Pharaohs and Medicine: Fact or Fiction?

Abstract The first mention of doctors in recorded history comes from Egypt’s Old Kingdom, the era when the Great Pyramids of Giza were constructed. A commoner-born Imhotep, who was also an architect, priest, and political advisor, received such renown as a medical practitioner that he was ultimately deified as a god of medicine; instead of taking the Hippocratic Oath, doctors should perhaps take an “Imhotepic Oath,” in honor of the Egyptian medical savant who lived more than 2000 years prior to Hippocrates. For millennia, ancient Egyptian doctors were trailblazers. Ancient Egypt is perhaps best known for its pyramids, mummies, and hieroglyphics. But its medical doctors might have had the most lasting influence on humanity. From surgery and dentistry to prosthetics and obstetrics, the ancient Egyptians made numerous medical advances over the course of their roughly 3000-year-long civilization. Our aim is to spotlight this era and elucidate their role in medicine for the new generations of doctors.