Golding, Wendy Rebecca Jennifer
The Brooklyn Papyrus (47.218.48 and 47.218.85) is the handbook of the
Priests of Serqet who were called upon to treat snakebite victims in
ancient Egypt. The first part of the Brooklyn Papyrus describes various
snakes encountered by the ancient Egyptians, and the effects of the
bites of these snakes. The second part of the Papyrus contains the
numerous treatments that were used to treat the snakebite victims.
The primary question of the thesis is to address how the ancient
Egyptians treated snakebite victims; and if it is possible to identify
the snakes that they encountered, as treatment often hinges on this
identification. Additional questions are addressed, namely: What is the
Brooklyn Papyrus exactly and what is its background? How does the
Brooklyn Papyrus compare to the well-known ancient Egyptian medical
papyri? How does the snakebite treatment of the ancient Egyptians
compare to that of today’s treatment protocol?
In order to answer these questions, this thesis provides my
transliteration of the hieroglyphic writing into Latin script, and my
translation into English, based on the hieratic to hieroglyphic
transliteration done by Serge Sauneron in the late 1960s, and published
in 1989 as Un Traité Egyptien d’Ophiologie. The primary aim of this
thesis is to provide a transliteration and full English translation of
the Brooklyn Papyrus, as none is currently available.
It is clear that from the translation that one can discover exactly how
snakebite was treated in ancient Egypt: what medicinal ingredients were
used and how the patient was treated. Furthermore, from the text
describing the snakes and the effects of their bites, one can indeed
attempt to identify the species of snakes. It is also apparent from the
Brooklyn Papyrus that the ancient Egyptians did recognise and accurately
describe many effects of snakebite on the human body, as well as the
different types of bite wounds: and they also understood the importance
of being able to identify a species of snake as it very often impacted
on the treatment to be prescribed—exactly as snakebite treatment is
considered in medicine today
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