Mezopotamska i egipatska medicina
Mesopotamian and Egyptian medicine

Summary/Abstract: Everyday life in ancient Egypt was far from easy and its inhabitants were facing various threats in the forms of diseases and physical injuries every day. The rate of mortality was very high and the life expectancy seldom reached 40 years of age. Not even aristocracy was spared and very often they spent their last days in unbearable pain caused by dental problems. From the need to study and understand the nature of these illnesses, medicine was developed. Egyptian doctors had a very good reputation among the peoples of the Middle East, mostly due to their specialization for various body parts or organs, and high medical ethics. Several medical papyri give evidence that there was a hierarchy among the doctors, a prescribed procedure regarding the treatment of their patients, and that every body part or organ had its own patron deity. Accordingly, medicine was interwoven with magic and ritual healings, but surgical procedures and herbal remedies were prevalent. Due to the embalming process which included autopsy of the body of the deceased, the Egyptians got a clear insight into the anatomy of the human body which made them stand out from the ignorant majority of civilizations. The knowledge of the human anatomy facilitated many surgical procedures, but still the number of deaths caused by surgical attempts was high. Besides, what we would today consider, primitive medical procedures, prevention in form of various hygiene regulations like maintaining personal hygiene and hygiene of food had a great role in the fight against illnesses and avoiding epidemic outbreaks.

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