Kahun Gynecological Papyrus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus (also Kahun Papyrus, Kahun Medical Papyrus, or UC 32057) is the oldest known medical text (dated to about 1800 BCE) dealing with women's complaints—gynaecological diseases, fertility, pregnancy, contraception etc. It was found at Lahun by Flinders Petrie in 1889 Worton & Wilson, op.cit., p.192 and first translated by F. Ll. Griffith in 1893 and published in The Petrie Papyri: Hieratic Papyri from Kahun and Gurob. The later Berlin Papyrus and the Ramesseum Papyrus IV cover much of the same ground, often giving identical prescriptions.David, op.cit., p.124The text is divided into thirty-four sections, each section dealing with a specific problem and containing diagnosis and treatment, no prognosis is suggested. Treatments are non surgical, comprising applying medicines to the affected body part or swallowing them. The womb is at times seen as the source of complaints manifesting themselves in other body parts.Dixon, op.cit., pp.15f.

Bibliography

  • Michael Worton, Nana Wilson-Tagoe, National Healths: Gender, Sexuality and Health in a Cross-Cultural Context, Routledge Cavendish 2004
  • Ann Rosalie David The Pyramid Builders of Ancient Egypt: A Modern Investigation of Pharaohs Workforce'', Routledge 1996
  • Michael J. O'Dowd, Elliot Philipp, The History of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Informa Health Care 2000, p.43
  • Laurinda S. Dixon. Perilous Chastity: Women and Illness in Pre-Enlightenment Art and Medicine, Cornell University Press 1995

    • Footnotes and references



    Next Page


    This article is based on an article from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and is available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
    In the Wikipedia there is a list with all authors of this article available.