Pharmacopoeia in ancient Egypt was practiced by propharmacists implementing codified and renewable treatments indicated in medical papyri, among which is the Ebers papyrus. Indeed, we find in these documents true repositories where all the components used at the time are recorded. They are accompanied by their indications. The medications used by practitioners at the time might surprise us. Many of them have been described as “repellent.” They are indeed derived from “products of nature.”
However, historical and pharmacological studies show us that these prescriptions could sometimes be useful. Their compositions could also correspond to magical and religious concerns.
Medicinal Treatments
Medicinal treatments already met relevant descriptions of modern pharmacy:
- Indications
- Dosages
- Forms
- Routes of administration
- Durations
- Suspensions
Galenic Forms
Galenic forms already corresponded to many that we now know:
- Pills
- Potions
- Herbal teas
- Syrups
- Eye drops
- Fumigations
- Embrocations
- Illutations
- Ointments
- Powders
- Lotions
- Vaginal injections
- Pessaries
- Suppositories
- Enemas
- etc.
Formulations
Among the components listed in medical texts, various minerals, plants, and animal extracts taken from the environment could be found. Medications could be simple or complex.
Mineral Products
Mineral products used in medications were mainly represented by natron and metallic salts such as copper salts. Different types of stones could be used, crushed, for example, for local anesthesia (See below: Surgical Therapeutics).
Also, for simple use:
“Illute one’s feet and legs with mud until healing”
— El-Lahun Papyrus.
Plant Products
Plant products used in medications could be represented by fruits, vegetables, or medicinal plants. Several types of oils were extracted. Several plants could be transformed into beers, wines, or vinegars. Some parts of plants could be toxic and should be handled with care; thus, hemp, poppy, and mandrake could be found.
For example, for a local medication against edema in female legs:
“Fresh carob bean pods, grouped soda seeds (vegetable). Finely grind and mix with…”
— Ramesseum papyrus.
Animal Products
Animal products used in medications could correspond to parts of animals, organs, or even whole animals. Honey, milk, and fermented products were widely used. We can also note, for example, fats from different animals and fresh meat dressings.
For example, a local use of medicinal bile:
“From kid and fish (Nile Tilapia)”
— Berlin papyrus.
Human Products
Several human products could be prescribed.
For example, in a life-threatening test:
“A (small) fragment of placenta (…) ground in milk (…) for three consecutive days…”
— Ramesseum Papyrus.
Measures
Weight measurements
Although not mentioned in the pharaonic medical texts that have reached us to this day, weighing was done for other uses, notably for metals, with scales and steelyards whose sensitivity was already quite precise. Weights could be made of fairly stable materials, such as different types of marked stones. Weighing of medicinal substances would be indicated later in Greek in the papyri, such as in Alexandria, or even on monuments (as in Kom Ombo; see below, last photo).
For example:
- The deben was worth 13.6 grams in the Old Kingdom and approximately 91 grams in the Middle Kingdom. In the New Kingdom, it was subdivided into ten qité of approximately 9.1 grams each.
Capacity and Volume Measures
Pharmaceutical dosages are described in our texts by measuring volumes in special containers, some of which could bear graduations.
For example:
- In the New Kingdom, the khar, worth 76.88 liters, corresponds to four quadruple-heqat (bushels) of 19.22 liters each.
- The hénou, or hin, is the volume unit usually used for measuring liquids such as beer, wine, milk, or water. It corresponds to approximately 0.48 liters.
Fractions were used to define quantities.
For example:
- Weights less than a qité are expressed in fractions.
- Volumes in heqat are expressed using fractions; thus, the ro’, corresponds to 1/320 of a heqat, or approximately 0.060 liters.
Fabrications
Medications could be subject to preparations, either hot or cold; some underwent real production procedures and even incorporated synthetic products.
Synthetic Products
A French team from the CNRS demonstrated the use of synthetic products such as laurionite.
Dosages of compounds, manufacturing, and dosage of a simple recipe
“Sedge rhizome: 1/64 (of a heqat = 5 ro); valerian: 1/64 (of a heqat = 5 ro); cow’s milk: 1 hin. Cook. Let cool. Combine into a single volume. Administer four mornings in a row.”
— El-Lahun Papyrus
This prescription corresponds to administering a potion of 1.08 liters in four doses of 0.27 liters per dose (just over 1/4 liter each time).
Containers
Medicinal forms were contained in vessels or containers, some of which could be highly elaborate and decorated somewhat like our apothecary jars. Dry products could be stored in small wooden boxes, bone containers, or linen bags. Eye ointments could benefit from decorated or plain reed tubes, and could even be made of gemstones or metal.
Surgical Instruments and Dressing Materials
To perform surgical procedures, the physician needed to have some instruments. Initially made of flint, then coppery metal, and later iron, several sizes of objects existed in several models to be used at different stages of surgery.
Dressing items, such as compresses and bandages, were mainly made of linen. Bindings were made with papyrus cartons, fabrics, and wooden appliances. Prostheses were made.
Medical Therapeutics
To attempt to treat the diseases encountered in their daily practice, Egyptian physicians could draw from the pharaonic pharmacopoeia and use medications listed in texts established in advance, codified, and constituting true treatises.
Here are some examples:
- Cough Medication:
- Potion “Carob: 1; crushed dates: 1; one hin unit of milk” (Ebers Papyrus).
- Pectoral paste “Flour: 5 ro; goose fat: 5 ro; honey: 5 ro. Cook and ingest for four days” (Ebers Papyrus).
- Laryngitis Medication:
- Soothing paste “Dates: 1/32; fresh fat. Chew at a good temperature with the finger” (Rubensohn Papyrus).
- Medications for Treating the Trachea and Lungs:
- Potion “Carob: 5 ro; sweet beer: 2/3. Let it rest overnight in the dew. The patient should drink it for four consecutive days” (Ebers Papyrus).
- Potion “Ochre: 1/32; gum arabic: 1/32; honey: 1/8; figs: 1/8; water: 25 ro. Let it rest overnight in the dew. Drink for four consecutive days” (Hearst Papyrus).
- Liver Medication:
- Potion “Lotus leaves: 1/8; wine: 20 ro; jujube wood sawdust: 1/8; figs: 1/8; milk: 1/16; juniper berries: 1/16; turpentine resin: 1/64; sweet beer: 20 ro; Let it rest overnight in the dew, then filter. Drink for four consecutive days” (Ebers Papyrus).
- Remedy for Worms:
- Granules “Soda (from a plant), natron, saltwort” (Louvre Papyrus).
- Potion “Pomegranate root: 5 ro; water: 10 ro. Let it pass the night in the dew, filter, and drink all day” (Ebers Papyrus).
- Diarrhea Medication:
- Oral ball “Fresh carob: 1/8; fresh paste: 1/8; fat; honey: 1/4; wax: 1/16; water: 25 ro. Cook. Ingest for four days” (Ebers Papyrus).
- Constipation Medication:
- Fritter “Barley: 1 hin unit. Grill and brown well, make a fritter fried in oil. Have the patient who cannot defecate eat it” (Ebers Papyrus).
- Rectal Medication:
- Enema: “Hemp: 1/4; carob: 1/32; laundry water: 25 ro. Administer through the anus for four days” (Chester Beatty VI Papyrus).
- Hemorrhoid Medications:
- Ointment “Moringa oil: 1; carob juice: 1; fat: 1; honey: 5 ro. Insert into the anus” (Ebers Papyrus).
- Suppository “Buffalo fat: 1; cumin: 1. – Form a suppository and insert into the anus” (Ebers Papyrus).
- Application to Reduce Swelling in a Leg:
- Plaster “Carob bean pods (fresh), clustered soda seeds” (Ramesseum III Papyrus).
- Resolvent Poultice:
- Paste “(A) soda spike cooked in honey, (pulp of) carob” (Berlin 3038 Papyrus).
- Balneotherapy:
- Mud “Illute one’s feet and legs with mud until healing” (El-Lahun Papyrus UC 32057).
- Local Female Contraceptive:
- Tampon “Acacia concretions; carob pulp; dates; to be carefully crushed in one hin unit of honey” (Ebers Papyrus).