“It is recommended to place a clove of garlic in the vagina before going to sleep”: these are some texts that reveal women’s health care in Ancient Egypt.
to historian Lucy Inglis reveals in his book Born: A History of Childbirthrecords from Ancient Egypt that show how female doctors treated problems “of the uterus” and how men reacted to menstruation.
As , as humans evolved, our heads became larger and walking upright narrowed the birth canal — a difficult and dangerous combination that means that, in most cases, we need assistance to give birth.
Before there were no written records, but there were already representations of pregnancy and fertility. However, this does not tell us much about how pregnancy and childbirth were viewed and treated.
Lucy Inglis reveals what it was like in Ancient Egypt; and tells us about a doctor who lived during the construction of the great pyramids, around 2500 BC: Fifthto Medical Supervisors.
Peseshet left us the first gynecological text specific to the world: the Gynecological Papyrus of Kahun, dated 1825 BC
Tem 34 paragraphs of advice which most doctors today would not recommend following and diagnose almost all female complaints as being “of the uterus”.
Examination of a woman “whose eyes hurt until she could not see, along with pain in her neck”—which sounds like a migraine—leads to the conclusion that she must have “discharges from the uterus in the eyes”.
This is treated by “fumigating her with frankincense and fresh oil, fumigating the uterus therewith, and fumigating the eyes with goose-leg fat.” Furthermore, “you must do it eat fresh donkey liver”.
O Papyrus also recommends placing a clove of garlic in the vagina before going to sleep.. If your breath smells like garlic the next morning, it is a good omen for pregnancy. If not, it’s a bad sign.
The records also include references to menstruation, referred to as HSMN.
A set of tablets written during the reign of Ramesses II covers a period of 280 days in which ten prominent workers were absent from work due to hsmn. Since men don’t menstruate, this would be a puzzle.
According to Inglis, historians, over the last century, have speculated that the Egyptians considered the menstruating body “impure”.
