The papyrus was written in Ancient Egypt in c. 1550 BCE, during the late Second Intermediate Period or early New Kingdom, but it is believed to have been copied from earlier Egyptian texts. The Ebers Papyrus is a 110-page scroll, which is about 20 meters long.[1]
One side of another document, the Carlsberg papyrus VIII, is identical to the Ebers Papyrus, though the provenance of the former is unknown.[2]
Medical knowledge
The treatment for asthma suggested in the Ebers papyrus is a mixture of herbs heated on a brick so that the patient could inhale their fumes
The Ebers Papyrus is written in hieratic Egyptian writing and represents the most extensive and best-preserved record of ancient Egyptian medicine known.[3]
The scroll contains some 700 magical formulas and folk remedies.[4] It contains many incantations meant to turn away disease-causing demons and there is also evidence of a long tradition of empiricism.[5]
The papyrus contains a "treatise on the heart". It notes that the heart is the centre of the blood supply, with vessels attached for every member of the body.
The ancient Egyptians seem to have known little about the kidneys and made the heart the meeting point of a number of vessels which carried all the fluids of the body—blood, tears, urine and semen.
Mental disorders are detailed in a chapter of the papyrus called the Book of Hearts. Disorders such as depression and dementia are covered. The descriptions of these disorders suggest that Egyptians conceived of mental and physical diseases in much the same way.
The papyrus contains chapters on contraception, diagnosis of pregnancy and other gynecological matters, intestinal disease and parasites, eye and skin problems,[6] dentistry, the surgical treatment of abscesses and tumors, bone-setting, and burns.
The "channel theory" was prevalent at the time of writing of the Ebers papyrus; it suggested that unimpeded flow of bodily fluids is a prerequisite for good health.
The Ebers papyrus may be considered a precursor of ancient Greek humeral pathology and the subsequently established theory of humorism, providing a historical connection between ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and medieval medicine.[6]
Examples of medical remedies
Examples of remedies in the Ebers Papyrus include:
Birth control: "To prevent conception, smear a paste of dates, acacia, and honey to wool and apply as a pessary."[7]
Guinea-worm disease: "Wrap the emerging end of the worm around a stick and slowly pull it out." 3,500 years later, this remains the standard treatment.[9]
Bleary eyes: Combine the following ingredients into a paste to apply to the bleary eyed patient. "Myrrh, Onions, Verdigris, and Cyperus from the North, with Antelope dung, Clear Oil, and Entrails of the qadit animal. This could be painted on with a Vulture's feather."[10]
To drive Blood from the eyes: create two substances one from powdered fruit of the donpalm and milk of a woman who has borne a son. The other Cow's Milk. Then in the morning bathe both eyes from the first mixture then wash the eyes with the Cow's milk four times for six days.
Xanthelasma: Use a combination of red lead, Goose Grease, and Ginger to coat the eyes with.[11]
Pterygium: apply a mixture of red lead, powdered wood from Arabia, Iron from Apollonopolis parvis, Calamine, Egg of an ostrich, Saltpeter from upper Egypt, Sulfur, and honey to the eyes.[12]
Trichiasis: Combine Myrrh, Lizard's blood, Bat's Blood and then tear out the Hairs and Put thereon in order to make him well. Then use a mixture of Incense ground in lizard's dung, Cow's blood, Donkey's Blood, Pig's blood, Dog's blood, Stag's blood, Collyrium, and Incense to prevent the hair from growing back into the eye after being pulled out.[13]
Blindness: Use two eyes of a pig with the water removed from them, True Collyrium, red lead, and Wild Honey to create a powder and inject it into the ear. while mixing you must repeat "I HAVE BROUGHT THIS THING AND PUT IT IN ITS PLACE. THE CROCODILE IS WEAK AND POWER- LESS. (Twice)."[14]
Constipation: Chew bits of berry along with beer and it will relieve the constipation.[15]
Migraines: A clay effigy of a crocodile with herbs stuffed into its mouth was firmly bound to the head of the patient by a linen strip.[16] The linen strip is inscribed with the names of Egyptian gods.[16] This treatment was said to get rid of the ghosts and demons that were causing the pain.[17] This remedy likely reduced the pain by cold compression of the head.[18]
Headaches: Combine the inner of an onion, fruit of the am tree, natron, setseft seeds, cooked bones of a swordfish, cooked redfish, cooked crayfish skull, honey, and abra ointment. Apply to the head for four days.[19]
Bilharzia/Hookworm: warm the Jochauflegung of the sau wood in oil and give to the patient.[22]
To strengthen the nervous system: use a poultice of flesh of a fat cow applied to the body part which needs the strengthening.[23]
Coryza: "Spit it out, thou Slime, Son of Slime: Grasp the bones, touch the skull, smear with tallow, give the patient, seven openings in the head, serve the god Ra, thank the god Thoth. Then I brought thy remedy for thee, thy drink for thee, to drive away, to heal it: Milk-of-a-Woman-who-has-Borne-a-Son and Fragrant Bread. The Foulness rises form out the Earth! The Foulness!(Four times). to be spoken over the Milk-of-a-Woman-who-has-Borne-a-Son and Fragrant Bread. put in the nose."[24]
One of the more common remedies described in the papyrus is ochre, or medicinal clay. It is prescribed for intestinal and eye complaints. Yellow ochre is also described as a remedy for urological complaints.[25]
Animal repellents
The use of animal and insect repellents derived from plants and other organisms found in nature is known from the time of the Ebers Papyrus. Several examples of such repellents can be found in the text.[26]
To prevent fleas and lice, Egyptians would mix in date-meal and water in bowls and cook the mixture until warm. They would then drink it and spit it out.[27]
To protect their grain from rodents and vermin, they would spread gazelle dung and mice urine around the fire in the granary.[27]
Calendar
In the time of Amenhotep I a calendar table was written on the verso side of the papyrus.[28] Since 1906 we have a transcript by Kurt Sethe. Some rate this table to be "the most valuable chronological tool from Egypt that we are ever likely to possess".[28]
The source of the papyrus is unknown, but it was said to have been found between the legs of a mummy in the El-Assasif district of the Thebannecropolis.
The papyrus remained in the collection of Edwin Smith until at least 1869, when there appeared—in the catalog of an antiquities dealer—an advertisement for "a large medical papyrus in the possession of Edwin Smith, an American farmer of Luxor."[29]
In 1875, Ebers published a facsimile with an English-Latin vocabulary and introduction. It was not until 1890, however, that it was translated by H. Joachim. In the early 1900s, Dr. Carl H. von Klein, alongside his daughter Edith Zitelmann, created a direct-to-English translation of the Ebers Papyrus.[30] Ebers retired from his chair of Egyptology at Leipzig on a pension and the papyrus remained in the University of Leipzig library. An English translation of the papyrus was published by Paul Ghalioungui. The papyrus was published and translated by different researchers.
The Ebers Papyrus is available online, at a dedicated website, with translations in English and German.[31]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ebers Papyrus.
^Gantenbein, Andreas (2013). Multidisciplinary Management of Migraine: Pharmalogical, Manual, and Other Therapies (1st ed.). Burlington, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett. pp. 67–69.
^Silberstein, Stephen D. (2005). Atlas of Migraines and Other Headaches (2nd ed.). London: Taylor & Francis. pp. 13–31.
^Smith, Grafton (1974). Ancient Egyptian medicine : the Papyrus Ebers. Chicago: Ares Publishing. p. 60.
^Smith, Grafton (1974). Ancient Egyptian medicine : the Papyrus Ebers. Chicago: Ares Publisher. p. 68.
Pommerening, Tanja (2005). "Altägyptische Hohlmaße Metrologisch neu Interpretiert". Die altägyptischen Hohlmaße. studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur Beiheft 10 (in German). Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. ISBN978-3-87548-411-3.
Pommerening, Tanja (2005). "relevant pharmaceutical and medical knowledge, an abstract, Phillips-Universitat, Marburg, 8-11-2004". Die altägyptischen Hohlmaße. studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur Beiheft 10 (in German). Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. ISBN978-3-87548-411-3.
