Ancient Egyptian Views About Health and the Body

Home | Category: Education, Health and Transportation

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN VIEWS ABOUT HEALTH


breast feeding vase

The heart was believed to be the center of intelligence in ancient Egyptian cosmology. It played a crucial part in the afterlife. The god Anubis would weigh the deceased’s heart to determine their fate after death. To protect the organ, it was common for the heart to be separately embalmed and then returned to the body during mummification. [Source:Owen Jarus, Live Science June 2, 2023]

A. Wiedemann stated: "The riskiness of their practice arose chiefly from their utter inability to diagnose because of their ignorance of anatomy. That the popular respect for the human body was great we may gather from the fact that the Paraskhistai who opened the body for embalmment were persecuted and stoned as having committed a sinful although necessary deed. The prescribed operations in preparing a body for embalmment were never departed from, and taught but little anatomy, so that until Greek times the Egyptians had only the most imperfect and inaccurate ideas of the human organism. They understood nothing about most internal diseases, and especially nothing about diseases of the brain, never suspecting them to be the result of organic changes, but assuming them to be caused by demons who had entered into the sick. Under these circumstances medicines might be used to cause the disappearance of the symptoms, but the cure was the expulsion of the demon. [Source: Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, The Gale Group Inc., 2001]

Many ancient Egyptians believed that the remedy for all ills was to be found in some particular plant, such as the Dgain tree — probably the olive tree. In an “ancient book of wisdom for mankind," amongst other things we find the following remarks about this tree: "If the boughs are crushed in water and put upon a head which is ill, it will become well immediately, as if it had never been ill. For the complaint of indigestion (?) let the patient take some of the fruit in beer and the impure moistness will be driven out of his body. For the growth of a woman's hair let the fruit be pounded and kneaded into a lump; the woman must then put it in oil, and anoint her head with it." “In spite of these virtues vouched for by the ancient book, the tree does not appear to have played a great part in medicine — we meet with it comparatively seldom in the prescriptions. [Source: Adolph Erman, “Life in Ancient Egypt”, 1894]

Concepts of Body and Self in Ancient Egypt

Christina Riggs of the University of East Anglia wrote: “The human body is both the physical form inhabited by an individual “self” and the medium through which an individual engages with society. Hence the body both shapes and is shaped by an individual’s social roles. [Source:Christina Riggs, University of East Anglia, UK, UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2010, escholarship.org ] “The culture of ancient Egypt offers rich resources for analyzing the Egyptians’ conceptualization of the body and the embodied self, in terms of texts and language, pictorial representation, religious beliefs and eschatology, rituals, bodily practices (including grooming and medicine), and social differentiation (such as class, age, and gender). The practice of mummification informs us, not only of the Egyptians’ knowledge of human physiology, but of their conceptualization of the body, which is culturally constructed in every society, while extant physical remains give a much greater insight into the physical anthropology of the populace than is possible for other ancient societies.


giving birth

“The human being as a complete entity was composed of numerous elements in addition to, or residing in, the physical body. These included fate, the extent of one’s lifetime (aHaw), the name (rn), the shadow (Swt), one’s personal magic (HkAw), the life force (kA), and in some interpretations, the soul (bA). The heart (jb or HAtj) was a metonym for emotion and cognition, and the pumping of the heart was recognized as an indicator of health and life. The jb- heart connoted emotions and cognition, while the HAtj-heart was the physical organ, although the two words could be used interchangeably. An individual was also linked to his parents and ancestors through both the life force (kA) and the physical body, as the expression “heart (jb) of my mother” may suggest (Book of the Dead 30 a - b). Bringing together these elements of the person is a goal expressed in funerary literature and in art, for instance through the symbolism of coffin iconography, including the Four Sons of Horus associated with the integrity of the corpse. A scene from the Ramesside tomb of Amenemhat depicts each of the Four Sons presenting one of these elements to the deceased: Amset bears the heart (jb), Hapi the bA, Duamutef the kA, and Qebehsenuef the XAt-corpse, presaged as a mummy (saH) by being shown in the wrapped form.”

Ancient Egyptian View of the Physical Body

Christina Riggs of the University of East Anglia wrote: “In the Egyptian language, the physical form of the person is the Dt or Haw, the latter of which may refer more broadly to the concept of self. The Dt-body outlasts the physical body, but at the same time is distinct from the corpse or the mummy. Assmann interprets the Dt-body as a physical form, whereas Walker argues for the Dt as an eternal, transcendent form—not the human body itself. The dead body, or XAt, forms a binary opposition with the bA (ba) in funerary texts: “Your ba will live in the sky in the presence of Re. . . . Your corpse will endure in the underworld in the presence of Osiris”. Loprieno treats the kA (ka), ba, and the transfigured spirit, Ax (akh), as distinct conceptions of personhood, with the ka based on relations among the living, the akh associated with the dead and the gods, and the ba mediating between these worldly and otherworldly states of being. Smith goes further in proposing that the ba is not a component of the individual person, but the whole person as manifested after death. [Source: Christina Riggs, University of East Anglia, UK, UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2010, escholarship.org ]

“The vessels, sinews, and muscles of the physical body were known as mtw, and the Egyptians had some conception of bodily fluids, especially blood, flowing through the body and making it whole and intact. Parts of the body that could be removed or excreted— especially hair, semen, saliva, and menstrual blood—were potent symbolic loci. Locks of hair were incorporated into amulets, and the shaving of children’s heads might have signaled a rite of passage or invoked healing. Bodily fluids, which transcend the boundaries of the body and are created within it, were both powerful and dangerous. Saliva was used in magical practice, through spitting, licking, or swallowing actions, and spittle was thought of as having generative powers. Semen and menstrual blood were pollutants, though their power could be corralled through magic. The word mtwt could mean both semen and poison; magical spells express fear of being inappropriately violated by semen, for instance by a demon ejaculating in one’s ear during sleep. There is some evidence that women undertook purification after menstruation, and for the isolation of women during their menstrual periods. The tyet-amulet, which may represent a blood-soaked menstrual cloth, was a protective symbol linked especially to the goddess Isis. Women’s procreative ability meant that breast milk and the urine of pregnant women were used in predictive magic and medical diagnoses.

“The fragmentation of the self into several components—ka, heart, shadow, etc.— mirrored the fragmentation of the body in Egyptian thought. The Egyptians readily conceived of the body as a multitude of discrete parts—hair, head, skin, sensory organs, internal organs, arms, legs, blood, and so on—which must be bound together in both life and death for completeness. Egyptian texts for the rejuvenation of the dead list parts of the body from head to foot to energize them, comparing each body part with a god, and the parts of the body are described as if deified in numerous funerary, magical, and religious texts. Funerary texts and other sources express a deep fear of the body not being intact or being destroyed.



“Physical fracture is also at the core of the hieroglyphic writing system, where human body parts are even more numerous than animal body parts; the former are chiefly limbs and facial features, while the latter are internal organs. Human body parts are core alphabetic signs, common bi- and tri-literals, and determinatives (Gardiner sign-list: D9, a weeping eye; D54, a pair of legs to show movement). The whole human body is essential for the range of hieroglyphic determinatives , which include sitting, standing, and dancing postures, as well as depictions of injured or dead bodies.

“The centrality of the human body in the Egyptian world-view is exemplified by the fact that almost all Egyptian gods take human forms, in whole or in part. A wrapped (“mummiform”) body typifies many depictions of gods and otherworldly beings; indeed the chthonic, creative, or regenerative gods—Ptah, Min, and Osiris—take this form throughout Egyptian history. However, animal and animal-headed human forms prevail for other gods, offering various images that the gods can inhabit; the true essence or appearance of the gods remains hidden, or unknowable. Like mortals, the gods in their embodied forms are also susceptible to fragmentation, and Egyptian myth is replete with fractured bodies, in particular the dismembered corpse of Osiris. In magical and mythological formations the wounding and healing of Horus’s eye is compared to the waning and waxing of the moon, and in the Litany of Ra, the sun god takes on numerous physical forms as aspects of his complete being.

“Such “appearances” (xprw) or transformations suggest a physical shape- shifting, by which one body or state of being can be changed for another. The ability to have multiple forms and move between them is a characteristic of the gods, and human beings aspired to this ability after death, exemplified by the transformation spells of the Book of the Dead). Spell 76 calls, in particular, for “assuming any form one wishes”. Attaining a transfigured state (Ax) depended on correct performance of the rituals relating to mummification and burial.”

Ancient Egyptian Theory of Vessels

Besides the structure of the bones and of the large viscera such as the heart, stomach, spleen, etc., the ancient Egyptians knew barely anything of the human body, and their teaching concerning the vessels is mostly characterised by pure invention; this teaching however was considered by them as specially important, it was the “secret of the doctor. " These vessels correspond essentially with the great veins or indeed preferably with the arteries, but as they thought that they carried water, air, excretory fluids, etc.,' we must understand their words in a very broad sense, unless we prefer to consider the statements about their activity as pure fancy. The Egyptians realised at any rate that the vessels took their course from the heart to the various members of the body. " [Source: Adolph Erman, “Life in Ancient Egypt”, 1894]

The heart is the centre, “its vessels lead to all the members; whether the doctor . . . lays his finger on the forehead, on the back of the head, on the hands, on the place of the stomach (?), on the arms, or on the feet, everywhere he meets with the heart (such as the pulse), because its vessels lead to all the members. " The heart was therefore called also the “beginning of all the members."

The Egyptians knew little, however, about the position of the various vessels. An ancient manual on this subject declares that there were twelve of them, which went in pairs to the breast, to the legs, to the forehead, and to other exterior parts of the body. ' In another manual however, more than forty of them are mentioned, some of which lead to the viscera; this manual evidently represents an amended edition of the old teaching; it remains however very doubtful how much is based upon observation. This theory of the vessels is of special importance in Egyptian medicine, for many neuralgic or rheumatic affections were dependent, according to Egyptian ideas, on the vessels. They were stopped up, they were heated, they grew stiff, they itched, they had to be strengthened or pacified, they would not absorb the medicine — troubles which the doctor had to counteract by poultices and ointments. "

Herodotus on Ancient Egyptian Heath

In the 5th century B.C., the Greek historian Herodotus wrote: "Among the Egyptians themselves, those who live in the cultivated country are the most assiduous of all men at preserving the memory of the past, and none whom I have questioned are so skilled in history. They practice the following way of life. For three consecutive days in every month they purge themselves, pursuing health by means of emetics and drenches; for they think that it is from the food they eat that all sicknesses come to men. [Source: Herodotus, “The Histories”, Egypt after the Persian Invasion, Book 2, English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920, Tufts]


demon

Even without this, the Egyptians are the healthiest of all men, next to the Libyans; the explanation of which, in my opinion, is that the climate in all seasons is the same: for change is the great cause of men's falling sick, more especially changes of seasons. They eat bread, making loaves which they call “cyllestis,”37 of coarse grain. For wine, they use a drink made from barley, for they have no vines in their country. They eat fish either raw and sun-dried, or preserved with brine. Quails and ducks and small birds are salted and eaten raw; all other kinds of birds, as well as fish (except those that the Egyptians consider sacred) are eaten roasted or boiled. 78.

Among the Egyptians themselves, those who live in the cultivated country are the most assiduous of all men at preserving the memory of the past, and none whom I have questioned are so skilled in history. They practice the following way of life. For three consecutive days in every month they purge themselves, pursuing health by means of emetics and drenches; for they think that it is from the food they eat that all sicknesses come to men. Even without this, the Egyptians are the healthiest of all men, next to the Libyans; the explanation of which, in my opinion, is that the climate in all seasons is the same: for change is the great cause of men's falling sick, more especially changes of seasons. They eat bread, making loaves which they call “cyllestis,” 37 of coarse grain. For wine, they use a drink made from barley, for they have no vines in their country. They eat fish either raw and sun-dried, or preserved with brine. Quails and ducks and small birds are salted and eaten raw; all other kinds of birds, as well as fish (except those that the Egyptians consider sacred) are eaten roasted or boiled. 78.

Demons and Ancient Egyptian Medicine

Eric A. Powell wrote in Archaeology Magazine: The ancient Egyptians were sophisticated practitioners of medicine and understood that many contagious diseases could be cured. However, they also realized that some epidemics resulted in symptoms that could not be treated. These illnesses, they believed, were the work of demons controlled by the goddess Sekhmet, who took the form of a lioness and was thought to be responsible for human health. Fayoum University Egyptologist El Zahraa Megahed has recently analyzed a variety of ancient sources, including a New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1070 B.C.) horoscope known as the Calendars of Lucky and Unlucky Days. She has found that Egyptians believed epidemics were caused by demons sent by Sekhmet that manifested as pestilential winds. “Winds are invisible, just as demons were,” says Megahed. “But warm or cold winds can be felt, they can carry a scent, and they can make frightening noises. These winds took on demonic aspects for Egyptians. ” [Source: Eric A. Powell, Archaeology Magazine, May/June 2022]

Because Sekhmet’s demons were linked with winds and the spread of incurable diseases, individuals suffering during epidemics turned to the goddess’ priests for relief. They prayed to Sekhmet to stop her minions from spreading disease, which was sometimes envisioned, particularly at certain times of the year, as arrows let loose from the mouths of the wind demons. This explanation might have had a real-world basis, as certain diseases are more likely to spread through the air during some months than others. For instance, winds could have carried contagions from the cadavers of animals drowned during the annual Nile flood. The Egyptians may have imagined these winds as arrows sent by Sekhmet’s demon archers that were dangerous to breathe in.


Egyptologist Frank Vink notes that some Middle Kingdom spells intended to be recited during pregnancy and throughout early childhood include a word that scholars interpret as “amulet. ” Perhaps, Vink suggests, magic wands were the amulets being cited in these spells. Tauret, the powerful hippopotamus goddess, was associated with childbirth, and the fact that most of the wands were made from hippopotamus tusks might link them to her special role as the protector of mothers and young children. One example of a Middle Kingdom magic wand has a cord still attached to it that could be worn around the neck. It’s possible that mothers and children alike wore these objects as amulets to call upon knife-wielding demons to protect them during the most vulnerable periods of their lives. [Source: Eric A. Powell, Archaeology Magazine, May/June 2022]

Ancient Egyptian Reflexology?

Eric A. Powell wrote in Archaeology magazine: In ancient Egypt, well-being was tied to good hygiene and personal beauty, which were central to the identity of mighty pharaohs and low-ranking commoners alike. Minia University Egyptologist Engy El-Kilany argues that one preoccupation of ancient Egyptians was the beautification and rejuvenation of weary feet. She points to the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2030–1640 B.C.) Papyrus of Kahun, which describes foot massage as treatment for a woman who had aching legs and calves after a long walk. [Source Eric A. Powell, Archaeology magazine, September-October 2021]

El-Kilany has also cataloged representations of foot washing, foot massage, and pedicures in ancient Egyptian tomb paintings. These include depictions of pedicures in the tomb of two 5th Dynasty (ca. 2465–2323 B.C.) officials at Saqqara who held the title “manicurist of the king. ” Reliefs at another tomb at Saqqara, that of the 6th Dynasty (ca. 2323–2150 B.C.) physician Ankhmahor, show masseurs attending to their clients’ feet.


dancing dwarf

El-Kilany believes some of these images may depict not just foot massage, but a form of reflexology. This alternative therapy involves applying pressure to different areas of the feet and hands to alleviate pain in corresponding zones of the body. If the practice depicted in Ankhmahor’s tomb was indeed reflexology, it would further demonstrate that ancient Egyptians took their foot care seriously. “Taking care of the body has always been a common human practice,” says El-Kilany. “It motivated people towards perfection in every single detail in their life. ”

Dwarfs in Ancient Egypt

Dwarfs were regarded as auspicious figures rather than freaks. The dwarf Seneb was a famous artist. Another dwarf was an “overseer of dwarfs in charge of dressing” the king. Dwarfs also served as tutors of the king and his son, high prestige positions. In the grave of a dwarf named Pemiankhu, a lovely basalt figure was found with a hieroglyphic text that read: “The one who delights his lord everyday, the King’s dwarf Periankhu of the Great Palace.”

The divine “god dance” performed by dwarfs was greatly loved. If dwarfs weren’t available chondrodystrophic cripples were used. Grotesque dwarf-figure toys and figures have been discovered. The dwarf gods Aha and Bes figure as musicians and singers in reliefs of royalist rituals. There is also some evidence that foreign “exotic” dancers — namely Libyans and Nubians — were in demand,. There are images of scantily-clad, black-skinned dancers at celebrations marking the arrival of the divine barks at Karnak. Libyan dancers are pictured doing a boomerang hunting dance with phallic shapes and ostrich feathers in their hair.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons, The Louvre, The British Museum, The Egyptian Museum in Cairo

Text Sources: UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, escholarship.org ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Egypt sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Tour Egypt, Minnesota State University, Mankato, ethanholman.com; Mark Millmore, discoveringegypt.com discoveringegypt.com; Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Discover magazine, Times of London, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, BBC, Encyclopædia Britannica, Time, Newsweek, Wikipedia, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, “World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File Publications, New York); “History of Warfare” by John Keegan (Vintage Books); “History of Art” by H.W. Janson Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.

Last updated August 2024


This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of country or topic discussed in the article. This constitutes 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. If you are the copyright owner and would like this content removed from factsanddetails.com, please contact me.