AePVIII_Unger

Unger, Juliane,
University of Heidelberg, Germany

Plants for Healing in Papyrus Brooklyn 47.218.75+.86 
DOI: https://doi.org/10.71067/AePVIII-2022-223-237 
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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:
This paper aims to give an overview of the plants and plant-based products used in the yet unpublished medical papyrus Brooklyn 47.218.75+.86, recto. The text is of special interest on the one hand for its date in the 26th Dynasty, from which not many medical papyri have yet been published, and on the other hand for the focus of its prescriptions. A considerable number of them is directed at the treatment of ailments afflicting the back of the ancient patient – a subject yet nearly unattested in Egyptian medical texts. Further remedies are prescribed for afflictions of the lower abdomen, the urinary tract, against
intestinal worms and the influence of evil spirits. Another medical text dating slightly later and focusing on gynaecological ailments was written on the verso of this papyrus, but its poorer state of preservation does not allow for drawing
extensive conclusions.
Apart from statistics on the employment of plants and other substances in this papyrus one example of a healing plant that has not yet been attested in Egyptian texts will be presented in detail showing possible methods for its identification. It will become obvious how each newly published text can still greatly broaden our knowledge of ancient Egyptian medicine and pharmacology
and may also shed some light on the transfer of medicinal knowledge between Egypt and its neighbours