The Medical Skills of Ancient Egypt; J. Worth Estes; compared with Medicine in the days of the Pharaohs; Bruno Halioua and Bernard Ziskind

Although the Estes book is the older of the two (published 1989) and is less colorfully illustrated, I like it better than the other. Professor Estes taught pharmacology and, as might be expected, discusses Egyptian material medica at length. However, Estes covers all aspects of medicine adequately. It’s assumed that the reader is already familiar with basic Egyptology – for example, the meaning of “Old Kingdom”, “Middle Kingdom” and “New Kingdom”. Some of the medical discussion is agreeably technical; Estes provides graphs of the effectiveness of various Egyptian remedies used as topical antibiotics. Only a few line drawings, mostly of hieroglyphs; however, well footnoted and with a good bibliography.

Medicine in the days of the Pharaohs is disappointing, especially in comparison to Estes’ book. This is sort of a popular social history of Egypt with some medical information thrown in. Halioua and Ziskind (both MDs) suffer from a phenomenon quite common among amateur Egyptologists – the uncritical acceptance of Classical texts, such as Herodotus and the Bible. A good third of the book is a hypothetical discussion of Egyptian occupational disease, and Herodotus’ famous description of Cheops/Khufu prostituting his daughter in order to obtain funds for the Great Pyramid is included – as a reference for sexually transmitted diseases. There’s a wholly gratuitous chapter on the medical interpretation of the Biblical Plagues of Egypt. Some of the interpretations are very far fetched – the missing eye in the famous Berlin bust of Nefertiti is attributed to a cataract. Fortunately, this one was caught and footnoted by the translator.

On the other hand, when the authors stick to strictly medical topics they do alright. For example, they note that the procedure described in the Edwin Smith “Surgical” papyrus for reducing a dislocated jaw is still essentially correct.

“You shall place your thumbs on the extremities of the two claws of the mandible, inside the mouth, and you other fingers under the chin. You cause the claws to move downward so that they are put back in place.”

The book is profusely illustrated, but many of the pictures have no real bearing on the text. (For example, Raphael’s fresco of the Pharaoh’s army drowning in the Red Sea during the Exodus doesn’t have that much to do with Egyptian medicine). There’s a pretty thorough reference list, but many are secondary sources – articles on Egyptian medicine in medical journals or review volumes. Interesting enough if you already have some knowledge of Egyptology and/or medicine, but I’d still recommend the Estes book first. ( )