The papyrus begins by addressing injuries to the head, and continues with treatments for injuries to neck, arms and torso, detailing injuries in descending anatomical order like a modern anatomical exposition. Presented cases are typical, not individual. The rational and practical nature of the papyrus is illustrated in 48 case histories, which are listed according to each organ. The text is attributed by some to Imhotep, an architect, high priest, and physician of the Old Kingdom, 3000–2500 BCE. It is believed that the papyrus is an incomplete copy of an older reference manuscript from the Old Kingdom, evidenced by archaic grammar, terminology, form and commentary. The papyrus ends abruptly in the middle of a line, without any inclusion of an author. The majority of the papyrus was written by one scribe, with only small sections copied by a second scribe. Generic spells and incantations may have been used as a last resort in terminal cases.Īuthorship of the Edwin Smith Papyrus is debated. The spells of the verso side and two incidents in Case 8 and Case 9 are the exceptions to the practical nature of this medical text. The verso side consists of eight magic spells and five prescriptions. Each case details the type of the injury, examination of the patient, diagnosis and prognosis, and treatment. On the recto side, there are 48 cases of injury. The vast majority of the papyrus is concerned with trauma and surgery, with short sections on gynaecology and cosmetics on the verso. It is written right-to-left in hieratic, the Egyptian cursive form of hieroglyphs, in black ink with explanatory glosses in red ink. Aside from the fragmentary outer column of the scroll, the remainder of the papyrus is intact, although it was cut into one-column pages some time in the 20th century. The recto (front side) has 377 lines in 17 columns, while the verso (backside) has 92 lines in five columns. Mencius, an early Confucian scholar, defines the mind by its capacity for reason and righteousness, with a mental substance that is distinct from the body (Chen, 2016).The Edwin Smith papyrus is a scroll 4.68 meters or 15.3 feet in length. In Confucian tradition, the mind (or heart) is what makes us truly human and includes empathy, shame, respect, and moral discernment (Chen, 2016). A second line of evidence for this comes from the strong belief in a spiritual world and an afterlife that is different from the physical world (Slingerland, 2013). But as Slingerland (2013) points out, this view of a strong mind-body holism may be a misinterpretation: Chinese literature makes a clear distinction between the heart and the body as well as the heart and other organs, which are explicitly described as subservient to the heart (or mind) because the heart has unique and qualitatively different powers (Slingerland, 2013). This view was expressed metaphorically: “Just as the emperor is the ruler of the country, so the heart is the ruler of the body” (Yu, 2007). However, there is also evidence that Mesopotamians believed in an afterlife where people continue to exist in a spirit-form called etemmu (Choksi, 2014).Īncient Chinese thought did not have a clear distinction between the mind and the body but saw humans more as holistic beings with the heart seen as the centre of thinking and reasoning (Yu, 2007). There is evidence that Mesopotamians viewed the physical body as the centre of the entire self without any clear distinction between the mind and body (Steinert, 2012). Words used for a personal self (like the English “I” or “me”) derived from body parts but were used to express things including personal responsibility or agency (Steinert, 2012). Just as in ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamians saw humans as a pluralistic unity of multiple components (Steinert, 2012). Evidence for how those cultures viewed the mind and the brain is scarce and most of what we know has been pieced together from different sources across time and genres (Choksi, 2014). Pang (incorporating an image by Mo Gabrail | Unsplash) Ancient MesopotamiaĪncient Mesopotamia includes Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian cultures, which had varied views and beliefs (Choksi, 2014).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |