Epidemics, Diseases during Pharaonic Period

Pharaonic Egypt knew diseases and epidemics. These diseases were known from several sources; the study of mummies and human remains provided ancient Egyptians with a lot of information about the diseases, which they suffered, the food they used to eat, and death causes.

The Egyptian archaeologist Dr. Hussein Bassir said that ancient Egyptian art showed scenes that express sick people undergoing healing process; however, they were rare.

However, the most important information about diseases came were discovered by archaeologists from papyri written in the hieroglyphic or hieratic line.

Bassir noted that archaeologists knew some diseases such as eye diseases that were prevalent and occupied a prominent place in the medical papyri; this was natural in the Egypt atmosphere. This was due to the presence of sand and dust coming from the desert, but it was not depicted in art.

Meanwhile, there were also diseases caused by scorpion and snake bites that were widely spread. It also occupied a prominent position in the medical papyri, and they were caused by the presence of Egypt in the great desert.

In Egyptology, archaeologists found the "Horus magic paintings" that spread in the first millennium before the birth of Jesus; the purpose of these paintings was to provide protection for their owners against the threats and evils of scorpions and snakes.

There were also diseases of the human internal organs, but they were difficult to detect even in well-preserved mummies.

In addition, there are some diseases that have been discovered inside human organs, such as kidney stones, some of which were found through examining remains of mummies.

Tuberculosis was known and several cases were found that affected the spine in human remains. Some inpiduals with convex back were photographed.

Some mummies showed the poliomyelitis cases, which were also known in ancient Egypt, from a picture of Amarna era, it depicted a man named "Ra with" with a lean leg and resting on a stick.

This is the primary evidence of polio, and the deformities in mummy king's from 19th family.

Parasitic diseases such as schistosomiasis, guinea worm, roundworm and tapeworm were also found.

Basir explained that there are some diseases that did not leave any trace even in well-preserved objects, and some of them were not recorded in the ancient Egyptian vocabulary, which caused us a gap in Egyptian knowledge of these diseases.

Leprosy was unknown and its first cases were recorded in Christian burial grounds in Nubia in the sixth century AD.

The plague may be the disease called in the healing Egyptian papyri "Ta Net Amo", that is, the Asian disease, but this is not certain, and archaeologists do not know why the disease was attributed to Asia.