AePVIII_Urzi

Urzì, Elena,
Università degli Studi di Parma, Italy

„You Cannot Judge a Book by Its Cover”. Considerations on Some Plants in the Pharaonic Medical Literature   
DOI: https://doi.org/10.71067/AePVIII-2022-239-246 
 Download  

Aegyptus et Pannonia VIII, Acta Symposii anno 2021, Plants and Health from Ancient Egypt. to the Present Day.
Proceedings of the Conference held between 14th and 16th October 2021, Budapest; ed. by Hedvig Győry.
Published by The Ancient Egyptian Committee of the Hungarian-Egyptian Friendship Society, Budapest 2022.
ISBN: 978-615-6571-02-1; DOI: https://doi.org/10.71067/AePVIII-2022  
Soft cover. No Jacket. 1.st Edition. 6+348 pages (24x17), with colour pictures.

Abstract:
Egyptian pharmacopoeia consists of many ingredients still unclear, especially the vegetal components. Albeit scholars do not know exactly the species of many plants, the application of some of them can be recognised as ritual. Generally, two clues suggest a correlation with magic: 1) in formulas reporting mythological events, the ingredients quoted in the myth are recalled
in the final rubrum; 2) the presence of vegetal species directly linked to gods: plants are used in replacement of the deity connected to them. Moving along these two general clues, this paper aims at analysing individual case studies to discuss the actual use of these ingredients, to better understand how the ancient Egyptians took advantage of magic in the medical practice.