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Ancient Egyptian medicine employed advanced
surgical practices, while the prevention and
treatment of diseases relied mostly on natural
remedies and magical incantations. In the first
of three volumes. The Medicine ofthe Ancient
Egyptians explores these two different aspects,
using textual sources and physical evidence to
cast light on the state of ancient medical
knowledge and practice and the hardships
of everyday lite experienced by the inhabitants
of the land on the Nile.
The first part of the book focuses on
ancient Egyptian surgery, drawing mainly
on cases described in the Edwin Smith papyrus,
which details a number of injuries listed by
type and severin’. These demonstrate the
rational approach employed by ancient
ihysicians in the treatment of injured patients.
\dditional surgical cases are drawn from the
Ebers papyrus.
Tire chapters that follow cover gynecology,
obstetrics, and pediatric cases, with translations
from the Kahun gynecological papyrus
and other medical texts, illustrating a wide
range of ailments that women and young
children suffered in antiquity, and how
they were treated.
Illustrated with more than sixty photographs
and line drawings, The Medicine ofthe Ancient
Egyptians is highly recommended reading
for scholars of ancient Egyptian medicine and
magic, as well as for paleopathologists, medical
historians, and physical anthropologists.
 I
EUGEN STROUHAL is a physician,
anthropologist, and archaeologist, one
of the founders of the field of paleopathology
Since 1961 he has collaborated with a
number of archaeological expeditions in
Egypt. He is the author of sixteen books
and 350 articles.

BRETISLAV VACHALA is an Egyptologist

and archaeologist at Charles University
in Prague. Since 1979 he has participated
in archaeological expeditions of the Czech
Institute of Egyptology to Egypt.

HANA VYMAZALOVA studied Egyptolog;

and logic at Charles University in Prague.
She is a member of the Czech Institute of
Egyptology and since 2006 has participated
in archaeological expeditions to Egypt.

Front: The Kahun Gynecological Papyrus (Twelfth

Dynasty', Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology).
Back: In childbirth, which took place in a squatting
position, the mother is supported from both sides
by the goddess Hathor (Ptolemaic Period, Egyptian
Museum, Cairo). Photograph bv M. Zemina.

Jacket design studio medlikova

I
Printed in Egypt
 I

THE
MEDICINE
OF THE
ANCIENT
EGYPTIANS
 3° STX\

THE
a
MEDICINE
OF THE
ANCIENT
EGYPTIANS
1: SURGERY, GYNECOLOGY,
OBSTETRICS, AND PEDIATRICS

Eugen Strouhal
Bfetislav Vachala
Hana Vymazalova

______ 48/oxi 15

COLLEGE DE FRANCE
Cabinet d'Egypiologie
Inventaire B . 3/1............
The American University in Cairo Press
Cairo New York
Page ii: A bronze statue of Imhotep, a famous Egyptian sage and legendary physician. Imhotep was
the architect of the earliest stone (step) pyramid of King Netjerikhet Djoser in Saqqara from the Third
Dynasty. In later times, he was deified and venerated as the patron of medicine. (Ptolemaic to
Roman Period, Egyptian Museum, Cairo UE 38048], photo: M. Zemina)

The publisher wishes to thank Lisa Sabbahy for her kind help with the preparation of this book.

First published in English in 2014 by

The American University in Cairo Press
113 Sharia Kasr el Aini, Cairo, Egypt
420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
www.aucpress.com

Copyright © 2010,2014 by Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts

Originally published as Lekafavf starych Egypt'anu I in 2010 by Academia, Prague

Translated by Sean Mark Miller and Katerina Millerova

Funding for this English edition was provided by the Program for the Development of Fields of Study
at Charles University, No. 14: Archaeology of Non-European Areas, sub-program Research of
Ancient Egyptian Civilization: Cultural and Political Adaptation of the North African Civilizations in
Ancient History (5000 bc-ad 1000).

Illustrations© Hana Vymazalova, Jolana Malatkova, 2010, 2014

Photography © Archive of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in
Prague (Milan Zemina, Jan Brodsky, Kamil VodSra); Manfred Bietak; Ladislava HoraCkova;
Mohamed Megahed; Andreas G. Nerlich; Eugen Strouhal; W. Michael Pahl; Sandro Vannini; Albert
Zink; bpk/Agyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, SMB/Margarete Busing; Petrie Museum of
Egyptian Archaeology, University College London; New York Academy of Medicine, 2010, 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Exclusive distribution outside Egypt and North America by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd., 6 Salem Road,
London, W2 4BU

Darel Kutub No. 14522/13

ISBN 978 977 416 640 2

Darel Kutub Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Strouhal, Eugen
The Medicine of the Ancient Egyptians 1: Surgery, Gynecology, Obstetrics, and
Pediatrics / Eugen Strouhal, BfetislavVachala, and Hana Vymazalova.—Cairo: The American
University in Cairo Press, 2014
p. cm.
ISBN: 978 977 416 640 2
Medicine—Egypt— Antiquities
610.932

1 2 3 45 18171615 14

Designed by Sally Boylan

Printed in Egypt
 Contents

Preface vii
Acknowledgments ix

1 The Wisdom of the Ages (E. Strouhal) 1

The Texts—Key to Ancient Egyptian Medicine 3
A Selection of Monographs on Ancient Egyptian Medicine 7
The Medicine of the Ancient Egyptians Program 8

2 Papyrus Scrolls of the Egyptian Physicians

(H. Vymazalova) 11
Kahun Papyrus 12
Ramesseum Papyri 12
Edwin Smith Papyrus 13
Ebers Papyrus 14
Hearst Papyrus 15
London Papyrus BM 10059 15
Papyrus Carlsberg VIII 16
Papyrus Berlin 3038 16
Chester Beatty Papyri 17
Bookfor Mother and Child (Papyrus Berlin 3027) 17

V
 3 Ancient Egyptian Surgery (B. Vachala, E. Strouhal) 19
Medical Texts Dealing with Surgery (B. Vachala) 19
The Ingredients of the Remedies for Surgical Treatment
(H. Vymazalova) 25
Translation of the Surgical Cases (B. Vachala) 27
Surgical Treatment of Injuries and Other Illnesses (E. Strouhal) 53
Treatment with a Knife and Glowing Stick (E. Strouhal) 74
Surgeons and Their Treatments (E. Strouhal) 80

4 Mother and Child Care (H. Vymazalova, E. Strouhal) 97

Medical Texts Concerning Women and Children
(H. Vymazalova) 97
The Ingredients of Remedies for Women and Children
(H. Vymazalova) 102
Translation of the Texts (H. Vymazalova) 106
Medicine and Women (H. Vymazalova, E. Strouhal) 135
Care of Children (H. Vymazalova, E. Strouhal) 186

Brief Overview of the History of Ancient Egypt 205

Bibliography 209
Index 221

vi Contents
 Preface

s a physician, archaeologist, anthropologist, and paleopathologist, I have

been fascinated by ancient Egyptian medicine for almost half a century.
My interest in it goes back to the time of my eight years of work in the
Czechoslovak Institute of Egyptology of Charles University in Prague in the
1960s. After 1968, it further developed during my activities in the Naprstek
Museum, a part of the National Museum in Prague. In 1986 and again in 1988,1
gradually contacted two leading Czech publishing houses in Prague with the pro­
posal of a monograph on ancient Egyptian medicine, which was then lacking in
Czech or Slovak literature. The first proposal was rejected. The second attempt
was made along with the Egyptologist Bfetislav Vachala, who had offered for this
purpose his translation of some medical papyri directly from the original ancient
Egyptian texts into Czech. This enriched scientific project was not accepted either.
When I subsequently returned to Charles University in Prague (this time
to its First Faculty of Medicine), my lectures on ancient Egyptian medicine
became a regular part of the instruction of the history of medicine, and I have
lectured on this topic there to this day. Not even then did my close coopera­
tion with the Czech Institute of Egyptology end, as in the meantime the Insti­
tute had gained an excellent expert on ancient Egyptian science (in particular
mathematics) in Hana Vymazalova, so that my colleague Dr. Vachala and I
could successfully offer her participation in the research plan whose aim was
to be a three-volume compendium, The Medicine of the Ancient Egyptians.
'We are presenting the first volume, dealing with ancient Egyptian surgery,
gynecology, obstetrics, and pediatrics, with the wish that it address not only
physicians but also all those interested in the history of ancient Egypt.

vii
N.B.: The method of dating in this publication is based on Ilustrovana ency-
klopedie stareho Egypta [An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egypt]
(Verner, Bares, and Vachala 1998).

Eugen Strouhal

viii Preface
 Acknowledgments

he authors express their thanks to the New York Academy of Medicine;

the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the Petrie Museum of
Egyptian Archaeology, University College London; and the Berlin State
Museums, especially the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, for grant­
ing their rights for printing the papyri and objects from their collections.
Thanks are also owed to Dr. Filip Coppens for invaluable consultations in the
translation of difficult passages from medicine and magic texts for chapter 4. We
are grateful to Mohamed Megahed, Sandro Vannini, Dr. Michael Pahl, and Dr.
Albert Zink for providing photographs at no charge and for their priceless assis­
tance in the selection of the illustrations. We thank Jolana Malatkova for pro­
viding several drawings. Our great thanks are owed to Fatma Abdel Moneim
Megahed for inspiring consultations concerning the customs and superstitions
in connection with pregnancy and childbirth in today’s Upper Egypt.
This book has been created thanks to the support of the Czech Institute of
Egyptology of Charles University in Prague and the Ministry of Education, Youth,
and Sports of the Czech Republic. We are grateful for stimulating comments on
the manuscript to our respected reviewers, Drs. Milos Hajek and Jiri Janak.
We would also like to express our gratitude to Sean Mark Miller and
Katerina Millerova, who acquitted themselves in the challenging task of trans­
lating this book into English.

ix
Fig. 1. Map ofAncient Egypt.
 1
THE WISDOM OF THE AGES

nchanted by the beauty of the monumental architecture and sculpture,

jf=^ the vividness and harmony of the colors of the mural reliefs, and the
1= perfectly fashioned tiniest objects, we admire today the technical
craft, patience, and taste of ancient Egyptians at a time when, with the excep­
tion of Mesopotamia, the rest of humanity lived in the Neolithic Age. Nev­
ertheless, most of us do not realize that the Egyptians also excelled in other
areas of human invention, especially in science. Egyptian medicine experi­
enced a surprisingly rapid development as early as the Old Kingdom and pre­
served its good reputation both at home and abroad even in the following
centuries. It is proved, for example, by a relief from the tomb of Nebamun,
a personal physician of King Amenhotep II, depicting a medical consultation
with foreigners. Nebamun here is providing a curative drink to a Syrian
nobleman, who had had to undergo a long journey in order to acquire relief
from his illness (fig. 2). We are also informed of the high level of knowledge
and the great number of Egyptian physicians by the famous authors of pre-
Classical and Classical Greece.
Homer mentions Egypt in The Odyssey as a land “where fertile soil pro­
duces the greatest share of medicines, many good in mixtures, [but also]
many harmful . . . every man there is a physician and understands [knows]
more than men elsewhere” (Homer, Odyssey IV, §229-32). The father of
ancient historiography Herodotus, on the other hand, was fascinated by the

1
 ^<1
Fig. 2. A relief from the tomb of Nebamun, a court physician of King Amenhotep II, shows
Nebamun giving a curative drink to a Syrian nobleman. This scene suggests that the fame
of Egyptian medicine attracted the sick from surrounding lands. (Eighteenth Dynasty,
tomb of Nebamun [TT 17] at Dra Abu al-Naga, drawing: H. Vymazalova after Wreszinski
1923, Pl. 115)

high level of specialization of the Egyptian physicians: “Medicine with them

is divided so that everyone is a physician for one disease and not for more
diseases. Physicians are everywhere there. Some are eye doctors, others heal
the head, others teeth, and still others the stomach and others invisible dis­
eases” (Herodotus, History II, §84-85).
A number of ancient philosophers, scholars, and physicians expressed
thanks in their autobiographies for knowledge acquired in practice in Egypt.
The study of medicine in the land on the banks of the Nile meant for them the
highest qualification and recommendation. Egyptian medicine is mentioned
with great respect by ancient authors in their works (for example, Diodorus of
Sicily, Bibliotheca Historica I: 82; Pliny the Elder, Natural History XXIX:
1). It is indisputable that ancient Egyptian medicine influenced the advance­
ment of medicine in cultures around the Aegean Sea, but primarily in Greece,
where its uninterrupted continuation through the medicine of the Roman
Empire eventually became European medicine. That could be a reason for the
interest in the scientific beginnings of medical knowledge, so important for
life, for which we are indebted to the ancient Egyptians.
Modem authors of books and specialized articles on Egyptian medicine
admire its breadth and depth and appreciate that, while preserving magical

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