Ancient Texts and the History of Medicine
What ancient written records can teach us about the past and future of medicine.
In December, I had the incredible opportunity to take a closer look at the hieroglyphic records featured in ancient Egyptian temples, such as inside the perfume and medicine room of the Temple of Horus in Edfu, which is situated on the bank of the Nile River.
I was amazed by the symbols indicating specific doses of different plant ingredients. The ancient Egyptians were clearly testing and formulating highly refined blends of various herbs and essential oils pressed from fresh flowers. Standing in the ‘perfume and medicine’ room brought all sorts of questions to mind. Where else in the world do we have records of ancient medicine? Have all of these been translated from their ancient languages? How much could we learn from these recipes by using the tools of modern science to evaluate these herbal products and their ingredients?
In today’s post, I’ll review some of the most notable ancient written records from 1500 BCE (before common era) up until ~200 CE (common era). We’ll cover more recent texts (from the middle ages onward) in a future post.
Records from Ancient Egypt
Some of the earliest written records of medicinal plant use, or materia medica currently preserved, date back to the times of Ancient Egypt. The Ebers Papyrus, named for Georg Ebers—who purchased the scroll in Thebes, Egypt in 1874—is one of the oldest and most important of the preserved medical documents discovered thus far.
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