History 330.086
Spring 2001

COURSE OUTLINE:
Units and Topics

COURSE INTRODUCTION
Slide presentation (I): Egyptian Environment and Material Culture
Slide presentation (II): Religious and Medical Rituals
The physician vs. Egyptologist dilemma
Limitations of western logic to understanding Egyptian medicine
Egyptian approach to understanding abstract phenomena

HISTORIOGRAPHY OF EGYPTIAN MEDICINE
Short history of palaeopathology
Constituent disciplines of Egyptian medical history
Sources for the study of Egyptian medicine and medical practice

EGYPTIAN MAGIC: AN OVERVIEW
Egyptian world-view and cosmology
Indivisibility of religion and "magic"
Essential nature of "magic"
Function and character of heka, "creative power"
Kinds of magical applications in medical procedures
Text readings:
- the Bentresh Stela
- "magical" papyri
- Ebers papyrus (selections)

THEORETICAL BASES OF DISEASE: AETIOLOGY
Intellectual and religious constructs related to disease:
- spiritual causes of illness; malefic deities
- physical causes of illness
- principle of âaâ: spiritual/biological attack
- nature and character of wekhedu:
wekhedu as aetiological principle
wekhedu as materia peccans (pyaemia?)
Formulation of specific therapies; preventive medicine

CHARACTER AND LEGACY OF EGYPTIAN MEDICINE
Essential characteristics of Egyptian medicine
Therapy as the integration of the religious and the "rational" and empirical
Distinctions between Egyptian and Greek medicines
Legacy of Egyptian medicine to the Greeks and thereafter:
- the temple-santorium of Asclepius on Cos
- incubation of dreams as Egyptian custom
- possible Egyptian influences on Cnidian medicine
- the Museum (Mouseion) and Library of Alexandria
- indebtedness of specific Greek and Greco-Roman physicians and natural historians to Egyptian medicine and pharmacopoeia
- the cult of Asclepius viz. Imouthes/Imhotep
- Egyptian origins of the Rx-insignia and the caduceus

THE EGYPTIAN PHYSICIAN
Nomenclature of physicians (kinds):
- swnw, "physician"
- w'ab-priest of Sakhmet
- controller of Selket
- amulet-maker, magician, embalmer, etc.
Primary function as priest and cult officiant
activities of Greek and Egyptian physicians in Ptolemaic Egypt
Greek medical economics:
- the iatrikon, "physicians' tax," and Ptolemaic medical service
Medical training in Egypt
The House of Life (Per-ankh): function and organization
- examples of Houses of Life (Sais, Bubastis, and el-Amarna)
- "scribe of the House of Life" (Egy.) = "interpreter of dreams" (Gr.)
Hierarchies of Egyptian physicians: titles and autobiographies
International repute of Egyptian physicians
- examples of Egyptian physicians overseas

FEATURES OF EGYPTIAN MEDICAL PRACTICE
Anatomy:
- sources and extent of Egyptian anatomical knowledge
- notions of internal organs and free passageways through the body
- the "Book of the Heart" and the circulatory system
Specializations:
- Greek accounts of Egyptian specializations
- evidence for specialization
- kinds of specialized medical practices
Medical papyri and texts:
- Greek tradition: St. Clement and the 42 hermetic books
- specific medical papyri: descriptions and contents
- identifying master treatises:
"Book of the "Heart," "Book of what Pertains to Wounds," "Book of what Pertains to the Embalmer," "Book of the Wandering of Wekhedu," "Book of Transforming a Man into a Youth," etc.
- approaches to medical therapy in the papyri
- case studies and medical procedures
Papyrus Ebers and Edwin Smith surgical papyrus

EGYPTIAN SURGICAL PRACTICES
Evidences of surgery
Characteristics and limitations
Surgical procedures:
- trepanation (trephination)
- amputation
- circumcision
- castration
Surgical instruments and tools:
- the Cairo Museum collection
- the Kom Ombo Temple reliefs: instruments or temple implements?

RELIGIOUS CURING
Healing deities
Healing statues: cippi
Incubation of dreams as therapeutical procedure
Egyptian temples as health service providers:
- self-dedication contracts (to gods and temples) as medical annuity contracts
- temples as health maintenance organizations (HMOs)
Pilgrimages to temples
Temple-sanatoria as places of cure:
- Deir el-Bahari: Shrine of Imouthes and Amenothes
- Abu Sir (temple of Sahure); Kom Ombo(?): temple of Sobek and Harweris
- Asclepion at Saqqara ("tomb" of Imouthes/Imhotep)
- sanatorium of Hathor at Dendera: architecture and function

WOMEN'S HEALTH
Question of female physicians
- limitations of evidence
- sole example: Peseshet, "overseer of physicians"
Obstetrical practices and child birthing
Pregnancy tests and birth prognoses
- Papyrus Carlsberg VIII and el-Lahun (Kahun) papyrus
Contraception and attitudes toward abortion
- case studies: el-Lahun (Kahun) and Ebers papyri
Gynaecology and women's diseases:
- case studies: el-Lahun (Kahun) and Ebers papyri

MATERIA MEDICA
International repute of Egyptian pharmacology
Egyptian drugs and medicaments
Form, content and indications for prescribed remedies
Case studies
Analyses of select active ingredients
Hallucinogenic drugs and psycho-active agents

DENTISTRY AND DENTAL PRACTICE
Characteristics of dental practice
Dental diseases and treatments
Orthodontics and oral surgery
Dental appliances

PALAEOPATHOLOGY
Human palaeobiology: definition, objectives and findings
Methodologies:
- autopsies
- radiological studies (X-ray, CAT Scanning, MRI, etc.)
- molecular anthropology and DNA research
State of Egyptian health, physical condition and lifespan
Evidence of diseases and causes of death
Case studies