Abstract
It has long been assumed that all ancient Egyptian healing practices were motivated by a culturally informed belief in magic; furthermore, there is extensive disagreement among Egyptologists as to how to translate the healing papyri. Current medical-historical scholarship assumes that the ancient medical texts from Egypt were devoid of theory and thus that they were not influential in the development of Hippocratic medicine. This research project will challenge this viewpoint and redefine native Egyptian disease theory as well as highlight the motivations for treatment selection. The healing papyri, which date from c. 1850 BCE to 250 CE, explain symptoms, list diagnoses, and prescribe remedies – furnishing an abundance of source material for analysis. Using current Egyptological semantic research, the project will entail a lexicographic study of each prescription to ascertain the semantic value of words and phrases used to define symptoms and diagnoses. Whilst cultural pragmatics will be considered as a motivation for drug selection in ancient Egypt, collaboration with specialists at the Centre for Human Drug Research in Leiden (CHDR) will both recreate selected remedies and assess their pharmaceutical qualities. The results of the lexicographic and practical aspects of the project will be entered into databases that highlight consistencies in ancient theory concerning human anatomy and disease, and trends in treatment methods. By understanding the mechanics of the Egyptian healing practices, this project will enable a measurement of any cross-cultural transmissions of Egyptian medical theory on the early development of Western medicine.