Imhotep: Egypt Father of Medicine

Imhotep, the earliest physician known to historians, lived during the Third Dynasty of the Old Kingdom around 2650 BC and was High Priest of Heliopolis.

He was known as High Priest of Heliopolis, Chief Magician and Physician of the Realm, Architect Royal, Grand Vizier to the Pharaoh Djoser and the first commoner of Pharaonic Egypt to be deified.

He dealt with questions of space, time, volume, the nature of illness, physical and mental disease and immortality.

Succeeding generations of Egyptians, however, would honor Imhotep not for his building expertise but instead for his healing power. They would even elevate him to the ranks of the divine and worship him as their god of medicine.

As a physician, Imhotep is believed to have been the author of the ‘Edwin Smith’ Papyrus in which more than 90 anatomical terms and 48 injuries are described.

At that time, elements of religion and magic were closely intertwined with drug use, incantations routinely being uttered prior to administration in order to confer the healing property upon it.

Greeks regarded him as the Father of Medicine, associating him with Asclepius and thus bestowing on him the unique position of being a historical human.

The magic he was repute to practice may well have been grounded in the considerably well-developed art of healing in ancient Egypt.
Imhotep: Egypt Father of Medicine

Ptahhotep of ancient Egypt

Ptahhotep was a judge of the High Court, vizier and a close friend of King Isesi Djed-Ka-Ra Isesi of the 5th Dynasty (2450-2300 BC).

He is given credit for composing what has been acclaimed ‘The oldest book in the world’. It is the oldest writing of instruction that has remained intact. The name of the book is The Instruction of Ptahhotep.

The book begins with an explanation of why Ptahhotep wrote this treatise; he stated that he was getting old and feeble and he wanted to retire from his job.

The heart of Ptahhotep’s manuscript consists of thirty-seven principles that define and more importantly, justify certain forms of behavior as being moral.

Ptahhotep was the oldest son of an unknown king. He had the opportunity to become King himself but chose to commit himself to the Priesthood instead.
Ptahhotep of ancient Egypt 

Who is Claudius Ptolemy?

Claudius Ptolemy was born around 100 AD., probably in Alexandria but possibly in Hermiou in Upper Egypt. He was a mathematician, astronomer and geographer.

Ptolemy lived during a stable period of internal tranquility and good government, and his main work appears to have been done during the reign of the Emperor Titus Antonius Pius, which lasted from 138 to 161 AD. 

Before his death in the late 170’s he had written a wide variety of works that included four major compendia: the Syntaxis Mathematike, the Geography, the Tetrabiblos and the Optics.

The Optics was probably written in the later years of his life. Translated into Arabic by the early tenth century at latest, this work has left no trace in either Greek or Arabic.

He presented his picture of the universe in his book Syntaxis Mathematike, in which he summed up ancient Greek thinking about the movements of the heavens. The book of Syntaxis Mathematike, is now almost universally known by the name ‘Almagest’ after the Arabic translation.

The earth according to Ptolemy was a sphere located at the centre of the universe.

The Almagest holds a prominent place in the history of mathematics and astronomy and was used as a primary resource for many hundreds of years.
Who is Claudius Ptolemy?