Prevention and Protection
Preventing disease and infection would be far more cost efficient in the modern days, and the same applied in Ancient Egypt. In order to lower risk of infection, the Ancient Egyptians cleaned themselves regularly. If they had the means, the Egyptians would try to install a bathroom in their home, in it a stone tub which people stood in and poured water over themselves, along with hand washing basins. The poorer people had to make do with a wooden stool with a hole in it, and had to bathe in the Nile River. However, the Ancient Egyptians felt it was important to be clean. In fact, Greek historian Herodotus said on a visit to Egypt in 600 B.C. that the Egyptians "place cleanliness over comeliness", referring to all Egyptians getting circumcised. There were even public bathhouses with showers, stone basins and a stove to heat the water.
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Another method Ancient Egyptians used to prevent diseases was using eye makeup. This helped protect from eye diseases which were very common in Egypt. The Ancient Egyptians believed that the makeup had healing properties from the Sky God Horus and Sun God Ra, and even chanted incantations while mixing the makeup. Although this is "magic" is considered garbage by most today, it did assist with the prevention of eye infections, because a lot of lead, which has antibacterial properties, was found in the makeup. We can presume the Ancient Egyptians noticed that those wearing the eye makeup didn't have as much eye infections, but since they still didn't fully understand the properties of elements, looked to the only other plausible theory of the Gods.
There were many other methods the Ancient Egyptians used to to prevent diseases, for example using mosquito nets during the summer to ward off bugs and prevent malaria. They also made sure to eat as balanced a meal as possible, because the Ancient Egyptians recognised the importance of nutrition. Of course, there was also the magical side where the Egyptians would give prayers, wear special amulets, cast spells, hold rituals etc.
There were many other methods the Ancient Egyptians used to to prevent diseases, for example using mosquito nets during the summer to ward off bugs and prevent malaria. They also made sure to eat as balanced a meal as possible, because the Ancient Egyptians recognised the importance of nutrition. Of course, there was also the magical side where the Egyptians would give prayers, wear special amulets, cast spells, hold rituals etc.
Curing and Treating
Because there were always people contracting sickness and disease, the Ancient Egyptians had to work out a system to most effectively treat their people. There were many different methods of treatment, some effective, some not.
Firstly, the Ancient Egyptians had specialised physicians, like dentists, optometrists, physiologists etc. This makes it easier for the physicians to focus on their one branch of biology, thus making them treat others more effectively. When the patient is sick, they would consult the suitable physician, then the physician would give them a diagnosis. To do this, the physician would look at textbooks regarding diseases and sicknesses. These textbooks included symptoms and treatment. One of the most informative medical texts from Ancient Egypt was the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus (named after the current owner). It describes 48 different health issues, and has a prognosis and recommended treatment for every case. This may not seem like a lot today, since the internet can hold a very large amount of information, but back then it was regarded as possessing a wealth of knowledge. After the diagnosis, the physician may send their patient to a place similar to a modern day's pharmacy. The normalcy of things stop there in the "pharmacy" though. The Egyptians believed that sicknesses were caused by evil spirits who has dirtied the patient, so in order to cure the patient, they must the cleanse the body of the evil spirits. This involved some very noxious medicines, for example animal feces, cat fat and cooked mice. There was also the process of getting special priests to flush out the evil using spiritual power. Having the family pray for the patient was a common thing to do as well. This shows that the Ancient Egyptians were incredibly superstitious and strongly believed there were greater beings somewhere.
However, the Ancient Egyptians weren't so superstitious as to say that if someone lost a leg they would need to drive some spirit out. At times like these, the Ancient Egyptians thought of very creative and effective methods of treatment. For example, if someone's leg had been infected so badly that it couldn't ever function again, the Egyptians would resolve to amputating the leg. In some ways it was like driving out the evil spirit possessing the leg, but nevertheless, it still worked well as it prevented the infection from spreading any further. Although the problem of the infection spreading was solved, amputation didn't help with the fact that the patient would have a very tough time moving around. That was when the artificial limbs were invented. The Ancient Egyptians make wooden limbs that were as similar as possible to the real thing, then attached them onto the patient. This allowed for the patient to move around relatively easily, and can lead more normal lives. This example shows how the Ancient Egyptians thought critically and logically, allowing the mortality rates of their people to become lower. Many physicians from Ancient Egypt were actually world renowned, and if you think about how difficult it was 3000 years ago to communicate with the wider world, it really shows how genius the Egyptians were to have been heard of everywhere.
Some other treatments which Ancient Egyptians invented were pain killers, which they discovered derived from willow trees; a pregnancy test, where the woman would urinate on barley and wheat; using obsidian as the material for surgical tools and many, many more.