Edwin Smith Papyrus

Edwin Smith Papyrus is an ancient Egyptian medical text, named after the dealer who bought it in 1862, Edwin Smith. It is believed to have been written around 1600 BC, but it is considered to be a copy of an even older text, possibly dating back to 3000-2500 BC. The papyrus is a treatise on trauma surgery and consists of 48 cases of injuries, fractures, wounds, dislocations and tumors.

History[edit | edit source]

The Edwin Smith Papyrus was purchased in Luxor, Egypt in 1862 by Edwin Smith, an American Egyptologist. Smith's daughter donated the papyrus to New York Historical Society after his death. The papyrus was translated by James Henry Breasted, an American Egyptologist, with the first English translation published in 1930.

Content[edit | edit source]

The papyrus begins with a title announcing the treatise as "the secret book of the physician". The cases are systematically arranged, each case details the type of the injury, examination of the patient, diagnosis and prognosis, and treatment. The papyrus also includes a list of anatomical terms and a "glossary" that explains the terms used in the text.

Significance[edit | edit source]

The Edwin Smith Papyrus is significant as it is the oldest known surgical treatise on trauma and shows that the ancient Egyptians had a relatively high level of knowledge about the human anatomy. The papyrus shows that the heart, vessels, liver, spleen, kidneys, hypothalamus, uterus and bladder were recognized, and that the blood vessels were known to come from the heart. The ancient Egyptians also recognized the significance of the pulse and the heart as the center of the blood supply.