INTRODUCTION ABOUT MEDICINE IN ANCIENT EGYPT

INTRODUCTION ABOUT MEDICINE IN ANCIENT EGYPT

“Nebamun”, scribe and physician of the king, receiving a Syrian prince paying him for his services in gifts

Medicine in ancient Egypt was but one aspect of an advanced civilization. It was not practiced by witch doctors as in primitive tribes, with mixture of magic, herbal remedy, and superstitious beliefs. This was acknowledged by Homer in the Odyssey:

“In Egypt, the men are more skilled in Medicine than any of human kind”.

Sovereigns from foreign lands have frequently appealed to pharaohs to send them their physicians. A wall painting in a Thebean grave of the 18th dynasty (1400 BC) depicts “Nebamun”, scribe and physician of the king, receiving a Syrian prince paying him for his services in gifts. According to Herodotus, King Cyrus of Persia has requested Amasis (Ahmose II of the 26th dynasty, 560 BC) to send him the most skilful of all the Egyptian eye-doctors.