Popular Southampton guest Carol Andrews returned for the Society's February lecture. Although the coupling of magic with medicine was present through most of Egyptian history, it became more important in the later periods. The earliest practitioners of medicine had few connections to magic. In medicine, if the proper cream were used, an incantation might make the sufferer feel better. In the Late Period, what had been an aid became prime - i.e. magic took over.
Despite the fame of Egyptian doctors, the papyri and inscriptions prove that at best only 50% of their practice was medicine, the rest was magic. It is possible that the snake staff was the physicians badge of office. There are several in the Louvre. Of course, snake staffs are mentioned in the Bible story of Moses before pharaoh.
The most famous Egyptian physician was Imhotep. The Greeks identified Imhotep with their physician god, and hence the connection to medicine. Imhotep was one of the very few ordinary mortals to be made into a god, in about 2600 BC. The builder of Djoser's step pyramid was a brilliant man, but his earliest monuments do not mention medicine. As a mortal who became a god, Imhotep would have been more approachable than the other gods. People visiting his shrine might happen to be cured of their ailments, in which case a miracle had occurred. This probably went on for centuries.
Museums around the world have Egyptian medical papyri. Carol drew on many of these to explain how snake bites, scorpion stings and just plain ordinary disease could be treated by Egyptian physicians.
Carol produced another interesting and thought provoking lecture, and the Southampton Society will surely be inviting Carol to return. Those statues of Imhotep will never quite seem the same again.
