The Egyptians reached greater knowledge of the anatomy, because they prepared corpses for mummification as the priests included removing internal organs such as the heart, lungs and liver. However, it was the priests rather than the doctors who removed the internal organs and although general knowledge of the anatomy increased dramatically at this time, religious rules forbade dissection or examination of the organs (they were often simply put into jars and left) – which hindered their medical advances. This gave the Egyptians the idea that supernatural causes like “Spirits have taken over your body, you must see the medicine man and he will trap the spirit in a quartz crystal”. Ideas like this have stayed the same since prehistoric times.
Ships and merchants arrived from India, China and parts of Africa, bringing new herbs and plants with them. Many of these herbs and plants were recommended as medicines, so Egyptians healers built up a wide knowledge of herbal medicines. This was an important step forward since prehistoric times.
The Egyptians still had no scientific ideas on the understanding of the cause of disease and they still blamed disease on evil spirits and other supernatural beings. They often wore charms such as scarab beetle brooches to ward off illness and evil spirits; this had stayed the same since prehistoric times.
Religious beliefs were becoming more sophisticated and medical knowledge was beginning to be written down and communicated better, which meant that Egyptians were able to write down their treatments. Knowledge could be built up and added to over time and doctors now had to be trained and learn all past knowledge. Written records were often on papyrus, which is a kind of paper made from reeds. This was an important step forward since prehistoric times.
Public health problems began to emerge when large numbers of people lived together. Patients were examined and simple surgery was performed. The Egyptians had powerful religious beliefs, with many gods e.g. Thoth, god of healing. Gods still provided the explanation for afflictions such as illness for which there was no obvious cause. They believed in life after death and preserved the bodies of important people by mummification for the afterlife.
I would say that looking at the evidence; Egyptian medicine was an important step forward, they embalmed the dead, which increased their knowledge of the anatomy, however their religion hindered their medical advances. Many people at this time still believed in spirits, which shows that Egyptian medicine hadn’t progressed as much as it could of done due to religion.
