During the time of the great Egyptian Pharaohs, it was thought by that society that at least thirty-six demons governed the body, each being responsible for a specific region. The physician was obliged to neutralise the evil with the help of priests before the medical treatment could begin. This is very similar to the ancient Sumerian and Babylonian practice and belief hundreds of years earlier.
The main sources of information about Egyptian medicine are contained in the Kahun (2000bc), Ebers and Edwin Smith Papyrus (1600bc) and these detailed gynaecological procedures, diagnosis, diseases and head injuries.
Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus 1825bc
The Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus (1825bc) was written during the reign of Amnemhat III, in the middle kingdom of Egypt’s chronology.
As the name suggests itdetailed gynaecological procedures. It was found at El-Lahun by Flinders Petrie in 1889. Petrie is commonly known to Egyptologists as the father of Pots.
First translated by F.L Griffith in 1893 and published in the Petri Papyri from Kahun and Gurob.41
The text is divided into thirty-four sections, each section dealing with a specific problem and containing diagnosis and treatment, no prognosis is suggested. Treatments are non surgical, comprising applying medicines to the affected body part or swallowing them. The womb is at times seen as the source of complaints manifesting themselves in other body parts.42
The alphabet was one thing when applied to clay or stone, and quite another when set down on light papyrusMarshall McLuhan