Bīmāristān Al-Manṣūrī: State and Medical Practice in Mamluk Egypt (1285-1390)

Pharmacy and Medicine in Ancient Egypt: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Pharmacy and Medicine in Ancient Egypt (Barcelona, October 25-26, 2018) edited by Rosa Dinarès Solà, Mikel Fernàndez Georges and Maria Rosa Guasch-Jané. Oxford: Archaeopress, , 2021

The science and art of medicine has always been an integral part of the history of Egypt. Medical practice in ancient Egypt was based on the most advanced knowledge compared to other regions. Muslim scholars helped in the transmission of medical practice through the medieval period from the decline of ancient teaching to the rise of modern learning. Kasr Al Ainy school of Medicine, established in 1827, continues the glory of medicine in Egypt as one of the biggest and oldest medical schools not only in Egypt but also in the world. Keywords: medicine, ancient Egypt, Kasr Al Ainy, paleopathology, mummies

The medicine of the ancient Egyptians. 1: Surgery, gynecology, obstetrics, and pediatrics. Eugene Strouhal, Břetislav Vachala, Hana Vymazalová; translated by Kateřina Millerová (The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo, 2014); pp. 228; $59.95; ISBN 978-977- 416-640-2.

Ancient Egypt was one of the greatest civilizations to have arisen, becoming the cradle of scientific enquiry and social development over 3 millennia; undoubtedly its knowledge of medicine has been vastly underestimated. Few artefacts survive which describe the medical organization, but from the extent of the diseases afflicting that ancient populus there would have been much to study. Evidence from papyri, tomb bas reliefs and the writings of historians of antiquity tell of an intense interest in the sciences, humanities and medicine born of an educated society which had overcome the superstitions of its nomadic ancestors.

Turkish Historical Review 5 (2014), pp. 32-58.

Little is known about the role of surgery in pre-modern medical practice in general, and in the lands under Muslim dominance in particular. There is an acknowledged gap between theoretical knowledge and medical practice, but evidence of the latter is difficult to find. Many fundamental questions therefore remain unanswered. For example, was there a division of labour between surgeons and physicians? We are also mostly ignorant about who practiced surgery, the legal context surrounding this practice, and its financial aspects. This article offers an analytical edition of two documents from the Syrian town Hamah dating from 1212/1798, which can help answer some of these questions. They concern a respected and learned physician who also personally performed the removal of bladder stones and was paid well for his services.

2012

Medical prescriptions in the Cambridge Genizah collections : practical medicine and pharmacology in medieval Egypt / by Efraim Lev, Leigh Chipman. p. ; cm.-(Etudes sur le judaïsme médiéval, ISSN 0169-815X ; t. 55) (Cambridge Genizah studies series ; v. 4) Companion to: Practical materia medica of the medieval eastern Mediterranean according to the Cairo Genizah / Efraim Lev and Zohar Amar. 2008. Includes bibliographical references and index.

2019

Міністерство охорони здоров'я України Харківський національний медичний університет Надбання сучасної епідеміології та біостатистики як запорука покращання громадського здоров'я в Україні Матеріали науково-практичної конференції (з нагоди 120-річчя від дня народження З.А. Гуревича, видатного соціал-гігієніста, завідувача кафедри соціальної гігієни та організації охорони здоров'я ХМІ)

That a well-developed and hierarchical medical profession existed in Pharaonic Egypt is without doubt. What is a matter of contention is the existence of a recognizable surgical profession, or even of the practice of surgery by medically qualified personnel. Palaeoarchaeological specimens that demonstrate some form of surgical procedure are rare. Medical papyri and the treatises of the historians of antiquity provide a far more reliable source of information on surgical practice. They have indicated possible titles for surgeons, and the types of instruments used.

Beyond the surviving medical and magical papyri and art depictions, we must pay attention to contemporary Egypt; going there often enables an Egyptologist to see, to hear, to smell and to feel many of the habits Egyptians still have and perform towards any sign of disease or disruption of physical well-being.