Medicine in Ancient Egypt

Carly
Sixth Period
September 9, 2009

Ancient Egyptian doctors have to This is a picture of a mummy.

work very hard to become a good doctor. To see this picture in its
• Ancient Egyptians have used medicine for many years
original location, go to
http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/
• They are the first to correctly do medical practices
mummies/home.html
• Doctors are trained very hard. They went to certain
schools after regular education
• Doctors understood the body, could use pulse
rate, etc, but hardly ever performed surgery
• They learned a lot from mummification

When people were ill, medicine wasn’t always used.

• Ill supposedly had worms in their body that caused their sickness
• Gods were blamed for illness and death
• Magic and/or medicine was used to cure
• They had many treatments for illnesses, but magic
was used when the treatments didn’t work
• Egyptian doctors frequently tried to dream up cures

god of
The gods were called upon for childbirth. mummification and
healing. To see this
• When a woman was pregnant, gods and magic was used
picture in its original
• Pregnant women were protected with magic location, go to
• Gods were responsible for the safety of the mother andhttp://www.ancienteg
the child
ypt.co.uk/gods/expl
ore/main.html

Egyptian doctors were very sophisticated and hard-working.

• Egyptian doctors are very good in what they do
• They record all sicknesses to look at in the future
• All surgery equipment is very clean
• They had painkillers, splints, casts, stitches, and more
• They used natural drugs using plants and Nile mud, an antibiotic

INTERESTING FACTS AND ILLNESSES

• Ancient Egyptian doctors think well of the heart. They believe it is what gives them
intelligence and is connected to the stomach. They think the brain and the heart
do opposite things.
• They recognized plants healing features that we use today
• They used many healing things we use, such as mint, garlic, etc.
• Sand caused a lot of their illnesses, but they also had normal work diseases

Citation
1. Sims, Lesley. A Visitor's Guide to Ancient Egypt. Tulsa, Oklahoma:
EDC PUBLISHING, 2001
2. Rosali, David. Growing Up In Ancient Egypt. Mahwah, NJ:
Troll Associates, 1994.
3. Medicine. Emuseum. Minnesota State University Mankato, 2007. Web. Sept. 4,
2009. http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/egypt/dailylife/medicine.html
4. Ancient Egypt Medicine. Emuseum. Minnesota State University Mankato, 2007.
Web. Sept. 4, 2009.
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/egypt/dailylife/medicine2.htm\
5. Gods & Goddesses. The British Museum: Ancient Egypt. The Trustees of the British
Museum, 1999. Web. September 8, 2009.
http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/gods/explore/main.html
6. Mummification. The British Museum: Ancient Egypt. The Trustees of the British
Museum, 1999. Web. September 8, 2009.
http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/mummies/home.html