ramesses V
Research into the medicine and diseases of ancient Egypt involves the
study of many aspects of its civilisation. The study of literary sources
and artistic representations in painting and sculpture, as well as the
examination of skeletal remains and mummies, has yielded a wealth of
material. In addition, the wider interaction between ancient disease and
the contemporary environment involves the studies of architecture and
town planning, clothing, nutrition, agriculture and animal husbandry,
commerce and travel.
Medicine is both an art and a science. The art of restoring and
preserving health is as old as life itself but the science of discovering
and analysing the process of disease is little more than a century old and
could not have been accomplished without parallel advances in tech-
nology. Modern medicine is greatly assisted by diagnostic techniques
such as radiography, computed tomography, electron and light
microscopy, serology and endoscopy, all of which have been applied to
ancient Egyptian remains. It is now possible not only to blood-group
mummies but to extract DNA by molecular cloning, to analyse trace
elements in teeth by atomic absorption spectrometry, to measure metal
levels in bone by X-ray fluorescence and to computerise all these de-
tails into the International Mummy Data Base held at the Manchester
Museum.
The application of modern techniques to the study of Egyptian re-
mains has enabled new diagnoses to be made and, in some cases, the
old ones to be redefined. During the 1960s, for example, extensive
radiological examination of a series of mummies revealed skeletal
evidence of a very rare inherited disease called alkaptonuria, which
deposits a characteristic black pigment into the spine. This pigment
was seen in almost a quarter of the mummies X-rayed, although in
modern society alkaptonuria occurs in only one person in five million.
Expert papers were written which offered explanations for this remark-
ably high frequency of alkaptonuria in ancient Egypt. Twenty years
later, a new technique called nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
demonstrated a molecular similarity between the black spinal pigment
and juniper resin - an embalmer's material.
This book is not simply a history of Egyptian medicine.
It
is an
attempt to present an overview of health and disease in ancient Egypt
and to outline important developments in the practice of medicine.
Hypothetical or unsubstantiated data have not been included but evi-
dence from modern scientific research has been quoted where this re-
Third
Intermediate
Period
1070 - 713 DC
1070 - 945
945-712
828-712
724 - 713
Dynasty XXI
Dynasty XXII
Dynasty XXIII
Dynasty XXIV
Late Period
713 - 332 BC
713 - 656
664 - 525
570
- 526
525 - 404
525 - 522
521-486
404 - 399
399 - 380
380 - 343
Dynasty XXV (Nubian)
Dynasty XXVI
Ahniose II
Dynasty XXVIl (Persian)
Camhyses
Darius I
Dynasty XXVIII
Dynasty XXIX
Dynasty XXX
(Egyptian/Persian)
G raeco-Roman
Period
332 DC - AD 395
332 - 30
205
-
180
51 - 30
30 -
AD
395
Ptolernies
Ptolemy V
Cleopatra Vll
Roman Emperors
Byzantine Period AD 323 - 642
Islamic Period
AD 642 - 1517
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