Ancient Egyptian Medicine

Question 1

When was Egypt great?

Answer 1

c3400BC-30BC

Question 2

What was the Egyptian civilisation like?

Answer 2

Agricultural, spread along the Nile

Question 3

What was important about the Nile?

Answer 3

It flooded every year, the silt it left behind was a rich fertiliser.It provided water for irrigation of crops. It was the main transport route.

Question 4

What was the significance of the fertility of the land?

Answer 4

The land was so fertile that not everyone had to work it to produce enough food. This left people free to be doctors and/or priests, or pyramid builders.

Question 5

What was the main route of communication in Egypt?

Answer 5

The Nile.

Question 6

Was Egypt prehistoric?

Answer 6

No, ancient Egypt had writing.

Question 7

What caused illness in the Egyptian view?

Answer 7

The gods.

Question 8

What was used to cure illness?

Answer 8

Amulets, charms, rituals.

Question 9

Who was the goddess of war?

Answer 9

Sekhmet

Question 10

Why was Sekhmet important for medicine?

Answer 10

She sent and cured epidemics.

Question 11

Who was the god who gave doctors the ability to cure?

Answer 11

Thoth

Question 12

Who was Imhotep?

Answer 12

Pharoah Zoser’s doctor in about 2630BC

Question 13

What happened to Imhotep after he died?

Answer 13

He became the god of healing.

Question 14

What was the status of doctors in ancient Egypt?

Answer 14

They were respected.

Question 15

What book contained the accepted treatments and spells?

Answer 15

The books of Thoth.

Question 16

Do we have the books of Thoth?

Answer 16

No, we only have the Papyrus Ebers which contains spells and potions probably taken from the books of Thoth

Question 17

Did the Egyptians have any drugs that worked?

Answer 17

Yes, they had eg Opium which is still used today (morphine)

Question 18

How were the drugs believed to be working?

Answer 18

The drugs were probably seen as driving away the evil spirits rather than affecting the way the body worked.

Question 19

What are the instructions in Papyrus Ebers like?

Answer 19

Very exact, it tells exactly what medicine to give and what words to use in incantation and what to say to the patient.

Question 20

What is diagnosis?

Answer 20

Observing the patient to work out what is wrong; recognising the signs and symptoms that go with an illness.

Question 21

Why do we believe that the Egyptians felt diagnosis was important?

Answer 21

Egyptian writings survive that include diagnosis as part of their ritual.

Question 22

Why is diagnosis important?

Answer 22

It is vital to work out what is actually wrong before you can fix it.

Question 23

Why did the Egyptians mummify?

Answer 23

They believed that the body was needed in the afterlife.

Question 24

Why did the Egyptians bury grave goods with their dead?

Answer 24

They believed that the dead would need their possessions in the afterlife.

Question 25

How were bodies prepared for mummification?

Answer 25

The soft tissues were removed, eg brains and intestines, and the bodies were dried out using salt. (Using osmosis to draw the water out of body cells)

Question 26

How much information of anatomy was obtained in ancient Egypt?

Answer 26

Some, but destroying a body meant the person had no afterlife, so dissection was not possible.

Question 27

Did the Egyptians attempt surgery?

Answer 27

Yes, some, a papyrus written around 1600BC has some surgical procedures.

Question 28

What other evidence do we have for Egyptian surgery?

Answer 28

The temple of Kom Obo (100BC) has carvings of surgical instruments.

Question 29

What medicines were used that we know worked?

Answer 29

Willow bark (contains Aspirin); Opium (contains morphine)

Question 30

How did the River Nile affect thinking about the body?

Answer 30

Some people thought the body contained channels like the irrigation channels of the Nile.

Question 31

How did the channels idea explain disease?

Answer 31

Disease was caused by blocked channels. This led to using vomiting, purging (laxatives) and bleeding to try to cure disease. That may well have helped in some cases.

Question 32

Was the channel theory universally accepted?

Answer 32

No, and the people who believed them still believed that disease came from gods.

Question 33

What was the Egyptian view of the link between diet and disease?

Answer 33

They knew diet was important, and medical procedures included recommended foods.

Question 34

What was the Egyptian view of hygiene?

Answer 34

The bathed, shaved their heas, had toilets, and changed their clothes. These acts seem to have had spiritual significance

Question 35

Why do we believe that being clean had spiritual significance?

Answer 35

Priests washed more than other people, and shaved their whole bodies before important ceremonies.

Question 36

How did the Egyptians deal with human wastes?

Answer 36

They had toilets, but no water-fed sewers, so toilets had to be emptied by hand.

Question 37

What did the Egyptians do about malaria?

Answer 37

They used mosquito nets, which are still vital today.