Ancient Egypt 3000BC-500BC Flashcards
Who were the main healers in ancient Egypt?
Doctors, priests and mothers or wives.
How were Egyptian treatments similar to prehistoric treatments?
They too used charms to ward away evil spirits and trephining to release them. They also believed in using honey as an ingredient in herbal remedies. There was a mixture of natural and supernatural treatments.
How were Egyptian doctors trained?
They studied medical papyri that recorded cases and treatments.
Some were general doctors, treating soldiers or labourers on huge building projects, whilst others were specialists.
One thing they all had in common was using a variety of treatments- herbal remedies, simple surgery, charms, prayers and chants.
Why did specialist doctors develop?
The Pharaoh and his lords were very rich and could afford to spend money employing their own doctors. This meant that the doctors themselves were then wealthy enough to spend their time improving their medical knowledge, studying papyrus paper and discussing medical cases.
Give an example of a specialist doctor.
The Pharoah’s physician, Ir-en-akhty.
He specialised in eye diseases and problems in the stomach and rectum.
What parts of the anatomy did Egyptian doctors know about, although they did not necessarily know what each did?
The heart, lungs, liver, brain, veins, arteries, muscles and many bones.
How did Egyptian doctors learn about the anatomy?
By examining wounded soldiers or workers injured on building projects.
Through embalming, or mummification: the process of removing and preserving the body’s organs after death.
Why did mummification not always lead to the development of medical knowledge?
Embalmers were regarded as ‘unclean’ and were cut off from contact with other people so they could not have passed on information about the body.
Why did the Egyptian not learn about the body through dissection?
Their religion stated that the body was needed in the afterlife and so to cut it up was forbidden.
What treatments were used in ancient Egypt?
Herbal treatments- local ingredients such as honey but also others through trade (e.g. Cinnamon and pepper came from India and China, and malachite from North Africa).
Bleeding and purging patients to unblock blocked channels.
Simple surgery on the outside of the body (stronger and sharper bronze surgical instruments thanks to improved metal-working skills).
Trephining/Trepanning
Burnt offerings and charms to gods.
What did Egyptians believe were the causes of illness?
Gods and evils spirits.
Channels in the body becoming blocked.
What was the Egyptian Channel Theory?
This was a natural explanation for illness. They knew that the body contained veins and arteries which carried blood around the body. They compared these with the River Nile and the channels that they used for irrigating their crops. If the irrigation channels were blocked, water would not flow and the crops would die. In the same way, they believed that a cause of illness was when veins and arteries in the human body became blocked. Therefore, treatments for illnesses involved making the patient bleed, vomit, or empty their bowels (purging).
In what ways did the Egyptians aim to prevent illness?
Kept clean (to stay at peace with the gods and spirits). People used scented oils and ointments as soap, and women shaved their bodies with bronze razors. Richer homes contained a room for washing and bathing but with no plumbing. Waste water ran into stone drains in the street. Toilets for the poor consisted of a wooden stool with a hole cut in it, and limestone seats over a pit for the rich.
What did the Pharaoh and his government do to protect people from illnesses?
Nothing. Keeping clean was up to each individual.
How did war impact Egyptian medicine?
They found out more about the components of the body through tending to wounded soldiers.
Egyptian workers improved their metal-working skills by making weapons for use in war.
