Gateway Chronicle 2021

The Gateway Chronicle
The Development of Medicine
in Ancient Kemet
The ancient civilisation of Kemet, which first began
in the Nile Valley over 5000 years ago, was incredibly
significant in the development of medicine, the
effects of which can still be found today on modern
society. However, the Ancient Egyptians also made
huge strides forwards in agriculture from developing
magnificent infrastructure to understanding the
best agricultural practices. Their society, although
incredibly influential in medicine, was even more so
in the development in agricultural practices as more
people had access to the benefits and therefore their
quality of life increased more due to the development
of agriculture, than medicine.
Kemet civilisation made huge advances in medicinal
practices which would have increased the life expectancy
and quality of life for its citizens. Although
many were priests, the profession of “physician”
emerged which shows the changing attitudes and
the realisation of the importance of medicine.
Documented Ancient Egyptian medical literature
suggests that physicians specialised in one area,
allowing them to gain in depth knowledge of their
expertise and to become more experienced with
those diseases. Prior to the Ancient Egyptians,
people led a largely nomadic lifestyle, where the
idea of medical infrastructure would not have been
applicable. However, in Kemet there was a system
of government, law enforcement, an organized
economy and a permanent population. This stability
allowed medical research and infrastructure
to develop, which improved the quality of life for
citizens as they gained access to physicians with
medical knowledge. One document from c.3400
B.C.E records over 700 remedies, magical formulas
and incantations to repel disease causing demons.
Although, some of their ideas were flawed in the
cause of disease as they believe it was partly from
the consequence of sin or the patient was under a
“demonic attack”, they understood the importance
of pharmaceuticals in healing, as well as the need
for cleanliness in treating patients. This meant that
many remedies did provide some relief from the
illnesses and therefore there was a large influence
on civilians. There were over 160 medicinal plant
products with one being opium, which was used as
an anaesthetic for tooth extraction. The surgeries
performed were often successful with many surviving
amputations and brain surgery for years; they
even developed wooden amputations, as shown by
the evidence from mummies. They had extensive
surgical equipment, including but not exclusive to
surgical stitches and cauterization, scalpels, forceps
and adhesive plasters. This suggests that the Ancient
Egyptians had methods of managing shock,
blood loss and infection, which were aspects doctors
struggled with until the 20 th century. Therefore,
this shows how advanced their knowledge of medicine
was as they were able to successfully navigate
surgery. This knowledge meant they were able to
treat a wider range of illnesses and diseases, therefore
having a dramatic impact on the quality of life
of Kemet civilians.
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