2. * Infectious diseases such as the plague, polio, influenza,
smallpox, and others are all believed to have occurred in
Ancient Egypt, due to evidence by mummies, hieroglyphics,
and papyri.
* Ancient Egyptians interest and fascination with medicine
and pathology aided in the recovery of numerous
hieroglyphics and papyri, which showed evidence of these
infectious diseases. One specific papyrus, dating at 1550 BC
has numerous examples of Schistosomiasis throughout its
text. Other medical texts show evidence for concern of
seasonal epidemics involving bacterial or viral epidemics.
3. * The Egyptians careful and methodical burial ways have
preserved mummies, which have evidence of numerous
infectious diseases such as polio, smallpox, and
tuberculosis. Due to this, it makes an ideal situation to
study the paleopathology of Ancient Egypt. The way in
which the mummies were studied was by analyzing the
soft tissue of the mummy. Some tissue also underwent
immunological testing, which showed evidence for
malaria, as an example. The overall body and bone shape
was also analyzed, which showed possible examples of
smallpox, tuberculosis, and polio, among others. Both of
these analyses helped provide more evidence for
infectious disease in Ancient Egypt.
4. * Numerous infectious diseases may have spread
and/or possibly originated in Ancient Egypt due
partly to their agricultural system, which allowed
animals and their wastes to mix. Many of the
dwellers on the Nile River could also have contracted
infectious diseases more rapidly and easier. The Nile
River annually overflowed its bank, with stagnant
water in its irrigation canals, which is an ideal
breeding ground for the mosquito, a vector for
malaria.
5. * The evidence for sickness in ancient
Egypt may be divided into three
categories:
• skeletal and mummified remains
• depictions of healing in formal art (rare)
• manuscripts written in cursive hieroglyphs or in
hieratic (a still more cursive script derived from
hieroglyphs)
6. * From the primary sources (the human remains) and the secondary or
mediated sources (depictions and writings, mainly manuscripts), a range of
diseases is known from ancient Egypt
• eye diseases: prominent in healing manuscripts, as to
be expected from the sand and dust of Saharan
climate, but not detectable in depictions (note that
the blind harpist may be an Egyptological
concoction: images of singers with eyes closed may
represent closing of eyes during singing, rather than
permanent blindness)
*
7. • illness caused by bites of scorpions or serpents:
prominent in healing manuscripts, as to be expected
in the Sahara; in the first millennium BC Horus
stelae were produced to protect against the threat of
such creatures
• diseases affecting internal organs: difficult to detect
even in well-preserved bodies
8. • other internal diseases: kidney stones have been
reported from examination of mummified remains
• tuberculosis: several instances of spinal tuberculosis
have been reported from human remains from Egypt,
see Morse/Brothwell/Ucko 1964 (note that
depictions of hump-backed individuals may be result
of bad posture, or a disease other than spinal
tuberculosis)
9. • polio: an Amarna Period stela shows a man named
Rema with emaciated leg, and leaning on a staff, and
this is the principal evidence for the occurrence of
polio (poliomyelitis), and Nunn suggests that this
may also be the condition causing the abnormalities
in the body of king Siptah of Dynasty 19
• parasitic diseases: bilharzia (schistosomiasis),
guinea-worm, roundworm, tapeworm
10. * Some diseases leave no trace even in well-preserved
bodies, and some may not have entered Egyptian
vocabulary: in combination this creates a gap in the
record. Plague may be the disease called in Egyptian
healing manuscripts tA-nt-aAmw 'the Asiatic (disease)',
but this is disputed; written sources also preserve the terms
rnpt iAdt 'year of pestilence' connected with Sekhmet, the
goddess who was the incarnation of divine anger. Roman
Period manuscripts refer to measures taken by a member
of temple staff, the priest of Sekhmet, to check meat and
livestock, and to protect against contagion
