Medicine through time

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Religion in Ancient Egypt.

Egyptian culture was based upon religious belief and many of their greatest monuments and festivals were a result of a desire to please Gods. In ancient Egypt there were many different Gods. They did not have one god as most modern religions do. Each god would need to be pacified in order to ensure good health and prosperity.

Religion played a major role in the development of Egyptian medicine. The believe in the afterlife meant that bodies were cut open and parts removed. This would have improved anatomical knowledge (the extent to which physicians benefited from the embalming process is debatable as it is more than likely that specialist embalmers existed who would not act as physicians). These religious beliefs also prevented the further dissection of the body: it had to remain intact to get to the afterlife. In this way it can be argued that Religion both aided medical development and prevented it.

Ancient Egyptian Medicine - pages in this unit

Egyptian Medicine - Egyptian Doctors and Physicians - Alexandria and the development of Medical training - Surgery in Ancient Egypt - The role of religion in Egyptian Medicine - Mummification - Activities relating to Egyptian and Ancient Medicine - Image gallery

Recommended Books - see the Books section for a wider variety of recommended books on this topic.

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