Ebers Papyrus treatment for asthma: a mixture of herbs heated on a brick so that the sufferer could inhale their fumes.

The Ebers Papyrus, of about 1550 BCE, is among the most important ancient Egyptian medical papyri. It is one of two of the oldest preserved medical documents anywhere, the other main source being the Edwin Smith papyrus (c. 1600 BCE). Another important medical papyrus is the Brugsch papyrus (c. 1300 BCE).

The Ebers papyrus was purchased at Luxor (Thebes) in the winter of 1873 by Georg Ebers and is now in the library of the University of Leipzig, Germany.

It is written in hieratic script and preserves for us the most voluminous record of ancient Egyptian medicine known. The 110-page scroll contains some 700 magical formulas and remedies. Although it is full of incantations, foul applications meant to turn away disease-causing demons and other superstition, there is also evidence of a long tradition of empirical practice and observation.

The papyrus contains chapters on intestinal disease and parasites, eye and skin problems, contraception, diagnosis of pregnancy and other gynaecological matters, dentistry, and the surgical treatment of abscesses and tumors, bone-setting and burns.

The papyrus contains a "treatise on the heart". Though the Egyptians knew little about the existence of the kidneys, and made the heart the meeting point of a number of vessels which carried all the fluids of the body – not only blood, but tears, urine, and sperm, too – they noted the blood vessels throughout the body and the heart's function as a centre of the blood supply.

The papyrus also contains a short description of clinical depression.

Bibliography

Reinhold Scholl, Der Papyrus Ebers. Die größte Buchrolle zur Heilkunde Altägyptens (Schriften aus der Universitätsbibliothek 7), Leipzig 2002; ISBN 3-910108-93-8.

External links

• Brief note of Ebers and the papyrus (http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/443.html)
• Univ. of Leipzig's catalog description (German), photograph (http://www.ub.uni-leipzig.de/Wir_ueber_uns/sosa/scholl_4.htm)