The Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus (also Petrie Medical Papyrus, Kahun Medical Papyrus, Lahun Medical Papyrus, or UC32057) is the oldest known medical text in Egypt, although not the oldest in the world as in Philadelphia museum a Sumerian medical clay tablet from 3rd millennium is preserved. Dated to 1800 BCE, it deals with women's health— gynaecological diseases, fertility, pregnancy, contraception, etc.

History

It was found at

El-Lahun El Lahun ( ar, اللاهون ''El Lāhūn,'' alt. Illahun, Lahun, or Kahun (the latter being a neologism coined by archaeologist William Matthew Flinders Petrie) is a workmen's village in Faiyum, Egypt. El Lahun is associated with the Pyramid ...

(

Faiyum Faiyum ( ar, الفيوم ' , borrowed from cop, ̀Ⲫⲓⲟⲙ or Ⲫⲓⲱⲙ ' from egy, pꜣ ym "the Sea, Lake") is a city in Middle Egypt. Located southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyum ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

) by

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egyp ...

in 1889 and first translated by F. Ll. Griffith in 1893 and published in ''The Petrie Papyri: Hieratic Papyri from Kahun and Gurob''. It is kept in the

Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London is part of University College London Museums and Collections. The museum contains over 80,000 objects and ranks among some of the world's leading collections of Egyptian and Sudanese materia ...

of the

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. The later

Berlin Papyrus Berlin Papyrus may refer to several papyri kept in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin, including: * Berlin Papyrus 3033 or the Westcar Papyrus, a storytelling papyrus * Berlin Papyrus 3038 or the Brugsch Papyrus, a medical papyrus * Berlin Papyrus 6619 ...

and the Ramesseum Papyrus IV cover much of the same ground, often giving identical prescriptions. The text is divided into thirty-four sections, each section dealing with a specific problem and containing diagnosis and treatment; no

prognosis Prognosis ( Greek: πρόγνωσις "fore-knowing, foreseeing") is a medical term for predicting the likely or expected development of a disease, including whether the signs and symptoms will improve or worsen (and how quickly) or remain sta ...

is suggested. Treatments are non-surgical, comprising applying medicines to the affected body part or swallowing them. The

womb The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The ut ...

is at times seen as the source of complaints manifesting themselves in other body parts, for which its fumigation is recommended, either by oils and incense or whatever the woman smells roasting, should it cause her to smell roasting."Manuscript for the health of mother and child", translated by Steven Quirke, University College London
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{{Ancient Egyptian medicine Ancient Egyptian medical works Egyptian papyri Gynaecology

History

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