The ancient Egyptians were pioneers in the field of medicine, as I discovered when I was poking around in among the papyrus swamp.
A page from the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, dated ca. 1550 BC. Photo by Jeff Dahl
This image is a page from the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, a medical training document that includes 48 cases of battlefield injuries and how to treat them. Skull fractures, puncture wounds, spinal injuries, all of these are listed with diagnoses, recommended treatment and order of triage: which can be treated, which needs work to heal, which cannot be healed. Along with the Ebers Papyrus, these two manuscripts from the 16th century BC show us just how advanced a medical community there was.
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Your readers may be interested to know that Breasted’s edition of the Edwin Smith Papyrus is available online free of charge:
OIP 3. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, Volume 1: Hieroglyphic Transliteration, Translation, and Commentary. J. H. Breasted. Originally published in 1930, revised in 1991.
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/oip/oip3.html
OIP 4. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, Volume 2: Facsimile Plates and Line for Line Hieroglyphic Transliteration. J. H. Breasted. Originally published in 1930, revised in 1991.
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/oip/oip4.html
[and see now the facsimile of this PEdwin Smith at the National Library of Medicine]
http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/proj/ttp/flash/smith/smith.html
These books are a part of The Oriental Institute’s commitment to digitizing all of its publications and making them available online, without charge. A convenient list of what’s available there is at:
http://ancientworldonline.blogspot.com/2010/10/oriental-institute-open-access.html
Fabulous resource! thanks so much for pointing us in your direction.
Did the ancient Egyptians carry health insurance?
Good reference but unable to open. “Out of prnt”
I have the three volumes of Breasted in paperback Illinois Paperback 2001.
Particularly interested in the so-called Papyrus of Kahun.
It’s tricky–it took me a while to figure it out. Go back to where it says “Terms of Use” and click on the tiny red arrow at the left. I was able to download it then.