Medicine in the Days of the Pharaohs

By Bruno Halioua

At the temple of Kom Ombo near Aswan, an enigmatic frieze depicts the deified pharaoh Imhotep receiving a set of elaborate implements, some of which strikingly resemble modern surgical instruments: side by side with eye-of-Horus amulets one finds what surely must be forceps. Evidence of the medical practice of ancient Egypt has come down to us not only in pictorial art but also in papyrus scrolls, in funerary inscriptions, and in the mummified bodies of ancient Egyptians themselves. Bruno Halioua and Bernard Ziskind provide a comprehensive account of pharaonic medicine that is illuminated by what modern science has discovered about the lives (and deaths) of people from all walks of life - farmers, fishermen, miners, soldiers, scribes and priests, embalmers, construction workers, bakers, prostitutes. From mummies and medical papyri we are able to recognize the aches of osteoarthritis, imagine the occupational hazards faced by press-ganged stonemasons, and learn of the gynecological complaints of courtesans. most enduring questions about life and death in antiquity: about physicians whose skills predate Hippocrates by twenty-five centuries and were first made famous by Homer, about the remedies and techniques they employed, at once strange and strangely familiar, about the men, women, and children they treated, and about the diseases and injuries they were called upon to heal.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674017021
• ISBN13: 9780674017023
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Belknap Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.0" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Medically Treating People in Ancient Egypt

In this very interesting book on medical practice in ancient Egypt, the authors discuss everything from the training of the different levels of medical practitioners to the procedures and substances used to treat various medical conditions to the types of ailments and injuries that people in various occupations would be at risk of acquiring. There are many details about the many substances that were used to treat a variety of medical conditions, as well as how these were to be taken or applied. In view of this, and the fact that both authors are physicians, perhaps all that is missing from this book are comments from the authors on the current thinking about the expected effectiveness (or lack thereof) of these many substances in treating the conditions for which they were prescribed. Complete with beautiful color pictures and written in a very clear style, I believe that this work would be a valuable addition to any library on ancient Egypt.