Ancient Egypt: Medicine and Medicine

Even in ancient times, representatives of some civilizations reached such heights in some areas of knowledge, which is even hard to believe in today. And some technological secrets of our predecessors are unknown to modern scientists. One of such amazing civilizations was ancient Egypt. Medicine, mathematics, astronomy, and construction have reached a very high level. And the topic of this article will be specifically doctoring.

Ancient Egypt: Medicine and Religious Views

Everything that was done here was inextricably linked with religious beliefs. In general, this state of affairs is characteristic of many ancient civilizations. It was believed that the medicine of Egypt was the brainchild of the god of wisdom Thoth, who created for the people 32 Hermetic books, six of which were devoted to medicine. Unfortunately, the news of this treasure of ancient knowledge came to us only in indirect references. The very works were lost.

Ancient Egypt: Medicine and Biological Knowledge

In addition to these books, knowledge of biology and anatomy existed on papyri. The most famous of them are Smith and Ebers papyri. They came down to us from the middle of the second century. BC. Ebers Papyrus contains general medical topics, prescriptions and prescriptions. In Smith's legacy, valuable information about the treatment of bruises and wounds is described. In addition, archaeologists have also found individual works on gynecology and pediatrics. However, the medicine of ancient Egypt Had also weaknesses. Despite the constant practice of opening and embalming the deceased, knowledge about the anatomy of the human body and its physiology has not been particularly developed. First of all, this was due to the existence of many prohibitions on the dead body. They significantly hampered its study. Actually, embalming was not even done by doctors, but by individual specialists, for whom the body was not of interest in terms of treating diseases.

Ancient Egypt: Medicine and Disease Treatment

Up to modern days, texts have come that contain quite full information about various diseases, as well as the ways of their treatment. At the same time, the idea of human ailments, which were based on the ideas of introducing into sick evil spirits, hindered the development of medicine. Other reasons could include poisoning and weather. Therefore, the most important component of the treatment were magical rituals and conspiracies. In surgery, only simple procedures were performed: the application of tires, the direction of dislocations. And yet the diagnosis was fairly well developed. So, the Egyptians have learned to determine the pulse in different arteries. They had a fairly complete idea of blood circulation, they realized the importance of the heart. What has reached the heights in ancient Egypt is pharmacology, which existed in the form of various types of medicinal potions. A fairly large number of drugs were known. Their necessary doses for various diseases have been clarified. For example, olive, castor oil, opium and saffron are used today.