4000 BCE-1400 AD

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Hypocephalus of Tasheritkhons

Left: Close up of the Brain and Olfactory Tract. Right: Monkey figure on the Hypocephalus

Artificial cranial deformation

~4000 BCE-300 BCE

First known recorded medical documents

Areas of interest: disease, treatment, mummification.

Cranial sutures, meninges, external surface of the brain, cerebrospinal fluid, and intracranial pulsations.

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Canopic Jars Anubis preparing the body for reception by Osiris

Opening of the Mouth ceremony from the Papyrus of Hunefer

Lengthy process of preserving the body. Initially not meant to preserve for the “afterlife” but over

time this belief lead to more intense body preservation and tomb building. The tomb was believed to be the “eternal dwelling of the dead”.

Process involves: Washing body in water from the Nile Removal of internal organs (except for heart) Covering/stuffing with natron Washing (Nile) Stuffing with linen and sand or sawdust Organs placed in canonic jars Wrapping with linen strips and resin Osiris, amulets, and papyrus from book of the dead

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Edwin Smith Papyrus

Ebers Papyrus

London Papyrus

Hearst Papyrus

Kahun Papyrus

Edwin Smith Papyrus Dated to circa 1600 BCE, the Edwin Smith Papyrus is the only surviving copy of part of an

Ancient Egyptian textbook on trauma surgery. The papyrus takes its name from the Egyptian archaeologist Edwin Smith, who purchased it in the 1860s. The most detailed and sophisticated of the extant medical papyri, it is also the world's oldest surgical text. Written in the hieratic script of the ancient Egyptian language, it is thought to be based on material from a thousand years earlier. The document consists of 22 pages (17 pages on the recto, and 5 pages on the verso). 48 cases of trauma are examined, each with a description of the physical examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. An important aspect of the text is that it shows that the heart, liver, spleen, kidneys, ureters, and bladder were all known to the Egyptians, along with the fact that the blood vessels were connected to the heart. The entire translation is available online.

Ebers Papyrus The Ebers Papyrus was also purchased by Edwin Smith in 1862. It takes its name from

Georg Ebers who purchased the papyrus in 1872. The papyrus dates to around 1550BC and covers 110 pages, making it the lengthiest of the medical papyri. The papyrus covers many different topics including; dermatology, digestive diseases, traumatic diseases, dentistry and gynecological conditions. It makes many references to treating ailments with spells or religious techniques. One of the most important findings of this papyrus are the references to migraines which shows the condition dates back to this time.

Other important Papyri: Hearst: Urology London: medical recipes Kahun: focused on Gynecology

Depiction of Alcmeaon treating a patient for humor imbalance

Alcmaeon of Croton

Hippocrates of Cos Aphorisms of Hippocrates

Humorism

Alcmaeon’s Senses

Greek Dark Ages : 1200 BCE- 800 BCE

The Greek Empire: 300 BCE - 30 BCE Greece ruled Europe and Egypt

Most early geek anatomist used animals

First to dissect human bodies for anatomical study: Alcmaeon of Croton

First to create medical schools and libraries: Cnidus in 700 BC, Alexandria 200 BC

Termed the field Biology- Bios-life, logos- word/discourse Hippocrates of Cos (c. 460-377 B.C.) maintained that all diseases have natural causes. He made

diagnoses and prescribed simple treatments like diet, hygiene, and sleep. Hippocrates is the author of the saying "Life is short, and the Art long" (from his Aphorisms). The name Hippocrates is familiar because of the oath that doctors take (Hippocratic Oath) and a body of early medical treatises that are attributed to Hippocrates (Hippocratic corpus), which includes the Aphorisms.

Valued knowledge and science

Humorism: Believed that balance of humors controlled illness- black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood.

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384–322 BCE

Studied under Plato.

Established Lyceum School in Athens

Worked on the anatomy of many animals (Island of Lesbos)

Developed a classification system to classify living organisms.

Drew a distinction between nerves and tendons.

Described how major arteries branched out into smaller blood vessels.

Aristotle considered the brain to be a secondary organ that served as a cooling agent for the heart and a place in which spirit circulated freely. He designated the space in which all the spirits came together as the sensus communis -- the origins of our much more metaphorical term, "common sense."

Alexander the Great was a pupil of Aristotle. Alexander’s successor Ptolemy commissioned the Bibliotheca Alexandrina to house Aristotle’s and other great philosopher’s works.

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Ptolemy I

Library of Alexandria-Bibliotheca Alexandrina

In ~320 BCE Greek Egyptian Soter Ptolemy gains control of Egypt after is was conquered by Greek Alexander the Great. Establishes the short lived Ptolemy dynasty.

Library of Alexandria established.

Allowed and participated in dissection of human cadavers, mostly executed criminals.

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Herophilus of Chalcedon (335-280 BCE) and Erasistratus of Chios (276-195 BCE)

Under the rein of Ptolemy II, helped create the Medical School of Alexandria

Commonly practiced vivisection Made many discoveries in neuroanatomy

Brain site of intelligence Motor vs sensory neurons All nerves originate in the brain Eye as a sensory organ attached to the brain

Also studied the digestive tract, reproductive organs, and arteries/veins.

Roman Kingdom 753 BCE-509BCE

Roman Republic 509 BCE-27 BCE

Roman Empire~30 BCE - 476 AD The height of the Roman era of control of

Europe and Egypt Greatly influence by scientific advancement

from Athens and Alexandria. Perfected Greek medical practices on gladiators

and soldiers. Made Latin the language of science.

AD 129 – c. 200/c. 216

Studied at Alexandria

Although he was of Greek decent, he was considered the greatest Roman Scientist/Physician.

Worked on animals and identified crainial nerves, heart valves, and reproductive organs.

Rome farbade dissection of humans, it is reported that Galen worked only on animals but their are dipictions of him directing his assistant in human dissection.

His writings/books are used by anatomists for centuries until the rennissance/enlightenment.

It is not fully known which event lead to the complete destruction of the greatest library of the ancient times.

What was lost: more than 700,000 papyrus scrolls of the world best philosophers, physicians, and scientists work. A mecca for intellectuals, a place for meeting and collaboration.

Caesar 48BCE- believed to have destroyed the library during his siege of Alexandria.

Theophilus 391 AD- part of the collections where house in temples around the main library, they were destroyed during riots by fanatical christians.

Muslim Conquest of 642AD- Conquered Egypt, stories indicated that they destroyed the library- stories are debated by historians.

391 AD riots

~500AD-1500AD

Translation of existing texts

Astronomy-

Parsimony- English

Scientific Method- Muslim

Optics- English and Muslim