Women gave birth squatting on bricks, which were used as a primitive maternity bed. Wealthy women gave birth in a large temple where they were entrusted to the care of a priestess. No nurses have assisted doctors (the literature does not yet prove their existence), but they are documented by 'bandages', healers, masseurs, lay healers.Ĭare of a woman in labor The doctors prepared the medicines themselves. The women sat down on a pot in which certain means were heated. it was smoked at the time of delivery to strengthen the uterine contractions. Suppositories were also applied, intestinal and vaginal lavages were performed, and a fumigant was used extensively. In the Egyptian pharmacy, there were medicines still used today – wormwood, poppy, castor oil, animal fats, etc.

Treatment and care of patients consisted of the administration of diuretics, laxatives, drugs against intestinal parasites. There are other medical papyri – 'London Papyrus', 'Berlin Papyrus', 'Leyden Witch Papyrus (magic formulas)' and others.Ĭharacteristics of care in Egypt Īccording to preserved documents, there were doctors in the Old Kingdom - 'physicists' who were educated in medical schools. Listening to music, dancing, entertainment was also common. This papyrus mentions the 'care' of the mentally ill, which was cared for in the temples through various exercises, walks in beautiful gardens, the sick also took part in rides on the Nile. It is the most important and longest papyrus ever stored in the library of the University of Leipzig. There are also 'texts of prayers for the invocation of evil spirits', causing obsession and the first mentions of 'mental disorders'. It deals with diseases of children, skin, ears, eyes, women. It contains 875 different recipes without logical sorting. It is safe to say that this is a copy of an older work from the Old Kingdom. The text dates back to the 9th year of King Amenhotep I (approximately 1550 BC). Papyrus is 20 meters long and 30 cm wide, containing 108 pages with 20-22 lines. It dates from 1500 BC It was discovered in 1862 in Thebes by George Ebers (1837-1898), who bought it from an Egyptian. Each patient observation builds on a precise and unchanging plan : a clinical description, determination of the final diagnosis statement in terms of prognosis, and recommended treatment. This papyrus introduces the textbook traumatology and discusses the surgical care of head, nose, chin, ear, lip, bone, and spine injuries.

It dates from about 1700 BC, but its origin is much older, it is believed that the document found is a copy and the original comes from Imhotep, a prominent physician. The total length is 4.68 m, width 33 cm and has 12 sheets. It is a copy of an older papyrus, as the grammatical editing of the text suggests. This papyrus allegedly comes from the same tomb in the Theban necropolis as Ebers' papyrus and dates back to the beginning of the 18th dynasty. It was acquired in 1862 by a young American Egyptologist, Edwin Smith. It is housed at the New York Academy of Medicine. There is also a section of veterinary medicine. It is a comprehensive document on women's diseases, describes methods for pregnancy determination, fetal sex determination. It was discovered by Sir William Mathew Flinders Petrie in 1889 in poor condition in the ruins of the Pharaoh's Palace in Cairo. It dates back from the 1900s BC, and it is currently located at University College London.

Edwin smith papyrus imhotep