Accident and emergency in ancient Egypt

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

What forms of treatments were available to manage accident and emergencies in ancient Egypt? The main area that we have good evidence relates to trauma where warfare, bites of dangerous animals and industrial accidents were commonplace. Management of trauma is discussed in the Edwin Smith Papyrus and here the text and particularly the glosses give clear insight into an advanced understanding of the nature of injuries, at least a millennium before the Hippocratic era of medicine. Infections would have been widespread throughout the ancient world. The medical papyri list various remedies to treat an infected wound (the cause of which would have been unknown) with exposure to the sun as one of the more unexpected treatments.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)20-26
Number of pages7
JournalAncient Egypt Magazine
Volume19
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2018

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