Health and Medicine in ancient Egypt; magic and science

• Main Author: Veiga, Paula
• Other Authors: History
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: Universidade de Lisboa 2016
• Subjects: D051
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/71526

Health was a constant concern in life and even the deceased needed extra care so they can be at their prime when closed in the sarcophagus, in the possession of magical ‘weapons’ so that, when they would reach the Afterlife, they would be in the complete possession of all their physical abilities. Medicine in ancient Egypt was trying to restrain all malefic beings from action and to preserve the well-being of the individual. Thus the initial statement that magic and science were one and only, a sole concept, represented by heka. Through this work, all descriptions and conceptions observed in the existing legacy of ancient Egypt will lead to conclusions that attest this unique duality, if we can name it.