Doctors in Ancient Egypt

The doctors, who looked after the sick, were a specialised group in society who probably started out as being purely religious practitioners; as either priests or in earlier times as the person in the village whose role was to meditate with the god. They ended up as being a mediator between the patient and the god, gradually over the centuries, ended up with formalised medical training.

In the Old Kingdom there certainly seems to be some degree of specialisation, with the doctors having very incredible titles, detailing the different roles they had. One from the royal palace had the title ‘Shepard of the Royal Anus’.

At the top level where the Priest-physicians of Sekhmet, though we know very little about how they were medically trained, whether it was based on practical workings or based on exams? Did they train in the House of Life in the Temple or somewhere else? But whatever, they ended up with this dual role as a priest and doctor. These were, if you like, the consultants of the medical system and were called ‘wabau’ priests meaning ‘pure ones’.

Then there were the more generalist doctors called the Swnw (Sunni), who were more like general practitioners and would be appointed to building sites, accompany the army on expeditions, as overseers of hygiene in burial grounds and also at the royal palace.

If rational medicine was not appropriate or had not worked they could use specialists, whom modern scholars translate as Sau or magicians. These people would deal with the non-physical side of medical treatment. There would then be a large group of people, who would be described as paramedics today; these would include masseurs, bandagers, nurses, and midwives.

One of the important things about the sick in Egypt was that they were all well treated regardless of the disease they had and were never considered untouchable. Diseases could be classified as being curable, incurable or uncertain. Even those that were considered incurable were given recommendations for the care and well being of the patient.

The priest-doctors of ancient Egypt also had a set of ethical standards; they were forbidden from divulging secrets that they learnt in the course of their duties. They were also not allowed to look at the women of the household they visited. They would examine and question the patients, this would be followed by a diagnosis; if no diagnosis could be given the patient would be ‘moored at his stakes’ as it says in hieroglyphs, meaning that the patient should be left in bed on a light diet and would be re-examined several days later.