Swallow (menet)

Swallow
(menet)

Appearance: Various species of swallow took to the skies in Egypt. As Egyptian artists were never consistant in the coloring of the bird's plumage in their depictions, it is unclear which, if any, was the symbolic bird. By the shape of the bird's body in the hieroglyph and in painting, it is clear that the bird is definately a member of the swallow family.

Meaning: During the Old Kingdom, swallows were associated with stars and therefore the souls of the dead. Chapter 86 of the Book of the Dead specifically instructs the deceased on how to transform into a swallow. In Spell 1216 of the Pyramid Texts, the pharaoh describes how he has "gone to the great island in the midst of the Field of Offerings on which the swallow gods alight; the swallows are the imperishable stars." The imperishable stars were those near the North Star that never seemed to rise or set, and therefore were "constant".

The swallow also appears in paintings of the solar barque as it enters the underworld. The swallow is usually shown on the prow of the boat. In this context, the bird appears to be an announcer of the sun's approach.

In Egyptian love poetry, the swallow declares the dawn of new love.

Shen Ring

Shen Ring
(shen)

Appearance: The shen ring is at first glance a circle with a horizontal line in a tangent along its bottom edge. However the shen is more than meets the eye. The shen was a stylized loop of rope with each end visible.

Meaning: In many cultures, the circle was a symbol of "eternity." Such symbolism is evident in familiarities such as the wedding ring of Western cultures, the Gnostic ouroboras and the ying-yang of China.

The same is true of the shen ring. Deriving its name from the root shenu (to encircle), it was almost always a symbol of eternity. However, the shen ring also held the idea of "protection." It most often carried this connotation when seen in its elongated variation, the cartouche; which surrounded the birth and throne names of the Pharaohs.

The shen frequently appeared depicted in the claws of the avian forms of the falcon-god Horus and various vulture goddesses. An example of this can be seen to the right. The shen was also depicted at the base of the notch palm branches held by the god of eternity

Heh

Heh

Heh was the god of infinity and formlessness. He was shown as a crouching man holding out two palm ribs in his hands, each of which terminated with a tadplole and a shen ring. The shen ring was a traditional symbol of infinity. The palm ribs were symbols of the passage of time, in the temples they were notched to record cycles of time. The tadpole was a hieroglyph that represented the number 100,000.

The image of Heh himself was with his arms raised was the hieroglyph for the number one million.

Heh was a member of the Ogdoad of Hermopolis. He and his consort Hauhet together were the aspects of formlessness and endlessness that existed in the universe prior to the Creation. In Hermopolis, he was depicted as a serpent.

The Ebers Papyrus:-

The Ebers Papyrus:-

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Also known as Papyrus Ebers is an Egyptian medical papyrus dating to circa 1550 BC. Among the oldest and most important medical papyri of ancient Egypt, it was purchased at Luxor, (Thebes) in the winter of 1873¬74 by Georg Ebers. It is currently kept at the library of the University of Leipzig, in Germany.

The papyrus was written in about 1500 BC, but it is believed to have been copied from earlier texts, perhaps dating as far back as 3400 BC. Ebers Papyrus is a 110-page scroll, which is about 20 meters long.

Along with the Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus (circa 1800 BC), the Edwin Smith papyrus (circa 1600 BC), the Hearst papyrus (circa 1600 BC), the Brugsch Papyrus (circa 1300 BC), the London Medical Papyrus (circa 1300 BC), the Ebers Papyrus is among the oldest preserved medical documents. The Brugsch Papyrus provides parallel passages to Ebers Papyrus, helping to clarify certain passages of the latter.

The Ebers Papyrus is written in hieratic Egyptian writing and preserves for us the most voluminous record of ancient Egyptian medicine known. The scroll contains some 700 magical formulas and remedies. It contains many incantations meant to turn away disease-causing demons and there is also evidence of a long tradition of empirical practice and observation.

The papyrus contains a "treatise on the heart". It notes that the heart is the center of the blood supply, with vessels attached for every member of the body.

The Egyptians seem to have known little about the kidneys and made the heart the meeting point of a number of vessels which carried all the fluids of the body - blood, tears, urine and semen.

Mental disorders are detailed in a chapter of the papyrus called the Book of Hearts. Disorders such as depression and dementia are covered.

The descriptions of these disorders suggest that Egyptians conceived of mental and physical diseases in much the same way. The papyrus contains chapters on contraception, diagnosis of pregnancy and other gynecological matters, intestinal disease and parasites, eye and skin problems, dentistry and the surgical treatment of abscesses and tumors, bone-setting and burns.

Remedies

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Examples of remedies in the Ebers Papyrus include:

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Asthma: A mixture of herbs heated on a brick so that the sufferer could inhale their fumes.

Belly: "For the evacuation of the belly: Cow's milk 1; grains 1; honey 1; mash, sift, cook; take in four portions."

Bowels: "To remedy the bowels: Melilot, 1; dates, 1; cook in oil; anoint sick part."

Cancer: Recounting a "tumor against the god Xenus", it recommends "do thou nothing there against".

Clothing: may be protected from mice and rats by applying cat's fat.

Death: Half an onion and the froth of beer was considered "a delightful remedy against death."

Dracunculiasis (Guinea worm): Wrap the emerging end of the worm around a stick and slowly pull it out. (3500 years later, this remains the standard treatment.

Medicinal use of ochre clays: One of the common remedies described in the papyrus is ochre, or medicinal clay. For example, it is prescribed for various intestinal complaints. It is also prescribed for various eye complaints. Yellow ochre is also described as a remedy for urological complaints.

Modern history of the papyrus

         

Like the Edwin Smith Papyrus, the Ebers Papyrus came into the possession of Edwin Smith in 1862. The source of the papyrus is unknown, but it was said to have been found between the legs of a mummy in the Assassif district of the Theban necropolis.

The papyrus remained in the collection of Edwin Smith until at least 1869 when there appeared, in the catalog of an antiquities dealer, an advertisement for "a large medical papyrus in the possession of Edwin Smith, an American farmer of Luxor." (Breasted 1930)

The Papyrus was purchased in 1872 by the German Egyptologist and novelist Georg Ebers (born in Berlin, 1837), after whom it is named. In 1875, Ebers published a facsimile with an English-Latin vocabulary and introduction, but it was not translated until 1890, by H. Joachim.

Ebers retired from his chair of Egyptology at Leipzig on a pension and the papyrus remains in the University of Leipzig library. An English translation of the Papyrus was published by Paul Ghalioungui. The papyrus was published and translated by different researchers (the most valuable is German edition Grundriss der Medizin der alten ؤgypter, and based on this Paul Ghalioungui edition).