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Historical Bibliography Updated: June 17, 2026

The Ramesseum papyri. Edited by Sir Alan Gardiner. 2 vols.

Publication Details

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1955 CE.

A collection of ancient Egyptian medical documents from the early 18th century BCE, found in the temple of the Ramesseum. As with most ancient Egyptian medical papyri, these documents mainly concern ailments, diseases, the structure of the body, and supposed remedies used to heal these afflictions; specifically  namely ophthalmologic ailments, gynaecology, muscles, tendons, and diseases of children. It is the only well-known papyrus to describe these in great detail. Papyrus IV deals with issues similar to the Kahun Gynecological Papyrus, such as labor, the protection of the newborn, ways to predict the likelihood of its survival, and ways to predict which gender the newborn will be. It also contains a contraception formula.Papyrus V contains numerous prescriptions dealing with the relaxation of limbs, written in hieroglyphic script, rather than hieratic script.

 

Catalog MetadataReference Information
Entry Number#8391
Permanent Linkhttps://hom-sveltekit.fly.dev/entry/10568
Author Bio LinkWikipedia ↗
External URLthe-ramesseum-papyri-edited-by-sir-alan-gardiner-2-vols

Geographic Context

Publication place: Oxford