The information which archaeological research has of late afforded, though in a fitful and partial manner, as to the earliest history of medicine, and particularly in regard to that department in which our founder laboured, is not unworthy of our attention.
The first evidence of definite inquiry, in any degree worthy to be called scientific by a body of men specially educated for, and devoting their lives to medical service, occurs in the early history of Egypt. The ability, learning, and artistic skill shown during the early dynasties, which all Egyptologists recognize, are paralleled by the remarkable interest then manifested in medicine. Works on anatomy and medicine are stated to have been written even by the early sovereigns of Egypt. Athothis, the son of Menes, who lived six thousand years ago,[2] is stated in the Berlin papyrus to have written a book on medicine, and I shall soon have to quote from the anatomical writings of the Pharaoh Usaphais, one of his successors; Semti, the seventh monarch of the same dynasty, pursued similar investigations. It is clear that, like the Greeks, these men in the childhood of the world believed that ὑγιαίνειν μὲν ἄριστον ἐστιν, sanitation was to them the first of the sciences.
PLATE I
Ancient bronze figure of I-em-hotep, the Egyptian God of Medicine
(By the kind permission of the Committee and Curator of the Liverpool Museum)
The Medicine God I-em-hotep
During the third dynasty, about the year 3,500 B.C. there lived a learned physician (probably a priest of Ra, the sun-god) the founder of a cult, whose eminence was such that in course of ages he is deified and becomes for later generations the special god of medicine. His temples were places of healing for the people. His name is I-em-hotep, meaning ‘he who cometh in peace.’ According to ancient inscriptions he was the son of a certain architect named Kanofer, but when raised in popular esteem to the rank of a demi-god he is called the son of the supreme god Ptah, the Hephaistos of Egypt, and he becomes one of the great god-triad of Memphis. I-em-hotep is described as ‘the good physician of gods and men, a kind and merciful god, assuaging the sufferings of those in pain, healing the diseases of men, giving peaceful sleep to the restless and suffering’; he is called ‘the creative god who giveth life to all men, who comes unto them who call upon him in every place, and who gives sons to the childless.’[3] He was great in magic and all learning. He and his followers had to do with the embalming of the body, and he protected the soul of the dead man from all spiritual enemies after it had left the body. In the ritual of embalmment the dead man was encouraged by these words, ‘Thy soul uniteth itself to I-em-hotep; while thou art in the funeral valley thy heart rejoiceth because thou dost not go into the dwelling of Sebek, but thou are like a son in the house of his father.’[4]
From the testimony of temple inscriptions and papyri, as well as from the writings of Manetho, it is clear that the cult of the medicine-god I-em-hotep was established first in early times at Memphis. In, or adjacent to, some temple—perhaps that of Ra—I-em-hotep and his assistant priests gave advice and medical aid to multitudes of the sick and ailing. It is evident that he gained great renown for his skill and learning. When at length he died he was buried in or near the temple. The priests whom he had taught continued there the work of healing, always in association with his name. Just as the Greeks came to Epidaurus to be healed by Asklepios, so did the Egyptians, many centuries earlier, visit Memphis to seek help from I-em-hotep. It seems probable that in course of time the temple formerly dedicated to some well-known Egyptian god ceased to be known by his name, and in popular speech became the house of I-em-hotep. There is the clearest evidence of the existence of an important temple in later times dedicated to I-em-hotep at Memphis.
A hieroglyphic inscription describes I-em-hotep appearing in a vision to the high priest of Memphis, and addressing him thus:—‘I desire that a great building be erected in the holy place at Anche-tewej (a part of Memphis), where my body is hidden, for building it I will give thee the reward of a son.’[5] We know this temple was built. Later again, similar temples were erected elsewhere; doubtless priest physicians were transferred from Memphis to new centres, just as to Greece and Magna Graecia Epidaurus sent forth trained priests to establish Asklepieia at Athens, Cos, or Pergamos.
As the centuries and millenniums passed on the cult of I-em-hotep seems to have become more and more popular. In later times, when Greek colonists appeared in Egypt, they gave him the name Imouthes, and applied to his temples the Greek term ‘Asklepieia,’ clearly regarding him as alike in kind to the Greek Asklepios and his temples as hospitals for the sick. The following phrase occurs in the Serapeum Greek papyrus:—
‘τὸ πρὸς Μέμφιν μέγα Ἀσκληπιείον’[6]