| Healing Shrines and Oracle Services Healing shrines in ancient Egypt and later Greece were also repositories for the medical literature which was quite advanced by this time. In The Healing Gods of Ancient Civilizations, Jayne writes: “On the walls of sanctuaries were inscriptions and votive tablets in commemoration of miraculous cures, and roundabout, within the sacred precincts, were steles and statues erected by former patients in grateful recognition of cures affected by the divinity.” At Heliopolis a library with a ‘hall of rolls’ was found in the temple of Ptah. (15) At Edfu, a library was found containing inscriptions mentioning books which it contained for the “turning aside of the cause of disease.” (16) Clement of Alexandria also mentions the “forty-two books of Hermes containing the whole philosophy of the Egyptians, six of which are medical, by the Pastophoroi (image-bearers), -- treating of the structure of the body, and of diseases, and instruments, and medicines, and about the eyes.” (17) The Edwin Smith Papyrus dates from about 1600 BC to 1700 BC and, according to J.H. Breasted in 1922, was regarded as the “oldest nucleus of really scientific knowledge in the world,” which “contains incomparably the most important body of medical knowledge which has survived to us from ancient Egypt, or, for that matter, from the ancient Orient anywhere.” (18) All kinds of drugs made from herbal concoctions were used both internally and externally and it was commonly believed the higher number of combined drugs, the more effective the therapy due to increased potency, leading to lengthy prescriptions which were meticulously applied with accompanying prayers and incantations. The Eber’s Papyrus mentions the “words to be said in the preparing of medicines for all parts of the body of the patient.” (19) There are “chapters for drinking remedies” (20) and for applying them externally. (21) It was believed that remedies lacking magical elements were useless or resulted in failure to cure. (22) Healing and magic had developed alongside each other since the earliest times in Egypt. (23) In the Ebers Papyrus it is written: “Magic is effective together with medicine. Medicine is effective together with magic.” (24) The city of Nineveh was originally settled around 6000 BC, and became the largest city in the world for fifty years at one point, until 650 BC. Egyptian prescriptions have been found in the archives of Nineveh, which we refer to as the Library of Ashurbanipal (25) The Library of Ashurbanipal, dating from this same period of 650 BC, discovered around 1850 AD, contained 30,000 clay tablets of text from ancient history, very similar to what would have been stored at the Library of Alexandria. Fortunately, we still have many of these texts, although most have not been deciphered yet. Among them are not less than 800 medical texts, many of which are copies from originals at the libraries of Chaldea, or tablets of ancient Sumer and Akkad. (26) The discovery of these documents have allowed modern man to peer into the ancient world of magico-pharmacological philosophies and practices. (27) The libraries contained rituals and incantations for all kinds of illnesses with treatments which had been proven effective over time. The deities were always invoked and applied to for aid, and the ceremony and formula were very specific. It was believed that only the proper formulas and its correct application could alleviate the troubled. (28) |
Herodotus, writing on the Egyptian specialization of medicine says: “The practice of medicine is very specialized among them. Each physician treats just one disease. The country is full of physicians, some treat the eye, some the teeth, some, of what belongs to the abdomen, and others internal diseases.” (29) Leaves from plants, such as willow, sycamore, acacia (30) or the ym-tree, were used in poultices. (31) Tannic Acid derived from acacia seeds was useful for cooling the vessels (32) and healing burns. (33) The earliest recorded abortion recipes as well as those for contraceptive substances date from 2700 BC, and are inscribed on Egyptian papyrus scrolls. (34) The Egyptians were likely the first to practice circumcision as depicted on some of their wall glyphs. It’s possible that opiates were used for general anesthesia, but this is disputed by some scholars. (Of course) The term “Spn” is thought to possibly pertain to the poppy plant and is mentioned in some Egyptian medical literature. (35) We do know that they used hashish as a painkiller in gynecological and related operations. (36) Egyptian medicine and proper dosing was specific. From MedicalHistoryTour.com the following is quoted: “In the later medical papyri, over two-thirds of prescriptions for internal use specified a dose. When compared to a rate of only 15 percent in the earlier Kahun Papyrus, we have the suggestion of an evolving pharmacology that incorporated ideas of dose-response and toxicity. (15) Wilkinson, J. G. Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, 3 Vol. London, 1837 (16) Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata, vi, 4 (17) Apples of Apollo, p. 33-34 (18) ibid, p. 35; J.H. Breasted, “The Edwin Smith Papyrus,” in New York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin, April, 1922 (19) Ebers Papyrus, p. 1) (Joachim, H. Papyrus Ebers Das alteste Buch uber Heilkunde Berlin, 1890 (20) Brugsch Papyrus, p. 20, line 9) (F.J. Chabas, “La Medecine des anciens Egyptiens,” in ME, 1 ser., 1862, p. 67 (21) Ebers Papyrus, I, 1-11 (22) Muller, Mythology, Egyptian, p. 83, 199 (23) Apples of Apollo, p. 44; Foucart, in ERE iv, 750 (24) Ebers Papyrus (25) Healing Gods, p. 52 (26) ibid; Jastrow, Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, New York, 1911, pp. 110-111 (27) Healing Gods, p. 105-06 (28) ibid, p. 106-107 (29) Herodotus, Histories 2,84 (30) e.g. pEbers 105, 415, Extracts from the Ebers medical papyrus (31) e.g. pSmith 46, The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus (32) e.g. pHearst 95, 249 (33)http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/ timelines/topics/medicine.htm (34) The Great Cosmic Mother, p. 203 (35)http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/ timelines/topics/medicine.htm (36) The Kahun Gynaecological papyrus |