The quick and the dead : biomedical theory in ancient Egypt / Andrew H. Gordon and Calvin W. Schwabe.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Print version record.

This volume uses a cross-disciplinary approach to examine the origins of ancient Egyptian medicine in the domestication, care and sacrifice of cattle. Ritual cattle sacrifice in Egypt led to a rudimentary understanding of animal anatomy and physiology, which was then applied to humans. Two original theories developed from this comparative medicine: Life as movement, especially seen in the fasciolations of excised limbs, and the male's role in reproduction. Discussions include Egypt as a cattle culture, the "ka as an animating force, "living flesh," the possible animal origins of the "ankh, "djed and "was hieroglyphs, the bull's foreleg and the Opening-of-the-Mouth ritual, Egypt's healing establishment, and veterinary medicine as it relates to the origin of human medicine.

Figures and Table -- Preface -- Transliteration and Abbreviations -- Chapter 1. Sources of Egyptian Biomedical Knowledge -- Magic and Processes of Science -- Egyptological Sources of Evidence -- Biological Sources of Evidence -- Ethnographic Sources of Evidence -- Chapter 2. Life and Death -- Egyptian Priests' Preoccupations with Problems of Death and Rebirth -- Textual Sources and Portrayals -- Rituals and Concepts -- Ka as a Concept Underlying Ritual -- Animal Associations with Life -- Animal Associations with Death -- Conclusions -- Chapter 3. Predynastic Egypt as 'Cattle Culture'

Bos primigenius andWild Bull Hunts -- Cattle Domestication and Milk Drinking -- Pharaoh as Bull, People as Cattle -- Sun and Gods as Bulls -- Bovine Gods of Fertility and Power: Living Bull Gods -- Some Comparisons -- Bovine Sacrifice -- Egyptian Temple Herds and Cattle Wealth -- Baboons as Bulls -- Conclusions -- Chapter 4. The Approach of Comparative Biomedicine -- Analogy and Biomedical Progress -- Animal Dissections in Egypt -- Continuing Importance of Comparative Biomedicine -- TheMicrobiological Revolution -- Conclusions -- Chapter 5. 'Live Flesh': Rudiments of Muscle Physiology.

Motion and Irritability as Evidences of Life -- Opening-of-the-Mouth Ritual -- Laboratory Reenactment -- Ka as the Animating Principle -- Comparison of Ka to Nilotic Ring -- Other Comparisons -- Conclusions -- Chapter 6. Physiology of the Spine -- Spine and Life -- Keeping the Body Intact -- BoneMarrow and Life -- Particular Importance of Thoracic Vertebrae -- Meaning of Ankh -- Theories about Ankh's Origin -- as Thoracic Vertebra -- Clinical Proof -- Spine and Death -- Mtwt and a Physiological Analogy between Opposites -- Comparative Findings -- The Principal Supporting Vertebrae for the Body.

Djed and Backbone -- as the Sacral and Lumbar Spine -- Other Theories of Djed's Origin Subsumed -- Comparative Observations -- Conclusions -- Chapter 7. The Male Reproductive System -- The Male's Role in Reproduction -- The Was-Scepter, Penis and Dominion -- Dominion as a Behavioral and Social Phenomenon -- Baboons and Sexual Exercise of Dominion -- Gods' Penises and Dominion -- Penis Analogs -- as Bull's Penis -- Additional Biological Evidence -- The Ancient Egyptian Mindset -- as the Male Reproductive System -- Semen Analogs -- Conclusions.

Chapter 8. The Egyptian Healing Establishment -- Egyptian Healers -- Some Comparisons With Greece -- Per Ankh, Hut Ankh and Their Functions -- Some Comparisons With Greece -- The Kahun Veterinary Papyrus -- Conclusions -- Chapter 9. Egyptian Biomedical Science: Theories and Implications -- Structure of the Body -- Functions of Organs -- The Egyptians' Synthesis: A First Approximation -- Pathogenesis -- Comparative Reproductive Physiology and Medicine -- A Further Word about Materials and Methods -- Boundaries to Biomedical Innovation -- A Natural Laboratory -- Episodic Biomedical Progress.

English.

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