Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Ancient Egyptians FIRST to Know Medicines, Medical Prescriptions


Wed 18 Mar 2020 | 02:56 PM
Ali Abu Dashish

Medicine has largely and impressively flourished in ancient Egypt; ancient Egyptians were the first to know medicine and anatomy.

The ancient Egyptians also had many medical prescriptions of their own. They used to benefit from various plants and herbs to treat many various cases. When patients, for example, complain about problems in their stomach or digestive system, the ancient Egyptian physicians used Aniseeds to solve these problems.

Doctors in ancient Egypt used to treat ulcers as well. They used lichens to treat vomiting and stomach problems. They used lichens to treat other kidney and intestines’ problems as well.

In order to treat hypertension, the ancient Egyptian physicians advise their patients to drink hibiscus which was also used as a pain killer. Flax seeds were used to treat injuries and ulcers.

The physicians in the period of the Pharaohs were skilled to deal with more complicated medical conditions like diabetes. They used onions to regulate the sugar levels in the blood. For the treatment of burns and wounds, they used cactus to cure these problems.

For the treatment of chest and skin diseases, the ancient Egyptian physicians resorted to figs that were used as a cream to be put on the injured areas of the body. Fig was also used to treat heart and chest conditions as well.

The treatment recipes were always beginning with the name of the disease. they had a treatment to kill the ‘abdomen snake’, stopping diarrhea, and planting hair.

For example, they used the Pomegranate peels to treat the ascariasis and ricinus to heal scars and plant hair.

Most important therapeutic recipes

They used fumes to treat anal diseases as well as respiratory ones. They used grilled bull liver to treat night blindness and rhamnus fruits for epilepsy.

They advised the public to use honey to treat eye inflammation, improve eyesight and treatment of burns. The ointments were mixed with drugs and animal fat. The mulch was a mix with olive oil or ricinus oil.

The most important plant used in medicine preparation were: grapes, dates, cucumbers, onions, balls, wheat and barley. The most important animal medicines included fish oil, frog, liver and honey.

Contributed by Hassanain Tayea