Tag Archive
The Library of Alexandria: “House of Muses”
Image via Wikipedia It was remarkable and extraordinary that this soldier (Alexander the Great) built one of the greatest academic institutions in history. It was called the House of Muses (from which we derive the word “museum”) and contained all the elements of a modern residential university. It comprised four schools — mathematics, letters, astronomy... »
Study: 5,100-year-old Egyptian medicinal wine
Ancient Egyptian medical papyri show that resins and herbs were added to wine, beer and water for use as pain relievers, laxatives, diuretics, or aphrodisiacs. Herbs have been detected in wine from the tomb of one of ancient Egypt’s first rulers, many centuries before the civilization’s known use of herbal remedies in alcoholic beverages, according... »
Ancient Egypt: Pioneers in medicine
Image via Wikipedia Egyptian medicine is one of the oldest in history. Herodotus identified this region as a fertile land that produces an abundance of drugs, some are remedies and other poisons, its doctors are the wisest of the world. The art of healing that was practiced at that time made use of plants and plant... »
Mummies and Medical Cannibalism
Richard Sugg is a research fellow in literature and medicine at Durham University. He begins his monograph “Good Physic but Bad Food: Early Modern Attitudes to Medicinal Cannibalism and its Suppliers” with an observation: “The subject of medicinal cannibalism in mainstream western medicine has received surprisingly little historical attention.” He tells us that mummy, generally... »
