Edwin Smith Papyrus

Edwin Smith Papyrus
Plates vi & vii of the Edwin Smith Papyrus at the Rare Book Room, New York Academy of Medicine[1]
Sizelength: 4.68 meters
Createdc. 1600 BC
DiscoveredEgypt
Present locationNew York City, New York, United States

The Edwin Smith Papyrus is an ancient Egyptian medical text, named after Edwin Smith who bought it in 1862, and the oldest known surgical treatise[2] on trauma.

This document, which may have been a manual of military surgery, describes 48 cases of injuries, fractures, wounds, dislocations and tumors.[3] It dates to Dynasties 16–17 of the Second Intermediate Period in ancient Egypt, c. 1600 BCE.[4]: 70  The papyrus is unique among the four principal medical papyri[5] that survive today. While other papyri, such as the Ebers Papyrus and London Medical Papyrus, are medical texts based in magic, the Edwin Smith Papyrus presents a rational and scientific approach to medicine in ancient Egypt,[6]: 58  in which medicine and magic do not conflict. Magic would be more prevalent had the cases of illness been mysterious, such as internal disease.[7]

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The Edwin Smith papyrus is a scroll 4.68 meters or 15.3 feet in length. The recto (front side) has 377 lines in 17 columns, while the verso (backside) has 92 lines in five columns. Aside from the fragmentary outer column of the scroll, the remainder of the papyrus is intact, although it was cut into one-column pages some time in the 20th century.[4]: 70  It is written right-to-left in hieratic, the Egyptian cursive form of hieroglyphs, in black ink with explanatory glosses in red ink. The vast majority of the papyrus is concerned with trauma and surgery, with short sections on gynaecology and cosmetics on the verso.[8] On the recto side, there are 48 cases of injury. Each case details the type of the injury, examination of the patient, diagnosis and prognosis, and treatment.[9]: 26–28  The verso side consists of eight magic spells and five prescriptions. The spells of the verso side and two incidents in Case 8 and Case 9 are the exceptions to the practical nature of this medical text.[4]: 70  Generic spells and incantations may have been used as a last resort in terminal cases.[7]

  1. ^ Martin, Andrew J. (2005-07-27). "Academy Papyrus to be Exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art" (Press release). The New York Academy of Medicine. Archived from the original on November 27, 2010. Retrieved 2015-06-03.
  2. ^ Wilkins, Robert H. (1992) [First published 1965]. Neurosurgical Classics (2nd ed.). Park Ridge, Illinois: American Association of Neurological Surgeons. ISBN 978-1-879284-09-8. LCCN 2011293270.
  3. ^ Lawrence, Christopher (2008). "Surgery". In Lerner, K.Lee; Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth (eds.). Biomedicine And Health: Surgery. In Context. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale. ISBN 978-1-4144-0299-4. LCCN 2007051972. Archived from the original on 2018-08-09. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  4. ^ a b c Allen, James P. (2005). The Art of Medicine in Ancient Egypt. New York/New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10728-9. LCCN 2005016908.
  5. ^ Lewkonia, Ray (2006) [First published 1986]. "education". In Lock, Stephen; Last, John M.; Dunea, George (eds.). The Oxford Companion to Medicine (Online ed.). Oxford Reference. ISBN 978-0-19-172745-0. LCCN 2001021799. Archived from the original on 2016-02-06. Retrieved 2016-01-04.
  6. ^ Ghalioungui, Paul (1965) [First published 1963]. Magic and Medical Science in Ancient Egypt. New York: Barnes & Noble. LCCN 65029851.
  7. ^ a b Ritner, Robert K. (2005) [First published 2001]. "Magic". In Redford, Donald B. (ed.). Archived copy. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (Online ed.). Oxford Reference. ISBN 978-0-19-518765-6. LCCN 99054801. Archived from the original on 2016-03-22. Retrieved 2016-01-04.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ^ Ritner, Robert K. (2005) [First published 2001]. "Medicine". In Redford, Donald B. (ed.). Archived copy. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (Online ed.). Oxford Reference. ISBN 978-0-19-518765-6. LCCN 99054801. Archived from the original on 2016-08-17. Retrieved 2016-01-04.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ Nunn, John F. (1996). Ancient Egyptian Medicine. Vol. 113. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 57–68. ISBN 978-0-8061-2831-3. LCCN 95039770. PMID 10326089. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)