Ancient Egyptian Medicine

Ancient Egyptian Magic for Medicine Magic was performed in various countries during ancient times to heal or protect the native people. Ancient Egypt was a well-known ancient society that had many different aspects to it that people are familiar with. It was in the northeastern part of Africa and the Middle East. There were two different regions of Egypt during this time period—the black land and the red land. The black land was the fertile, farming land on the banks of the Nile River. The silt that came off of the river and the flooding made this area prime agricultural land. The red land was the barren desert that protected Egypt from invading armies and provided the Egyptians with precious metals and stones. Their homes were made of mudbricks

Magical remedies and religious remedies overlapped at this time (Nunn 96). The ancient Egyptians prayed to the gods on a daily basis, either to protect their souls and bodies, or to heal them. The Egyptians performed spells to try to heal but also to harm others at some points. The Egyptians went to magicians and priests to try to help themselves and others. They used amulets to protect their bodies against evil spirits, as the Egyptians thought this was the cause for diseases and sickness. When an Egyptian was sick they were seen as inferior and dropped out of society. The reason for this was one felt out of harmony with the world and felt the need to recover before they could reenter into society (Sigerist 270-71). Magic in ancient Egypt was performed by praying to the gods, consulting the help of magicians and priests, performing spells and incantations, and wearing amulets in order to heal and protect the

Every god had a different story or myth that gave them their attributes. The most important gods related to healing and sickness were the four children of the earth god Geb and his sister, also his wife, Nut, who was the sky goddess. The four children were Isis, Osiris, Seth, and Nephthys. The myth says that Seth was jealous of Osiris, so he attacked him and threw his body parts into the Nile River. Isis ended up searching for the body parts tirelessly, and she was successful. She arranged the body back together, and using her magical skills, brought Osiris back to life, although he was in the body of a hawk. Isis then slept with Osiris and gave birth to Horus. Following that, Osiris died yet again and became the ruler of the underworld. Egyptians referred to the underworld as Osiris. Isis, a single mother, cared for Horus with great affection. Her unsurpassed care of her child resulted in people respecting her for her powers of healing and care for the sick. Horus also had healing powers, for he recovered from a potentially deadly scorpion bite. Horus then became enemies with his uncle Seth. He ended up tearing off Seth’s testicles after Seth had sexually assaulted him. This story has to do with the belief in poisonous semen, which was known as a cause of disease in ancient Egypt. As revenge, Seth tore out Horus’s eye, but was then restored by the god, Thoth. The