![Papyrus Hearst Plate 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Papyrus_Hearst_Plate_2.jpg)
The Hearst Papyrus, also called the Hearst Medical Papyrus,
is one of the
medical papyri
Egyptian medical papyri are ancient Egyptian texts written on papyrus which permit a glimpse at medical procedures and practices in ancient Egypt. These papyri give details on disease, diagnosis, and remedies of disease, which include herbal re ...
of
ancient Egypt. It was named after
Phoebe Hearst
Phoebe Elizabeth Apperson Hearst (December 3, 1842 – April 13, 1919) was an American philanthropist, feminist and suffragist. Hearst was the founder of the University of California Museum of Anthropology, now called the Phoebe A. Hearst Mu ...
.
The papyrus contains 18 pages of medical prescriptions written in
hieratic Egyptian writing, concentrating on treatments for problems dealing with the
urinary system
The urinary system, also known as the urinary tract or renal system, consists of the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and the urethra. The purpose of the urinary system is to eliminate waste from the body, regulate blood volume and blood pressure, c ...
,
blood
Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the cir ...
,
hair, and
bite
Biting is a common zoological behavior involving the active, rapid closing of the jaw around an object. This behavior is found in toothed animals such as mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish, but can also exist in arthropods. Myocytic co ...
s.
It is dated to the first half of the
2nd millennium BC
The 2nd millennium BC spanned the years 2000 BC to 1001 BC.
In the Ancient Near East, it marks the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age.
The Ancient Near Eastern cultures are well within the historical era:
The first half of the mil ...
. It is considered an important manuscript, but some doubts persist about its authenticity.
Origin
According to
George Reisner
George Andrew Reisner Jr. (November 5, 1867 – June 6, 1942) was an American archaeologist of Ancient Egypt, Nubia and Palestine.
Biography
Reisner was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His parents were George Andrew Reisner I and Mary Elizabeth ...
(who published plates of the papyrus in 1905), the Hearst Papyrus was received in the spring of 1901 at the camp of the
Hearst Expedition
The Hearst Expedition was an archaeological project led by the University of California to explore burial grounds at and around Qift, Egypt. The expedition spanned the years 1899–1905, and was named for Phoebe Hearst, mother of William Randolph H ...
in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
from a peasant of the nearby village of
Deir el-Ballas
Deir el-Ballas is an archaeological site in Upper Egypt. It was the location of a royal palace and administration center occupied by rulers of the Seventeenth Dynasty in ancient Egypt's late Second Intermediate Period.
Location
Deir el-Ballas w ...
, as a thank-you for being allowed to take
fertilizer
A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...
from their dump-heaps.
It was later named after Phoebe Hearst (the mother of
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...
, the newspaper magnate) who funded much of that expedition carried out by the
University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...
.
The papyrus has been dated to the
18th Dynasty of Egypt, around the time of
pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the ...
Tuthmosis III
Thutmose III (variously also spelt Tuthmosis or Thothmes), sometimes called Thutmose the Great, was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Officially, Thutmose III ruled Egypt for almost 54 years and his reign is usually dated from 28 ...
.
The text is believed to have been composed earlier, during the
Middle Kingdom, around 2000 BC. , it is kept in the
Bancroft Library,
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
.
In later years, some doubts have been raised about its authenticity. The contents of the papyrus have been studied extensively from the published plates, but the original papyrus had never been carefully examined. As its curator explained in 2003, "the papyrus is in surprisingly good condition. It is almost too good to be true."
On the other hand, Reisner had no doubts, writing in 1905, "The roll had not been opened since antiquity as was manifest in the set of the turns, the fine dust, and the casts of insects."
To settle the matter, the Bancroft Library has expressed its intention to have the papyrus examined at some point in the future to establish "whether it is indeed real or an almost perfect fake".
Contents
The Hearst Papyrus is one of the
medical papyri
Egyptian medical papyri are ancient Egyptian texts written on papyrus which permit a glimpse at medical procedures and practices in ancient Egypt. These papyri give details on disease, diagnosis, and remedies of disease, which include herbal re ...
of
ancient Egypt, which were used to record remedial methods for problems such as
headaches and
digestive problems. Most papyri also included a section on
incantation
An incantation, a spell, a charm, an enchantment or a bewitchery, is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremo ...
s and
magic spells that would be performed on the patient before, during, and after treatment.
The Hearst Papyrus contains 260 paragraphs on 18 columns
of medical prescriptions, written in
hieratic Egyptian writing. The topics range from "a tooth which falls out" to "remedy for treatment of the lung",
but concentrates on treatments for problems dealing with the
urinary system
The urinary system, also known as the urinary tract or renal system, consists of the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and the urethra. The purpose of the urinary system is to eliminate waste from the body, regulate blood volume and blood pressure, c ...
,
blood
Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the cir ...
,
hair, and
bite
Biting is a common zoological behavior involving the active, rapid closing of the jaw around an object. This behavior is found in toothed animals such as mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish, but can also exist in arthropods. Myocytic co ...
s
(by human beings, pigs, and
hippopotamus
The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...
es).
One incantation deals with the "Canaanite illness", "when the body is coal-black with charcoal spots", probably
tularemia
Tularemia, also known as rabbit fever, is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium ''Francisella tularensis''. Symptoms may include fever, skin ulcers, and enlarged lymph nodes. Occasionally, a form that results in pneumonia or a throat infe ...
, one of the "plagues" that helped to unseat the
Hyksos
Hyksos (; Egyptian '' ḥqꜣ(w)- ḫꜣswt'', Egyptological pronunciation: ''hekau khasut'', "ruler(s) of foreign lands") is a term which, in modern Egyptology, designates the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt (fl. c. 1650–1550 BC).
T ...
.
See also
*
List of ancient Egyptian papyri
This list of ancient Egyptian papyri includes some of the better known individual papyri written in hieroglyphs, hieratic, demotic or in Greek. Excluded are papyri found abroad or containing Biblical texts which are listed in separate lists.
...
*
Ancient Egyptian medicine
*
History of medicine
The history of medicine is both a study of medicine throughout history as well as a multidisciplinary field of study that seeks to explore and understand medical practices, both past and present, throughout human societies.
More than just histo ...
References
External links
*
{{Ancient Egyptian medicine
Ancient Egyptian medical works
Egyptian papyri