Egyptologist Viktor Solkin confirms that unique medical technologies were possessed in the kingdom of fiery Ra.
Recently, scientists working "near the sluggish Nile in the kingdom of fiery Ra" have made a lot of interesting discoveries, which, however, remain unknown to the mass reader. Books on modern Egyptology are not translated. The media, at best, will tell us about the "EEE" sound that the Egyptian priest "said". Meanwhile, thanks to modern advances in science, the mummies really managed to "talk", and they reported something more than the sound "e". For example, amazing information about the medicine of Ancient Egypt, about what they were ill with, how they were treated and from what the Egyptians died.
Almost the only source of relevant and fresh information is the lectures of the famous Russian Egyptologist Viktor Solkin, which, fortunately, regularly appear on YouTube. Viktor Solkin spoke about the medicine of Egypt, the possibilities of doctors of the past and the latest discoveries.
The god of embalming Anubis, bent over a mummy. Painted sarcophagus, 11th century BC. Cairo, Egyptian Museum Photo: Victor Solkin.
“Unfortunately, today little is said about the fact that we owe the achievements of modern medicine to Ancient Egypt,” notes Viktor Solkin. - This is the most ancient medicine in the history of mankind, dating back to the 4th millennium BC.
The fame of the medical art of the Egyptians went all over the world. Often, at the courts of foreign kings, it was the Egyptian who was the main magician, healer and interpreter of dreams. And this, in general, is understandable: the development of medicine is associated with the rituals of embalming, and, unlike many other cultures, Egypt did not have a fear of the study of the human body.
The main problem is teeth
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The researchers state that the condition of the teeth of most mummies leaves much to be desired. And this despite the fact that the passion for hygiene was enormous: the Egyptians bathed twice a day, and brushed their teeth with a special composition, a mixture of palm oil with natron - a combination of soda and salt.
But even toothpaste did not save, and the reason for this was the bread, which was made using a grain grinder: the device consisted of two pieces of limestone, grains of which always fell into the dough and erased the teeth. The fact that the Egyptians had a sweet tooth and did not deny themselves dates and honey added to the harm.
Even the pharaohs were not immune from dental problems! When, in the middle of the last century, the mummy of Ramses II the Great was undergoing medical examination, scientists had a serious suspicion that it was the teeth that could have brought the pharaoh to the grave. His jawbone was severely damaged due to an abscess.
The mummy of Ramses II the Great at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. 13th century BC. Photo: Victor Solkin.
Doctors had a peculiar idea of caries. It was believed that a worm got into the teeth, which needed to be expelled by natron. But if the worm won, then they went the other way: for example, they replaced the teeth with prostheses. It is surprising that some of the mummies have been found to have elaborately made golden bridges using alien teeth or teeth made of ivory. The bridges looked quite stylish, in the form of a thin gold strip. No one in the ancient world could boast of such an effective solution to the problem.
Beauty recipes from Egyptian doctors
The Egyptians knew a lot of recipes, many of which are still used today. These recipes were especially in demand in cosmetology: papyri dedicated to beauty recipes were studied, for example, in the houses of Loreal and Elena Rubinstein.
To slow down aging, or, as it was written in written sources, "so that the hair does not become gray," the human placenta was used. Many potions are based on donkey milk, which is very fatty and has a positive effect on the skin. The preparation technology of the drug was sometimes very complicated. To get a remedy for age spots, for example, it was necessary to knead a donkey milk cake with the components of 16 herbs, bake it in a special way and put it on a steam bath until oil forms on the surface. It was with this oil that the face should be smeared. A recipe relevant to Africa, where women suffered from intense sun exposure, worked: it was tested by modern research.
Amazingly, there were even pregnancy tests in ancient Egypt. It was proposed to take virgin land containing sand and a minimum of soil, sow it with wheat and barley and water it with urine. If the woman was pregnant, the seedlings accelerated and appeared at the time indicated in the papyrus. Greater germination of barley testified in favor of the boy, wheat - the girl.
This test was checked by scientists from Germany and were themselves surprised at its great accuracy. Out of 32 examples, 22 were successful.
One of the brightest beauties of antiquity was Queen Teie, the grandmother of Tutankhamun. A miniature woman, just over 160 centimeters tall, she retained her beauty even after death. Her body was gilded and her nails were painted with terracotta varnish based on ocher and cedar wood resin. Unlike most mummies, Teie has good teeth and, most importantly, amazing thick hair. But, as the researchers note, lice and nits were found in the shock of hair. Parasites were another plague of the Egyptians, and it was the fight against them that explained the habit of the majority of shaving their heads bald.
Head of the statue of Queen Teie, the grandmother of Tutankhamun. 14th century BC. Berlin, Egyptian Museum Photo: Victor Solkin.
Worms and other parasites
It is wrong to believe that Egyptian artists depicted an abstract person in frescoes. No, specific people were captured and sometimes the detail was amazing. For example, on a number of frescoes with workers, fishermen and hunters, the ancient artist depicted people with various hernias. And some of the drawings clearly indicated filariasis to doctors. This disease develops against the background of parasitism in the human body of filamentous worms, which are often localized in the genitals.
The ancient papyri did not ignore the parasites, describing about 14 species from roundworms to those that caused the main problem of Egypt - schistosomiasis. The parasites that cause schistosomiasis live in the coastal waters of the Nile and penetrate the skin, destroying the human genitourinary system. It is no coincidence that the French soldiers arrived in Egypt were horrified. They were amazed that Egyptian men "bleed like women." With this blood, the intermediate forms of the parasite enter the water, where the cycle repeats when the parasite finds a new host. Now Egypt is done with schistosomiasis, but for a long time it was a real misfortune.
The lid of the sarcophagus of the court dwarf Jedhor. 4 c. BC. Cairo, Egyptian Museum Photo: Victor Solkin.
With these parasite problems, it is not surprising to have a special treatment of fluids from another body. For example, blood had a magical meaning: even the rags left after embalming were collected in a bag, covered with a sculptural image of the deceased and sent to the tomb. Medical instruments were used only once. Rich people, turning to a doctor, ordered instruments that were free from the magical effects of someone else's blood. Today it is obvious that such "blood magic" had a hygienic significance.
A sculptural group of the court dwarf Seneb with his wife and children. 25th century BC. Cairo, Egyptian Museum Photo: Victor Solkin.
Bone problems
The Egyptians believed that all people are given talent, which someone finds, and someone does not. But if a person has an injury, then he is given another additional essence - magical power. Dwarfs were considered carriers of magical powers. There were many of them, they were very much loved. Sculptural images of court dwarfs have been preserved, for example, Mr. Seneb, a court dwarf who lived in the 25th century BC. e. or the sarcophagus of the dwarf Jedhor, the favorite of one of the kings in the 4th century BC. e. Often little people became jewelers, because the art of jewelry meant working with the magic necessary to create amulets and jewelry.
Researchers know most about bone diseases of the inhabitants of ancient Egypt. It is difficult to say something about diseases of the internal organs, because the internal organs could not survive to this day. But in this sense, the mummy of Mencheperr, the priest of the god Amun, who lived in the 11-10th century BC, is remarkable. He had spinal tuberculosis, from which his spine literally collapsed. This has become one of the most prominent examples of bone tuberculosis in Egypt.
Mummy of Queen Teie. The photo was taken during the discovery of the mummy in 1898. Milan, Center for Egyptology of the University of Milan, Archives of Victor Lore.
Young Tutankhamun was also seriously ill, suffering from a disease in which the vertebrae in his neck were "soldered", he could not turn his neck. Tutankhamun's limbs were weakened, it was not easy for the pharaoh to walk, and several hundred walking sticks found in his tomb bear traces of active use.
There are other known cases of bone disease. Scientists have established that the disfigured foot of the mummy of Pharaoh Saptakh, a young man who lived at the turn of the 13-12 centuries. BC. is a consequence of polio.
Mummy of King Saptah with traces of polio in the extremities. 12th century BC. Cairo, Egyptian Museum Photo: Catalog General Antiquites Egyptiennes du Musee du Caire: The Royal Mummies. - Le Caire, 1912.
Egyptian doctors knew how to brilliantly fusion bones, and along with dentures, they used prosthetics of body parts. So, for example, a woman who lived in the 15th century BC. BC, who lost a big toe, made a toe from expensive ebony. It cannot be said that it became easier for a woman to walk, but such a finger looked organic in a sandal. A passion for the integrity of the body led to the fact that this prosthesis went into the tomb.
Prosthetic toe of a 15th century Egyptian mummy. BC. Photo: Egyptian Museum in Cairo, archive.
Ancient Egyptian Physician's Code
The doctors paid great attention to the function of the heart. “The beginning of the doctor's secrets is knowing the course of the heart, from which the vessels go. For every doctor … touching the head, back of the head, hands, palms, legs - everywhere touches the heart. Vessels are directed from him to each member of the body,”the ancient texts taught.
This is amazing evidence of a scientific breakthrough, all the more unusual, given that the Egyptians treated brain function superficially and before Hippocrates the function of the brain was never defined. During embalming, the brain was removed with special hooks through the nostrils and this was the only part of the body that was thrown away.
While modern doctors often use clerical, the Egyptians preferred “metaphor”, using very poetic terminology. They believed that the wound had lips, mouth and throat, and the doctor's job was to sew the lips of the wound so that she would not speak. “A good wound is a silent wound,” the doctors of the past believed.
Ebers Medical Papyrus. 16th century BC. Leipzig University Archives.
Ailments had their own classification. The most terrible and incurable were called "AAA", literally conveying the cry of a person. Especially terrible "aaa" were cancer, plague, leprosy - something that had never been treated.
Plague came to Egypt several times and the worst epidemic occurred in the 14th century BC. in the era of Amenhotep III. It was a period of flourishing trade, when ships sailed the seas, but along with rats they brought plague with them. The disease primarily wiped out the people living in clusters: the army, the priesthood and the artists. After the plague in Thebes there was a decline in art, so that the royal house had to import masters of art from other regions.
Not so long ago it became known about the terrible "aaa" great Hatshepsut - a female pharaoh who ruled Egypt for 22 years. The discovery took place in the late eighties of the last century, when archaeologists discovered a tomb with two mummies buried in the pose of queens: one arm extended along the body, and the other supposedly holds a scepter on the chest. According to preliminary research, it was known that one of these mummies is Queen Hatshepsut. But which one? Among the two mummies, one was thin, fragile, with a smile on her embalmed face. The other is without hair, bearing traces of a serious illness. Even before DNA analysis, archaeologists decided that, of course, Hatshepsut is a serene beauty.
The statue of Sekhmet - the lion-headed goddess of retribution, the patroness of plague and, at the same time, medicine. 14th century BC. Turin, Egyptian Museum Photo: Victor Solkin.
However, the analysis showed otherwise. The Pharaoh woman was one whose body was stamped with disease. She lived a long life, was very fat, suffered from dental abscesses and a terrible cancer. A huge tumor covered her entire lower back, so that traces of the tumor were preserved even on the mummy.
Another example of "aaa" is the mummy of Ramses V, which retained traces of smallpox. The embalmers could not hide the pustules on the skin of the pharaoh. According to the documents, Ramses' illness in Egypt was so scared that when the pharaoh was buried, the Valley of the Kings was closed for visits even by the guards for several months, and only after five years Ramses VI adequately buried his brother.
Pustules on the skin of the face of the mummy of Ramses V. Cairo, Egyptian Museum. Photo: Catalog General Antiquites Egyptiennes du Musee du Caire: The Royal Mummies. - Le Caire, 1912.
Mummies no longer unfold
Today, Egyptologists speak with horror of the entertainment of Victorian England when guests were invited to "unwrap the mummy." After the feast, a mummy was brought into the hall, unfolded, and then thrown away or used in a crushed form, confusing the words “mummy” with “mummy” and categorically not realizing that the resin mined in the Iranian highlands and mummies have different origins.
At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, the barbaric “unfolding” for fun was replaced by non-invasive methods that allow revealing the secrets of the mummy without destroying it.
As Viktor Solkin notes, the ancient Egyptians possessed unique knowledge, the bulk of which was simply forgotten in the Middle Ages. Many things from the Ancient World went back to the Renaissance, through Arab sources, when people began to slowly remember what they knew perfectly well one and a half thousand years ago.
The Egyptians believed that "living without following the heart" and relying only on technology, a person degrades. They sincerely believed that in the original times a person was more harmonious, sincere, and therefore lived happier. Perhaps they weren't all that wrong.
Visualization of the result of a tomographic study of the mummy of the priestess Chesmutengebtiu, who lived in the 10th century. BC. Amulets placed between the mummy's burial shroud are visible. Photo: British Museum Archives.
