Treatments

No medical instruments dating to the Pharaonic period can be unequivocally identified, but the medical papyri suggest that doctors made large use of linen bandages and splints, and of swabs made of raw flax (Vogelsang-Eastwood 2000: 294). When necessary, they used at least three types of knives, made of metal, flint, or reed (Nunn 1996: 24, 164-5). In some cases, it is clear that the ‘‘knife treatment’’ involved cutting and cauterising at the same time (Reeves 2001: 49-50).

Doctors also prepared drugs that could be administered to the patients through mouth, anus, or vagina, or as external applications or fumigations. The origin of the main components might be mineral, vegetal, or animal. Among the minerals, natron, common salt, and malachite were probably used for their septic and anti-bacterial properties (Nunn 1996: 145-7). The identification of many herbs and plants which were used to prepare medicaments, on the other hand, is hampered by several factors: the nature of the ailment may be uncertain; some unidentified plants may have become extinct; it may be unclear which part of the plant was used; finally, their pharmacological effects may be unknown (Germer 1993; Manniche 1989: 64-5).

More than half of the medicaments that appear in the medical papyri contain animal substances. Fresh meat was applied to wounds, fat was widely used to prepare greasy mixtures, milk was probably mainly used as a convenient vehicle; blood and bile also appear, together with excrements of various animals, including cat, ass, birds, lizards, crocodile, fly, and even man (Nunn 1996: 148-50). The most important ingredient of animal origin, however, was honey: applied externally or ingested, it was used either as a vehicle or as a medicament in itself, thanks to its anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties (Zumla and Lulat 1989).

Finally, amulets and magic spells were also prescribed to help the healing process. The Edwin Smith Papyrus, the most systematic and pragmatic among the medical documents, contains only eight magic spells, but other sources indicate that magic was widely used either alone or alongside the practical treatment and was deeply intertwined with the latter. It would be unwise to underestimate the role of magic in the healing process: the expectation of being cured or relieved of pain would have been strongly enhanced by the use of amulets and incantations, and would certainly have had a positive effect on the patient (Nunn 1996: 96-112).