Medicine Through Time- Egyptian medicine Flashcards
What was ancient Egypt like?
It was a wealthy and stable community, with a focus on farming and on religion. There were specialist roles for people, and they also had the use of writing and calculation to pass on knowledge. They were also a massive trading center.
How did ancient Egyptian government aid medicine?
King-priests called pharaohs ruled Egypt.
They employed palace physicians (experts such as Imhotep and Irj).
How did ancient Egyptian society aid medicine?
Farming.
The first towns, laws and social conventions.
Specialisation of roles (eg carpenters, scribes).
Observation of irrigation channels by farmers led eventually to the Channel Theory. Basic hygiene habits, such as use of latrines and baths, developed. A role for doctors emerged.
How did ancient Egyptian religion aid medicine?
This dominated people’s thinking, and required temples, priests, and rituals such as mummification.
Mummification advanced priests’ knowledge of internal organs (and improved bandaging).
Professional doctors developed from the priesthood.
The idea of cleanliness was a religious, not a medical, concept in Egyptian society.
How did ancient Egyptian writing and calculation aid medicine?
So that it could send its orders all over the country, the Egyptian government developed a form of writing, called hieroglyphs, on papyrus.
The government collected taxes, organised land-ownership, measured the flooding of the Nile, and built pyramids, so the Egyptians learned to count.
There were teaching books for doctors and ‘look-up’ books of remedies.
They carefully measured out their medicines, and developed courses of treatment over time.
How did ancient Egyptian trade and travel aid medicine?
The Egyptians traded all over the known world.
Traders brought back healing herbs and spices from everywhere they went to.
Egyptian medical knowledge spread all over the known world, and Egyptian doctors became famous.
How did ancient Egyptian observation aid medicine?
Egyptians observed the stars, the seasons and the behaviour of the Nile.
Most of all, they carefully observed the state of the irrigation channels that watered their crops.
Priests/doctors observed the internal organs of the body during mummification.
They observed patients carefully as part of their diagnosis.
They observed and recorded whether their cures worked or not.
Most importantly, the example of irrigation channels led them to develop the Channel Theory of illness.
What knowledge of anatomy did the ancient Egyptians have?
Archaeologists have discovered papyri that show that the Egyptians had a good knowledge of bone structure, and had some understanding of breathing, the pulse, the brain and the liver.
What was the channel theory?
The Egyptians developed a theory of physiology that saw the heart as the centre of a system of 46 tubes, or ‘channels’. They failed, though, to realise that the different tubes (veins, intestines, lungs etc) had specific purposes.
How did irrigation systems aid the development of medicine?
Having observed the damage done to farmers’ fields when an irrigation channel became blocked, the Egyptians developed the idea that disease occurred when an evil spirit called the Wehedu blocked one of the body’s ‘channels’. This was a crucial breakthrough in the history of medicine, because it led doctors to abandon purely spiritual cures for illness, and instead to try practical cures designed simply to unblock the channel.
What were surgery like in Ancient Egypt?
They could reset dislocated joints, and they could mend broken bones. Egyptian doctors were excellent at bandaging - we know that they bound willow leaves into the bandages of patients with inflamed wounds (willow has antiseptic properties). They could also stitch wounds.Archaeologists have found stone carvings in Egypt showing surgical instruments, and there are Egyptian papyri which speak of cautery and surgery. Egyptian surgery, however, did not venture inside the body.
Why were successful surgical operations difficult for them?
Egyptians doctors did not have anaesthetics, and had only herbal antiseptics - so successful surgical operations would have been extremely difficult for them to perform.
What measurements did ancient Egyptians use when making medicine?
The doctors made their medicines carefully, using a unit of measurement called a ro.
How did ancient Egyptians attempt to make a diagnosis?
The Egyptians examined their patients, and made their diagnosis, with reference to medical textbooks. These advised the doctors how to do the examination, and what a patient’s disease might be. The doctors asked questions, took the patient’s pulse, and touched the affected part.
What cures did they have?
For many ailments they had practical treatments using natural substances. Many of their cures were based on what historians call the ‘Channel Theory’. They thought that they could unblock the ‘channels’ of the body by making people vomit, or bleed, or empty their bowels, and that this would cure sickness. Some of their cures used what we call today sympathetic magic. Many cures included a spell to give power to the remedy.
What was the public health like?
The ancient Egyptians used baths and toilets, and took care over personal cleanliness and appearance (including eye make-up). However, this was probably more motivated by the desire to keep up appearances for social reasons than for reasons of health and hygiene. The ancient Egyptians used mosquito nets. However, this was perhaps simply so that mosquitoes wouldn’t bite them, not to prevent malaria.
What factors did religion play in public health?
Priests, for religious reasons, kept themselves scrupulously clean. They regularly washed themselves, their clothes and their cups.
What were the believes of Egyptian doctors?
Egyptian doctors believed that the gods caused disease, but that they did so by disturbing the normal workings of the body. So, alongside their prayers and spiritual remedies, the doctors developed practical cures to put the body right. The Egyptians were the first people to develop the profession of medicine.
How did religion aid medicine in Ancient Egypt?
Mummification led to advances in knowledge of anatomy, and led to good bandaging skills.
Healer-priests gradually evolved into professional doctors.
Cleanliness was important to Egyptians for religious reasons.
How did religion hinder medicine in Ancient Egypt?
Religion channelled money and thought away from practical medicine. Much medicine was still done by magicians and priests. Egyptians did not understand the medical significance of cleanliness. Some charms were downright unhealthy.
