Papyrus definition mesopotamia how to#

The text does not refer to any proposed surgery. Donkey milk and perfumed oils are part of the medical material to be used in these procedures. The suggested treatments are diverse and include fumigations, massages, and medications introduced into the body as pessaries or as a liquid to be drunk or rubbed on the skin. Naturally, as in other medical works, Papyrus Kahun refers to an enchantment 5. This process of symptoms, diagnosis, report and treatment described makes up the various sections. However, no mention is made of the likely prognosis.

Papyrus definition mesopotamia how to#

The work comprises three pages, is divided into 34 horizontal columns, oriented from the right to the left, that have a common format: begin with a brief report of the symptoms then, the doctor is advised on how to approach the patient to present his diagnosis and, finally, treatment is suggested. The papyrus Kahun, dated from the kingdom of Amenemhat III, circa 1825 BCE 4 (Middle Kingdom, dynasty XII), is one of the biggest papyri of that period, with about 1 m long for 32 cm high, and features the oldest known treaty of gynaecology and obstetrics, which addresses issues such as fertility, pregnancy, contraception, and gynaecological diseases. Nowadays it is conserved in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London (UC 32057), in London, United Kingdom. The papyrus was in a very bad state of preservation, therefore it had to be carefully restored, in 1890, by Francis Griffith so he could, finally, be able to make the first hieroglyphic transcription of the hieratic text and its publication 3 still in 1898. Flinders Petrie in 1889, in a place near the modern city of Lahun, in Fayum 2. Mencius, an early Confucian scholar, defines the mind by its capacity for reason and righteousness, with a mental substance that is distinct from the body (Chen, 2016).The Gynaecological Papyrus Kahun 1, the oldest known medical papyrus, was discovered by W. In Confucian tradition, the mind (or heart) is what makes us truly human and includes empathy, shame, respect, and moral discernment (Chen, 2016). A second line of evidence for this comes from the strong belief in a spiritual world and an afterlife that is different from the physical world (Slingerland, 2013). But as Slingerland (2013) points out, this view of a strong mind-body holism may be a misinterpretation: Chinese literature makes a clear distinction between the heart and the body as well as the heart and other organs, which are explicitly described as subservient to the heart (or mind) because the heart has unique and qualitatively different powers (Slingerland, 2013). This view was expressed metaphorically: “Just as the emperor is the ruler of the country, so the heart is the ruler of the body” (Yu, 2007). However, there is also evidence that Mesopotamians believed in an afterlife where people continue to exist in a spirit-form called etemmu (Choksi, 2014).Īncient Chinese thought did not have a clear distinction between the mind and the body but saw humans more as holistic beings with the heart seen as the centre of thinking and reasoning (Yu, 2007). There is evidence that Mesopotamians viewed the physical body as the centre of the entire self without any clear distinction between the mind and body (Steinert, 2012). Words used for a personal self (like the English “I” or “me”) derived from body parts but were used to express things including personal responsibility or agency (Steinert, 2012). Just as in ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamians saw humans as a pluralistic unity of multiple components (Steinert, 2012). Evidence for how those cultures viewed the mind and the brain is scarce and most of what we know has been pieced together from different sources across time and genres (Choksi, 2014).

Pang (incorporating an image by Mo Gabrail | Unsplash) Ancient MesopotamiaĪncient Mesopotamia includes Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian cultures, which had varied views and beliefs (Choksi, 2014).