History
Ayurveda's East Indian traditions and the Vedas scriptures are endowed with extensive
references to plant-based medical procedures.
Charaka (around 800 BC) and Sushruta (about 500 BC) were two of the first to create a plant,
mineral, and animal preparations.
These were the first compounds to produce medicinal prescriptions or herbal blends.
Sushruta classified herbs into subdivisions by disorder and plant treatment.
Ayurvedic methods are among the most practical when it comes to utilizing herbs with food,
recognizing the basic knowledge that food is medicine.
Healing spices like nutmeg, pepper, clove, caraway, and turmeric all come from the culture of
Ayurveda and are frequently used nowadays.
In another region of the world, Egyptians, mainly because of their close association with
Babylonia, were no strangers to the use of plant medicine.
Some, like Chinese healers, introduced to their recipes animal elements, insects, and other
components. In the latest decades, by researching the contents of old royalty graves in Egypt and
China, archeologists have gained a significant understanding of the importance of these
medicines.
And there is increasing data that ordinary people were also relying on herbs for healing.
For example, the 5,000-year-old mummified "iceman" who has been discovered in the Alps was
carrying a bag of herbal medicines.
A short look at Western medicine's progress demonstrates the critical function of plant-based
healing, or phytomedicine (Phyto for "plant" in Greek).
Hippocrates ( 460 to 400 B.C.), was called the father of Western Medicine and was one of the first to recognize the connection between diet and health.
While researchers are unable to distinguish reality from myth concerning Hippocrates, the
Hippocratic school's enduring heritage is evident.
His writings set the foundations for future scientific medicine by dismissing superstition and the concept that illness was a result of the punishment of gods and could be healed through divine help and magic.
Instead, Hippocrates instructed that diet and lifestyle established the framework of health and wellness, and the physician must know the nature of the disease and prescribe the suitable cures to handle a person.
Doing otherwise could be more harmful than good. To this day, new doctors are taking the
Hippocratic oath, which includes the assertion: "First of all, not harm." His advice to "honor the healing power of nature" is also being heeded by an increasing number of followers today.
One of the first European texts of herbal medicine was written in the early century A.D., De
Materia Medica (The Materials of Medicine) by the Greek physician Pedanios Dioscorides who served in the Roman legions.
His travels with the armies of Nero enabled him to study and adopt medicinal plants and their
uses from the far stretches of the Roman Empire – from North Africa and the Eastern
Mediterranean to North Europe.
Modern pharmacologists who investigated the Phyto formulas of Dioscorides acknowledge that there are many ingredients that are useful for the therapy of pain, infection, digestive problems, and several diseases.
For his considerable knowledge of anatomy and medicines, Galen,( in the second century. ) another Greek physician who studied and traveled widely through the ancient Roman empire, is remembered.
Galen codified herbal medicine into more than a dozen texts, and even though many other aspects of Greco-Roman medicine fell out of favor during the Middle Ages, doctors used Galen's writings until the so-called Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
which marked the beginning of the age of discovery, scientific experiments, and increasing chemical knowledge.
Early Records
The renowned medicinal botany written accounts originated about six thousand years ago.
Excavations revealed some Sumerian clay tablets from Nippur that were cuneiform botanical
treatment lists.
The Sumerians, Assyrians, and Babylonians, despite their understanding of mathematics and
science, related disease to supernatural forces and emphasized the role of priests and priestesses
in divine cures.
The involvement into the practice of herbal medicine was left to specialists and practitioners or
scholars, such as the experienced Assyrian King Ashurbanipal, who left behind tablets recording
three hundred medicinal plants, including opium and myrrh.
The ancient Egyptians mentioned in the Ebers papyrus, a medical scroll 70 feet long, more than
850 plant treatments and remedies. The papyrus was sold by an Arab to George Ebers in the
early 1870s.
The scroll dates back to around 1500 B.C. (Translation from Ebell, 1937). Such familiar
medicinal plants as mandrake, aloe, castor bean, and opium were included in the Egyptian
pharmacopeia.
Garlic was thought to repel snakes and prevent tapeworms, and Lebanon juniper berries were
placed in mummies and used over bodies in purification rituals.
To avoid infections, the slaves who built the pyramids were given garlic and onions, while
royalty members were buried in a set of herbal medicines, perfumes, and cosmetics to meet their
obligations during their afterlife journey.
The Rig Veda is a poem that describes medical data among the oldest Sanskrit texts of about
1500 B.C. These Hindu scriptures include mention of snakeroot (Rauvolfia serpentina), a plant
that has been used for thousands of years in India for sedation therapies, to cure snakebite and
mental illness.
Notwithstanding ancient uses, only about the middle of the twentieth century did Rauvolfia first
become known to Western medicine. The main valid principle of Reserpine depresses central
nervous system activity, making it a valuable therapy for hypertension and schizophrenia.
The Rig Veda created the grounds for the Ayurvedic medicine system practiced to this day.
Civilization was not represented only by the pyramids and tombs in ancient Egypt, but it covered
all elements of human existence. Health and well-being were one of the pharaohs ' most
accounted arts. Both doctors and magicians were involved in the medical care field.
They perceived health and diseases from a holistic perspective as an unceasing struggle between
good and evil. Most of the approaches of complementary medicine did come from ancient
Egyptians.
One of these methods is herbal medicine.
Not all of Egyptian medicine was based on wishful thinking much was the result of experimentation and observation and physical means supplemented the Magical ones. Apart from spiritual healing and herbal medicine, Ancient Egyptians practiced massage and manipulation and made extensive use of therapeutic herbs and foods, but surgery was only rarely part of their treatments (Zucconi, 2007, Medicine and Religion in Ancient Egypt, Religion Compass 1 (1):26–37)
According to Herodotus, there was a high degree of specialization among physicians (Halioua B, Ziskind B, DeBevoise MB (2005). Medicine in the days of the pharaohs, Harvard University Press.)
The Egyptians were advanced medical practitioners for their time. They were masters of human
anatomy and healing mostly due to the extensive mummification ceremonies.
This involved removing most of the internal organs including the brain, lungs, pancreas, liver,
spleen, heart and intestine (Millet N, Hart G, Reyman T, Zimerman A, Lewein P (1980).
"ROM I: Mummification for the Common People," in Mummies, Disease, and Ancient Cultures (eds.) Aiden and Eve Cockburn (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge).
To some extent, they had a basic knowledge of organ functions within the human body.
Their vast knowledge of anatomy, as well as (in the later dynasties) the crossover of expertise between the Greeks and other culture areas led to an extensive experience of the functioning of the organs and branched into many other medical practices.
Herodotus and Pliny were among Greek scholars, who got benefit from this cross over and further contributed to the ancient and modern medical records, reached from the time of Ancient Egypt and into the modern era (Sanders JB (1963). Transitions from Ancient Egyptian to Greek medicine. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.)
Ancient Egyptians were as equally familiar with pharmacy as they were with medicine.
According to historical records, Ancient Egyptians involved in the medical and
pharmaceutical profession used to recite certain incantations while preparing or administering
medications.
They were also familiar with drug preparation from plants and herbs such as cumin, fennel, caraway, aloe, safflower, glue, pomegranates, castor, and linseed oil.
Other drugs were made of mineral substances such as copper salts, plain salt, and lead. Eggs, liver, hairs, milk, animal horns and fat, honey and wax were also used in drug preparation (Rosen G (1979).
Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences, Yale University. Dept. of the History of Medicine, Project Muse, published by H. Schuman)
Herbal Medicine
Herbs served a substantial role in medicine in Egypt.
For example, opium, cannabis, myrrh, frankincense, fennel, cassia, senna, thyme, henna, juniper,
aloe, linseed and castor oil are the plant medications listed in the Ebers Papyrus-although some
of the translations are less than confident.
Garlic cloves were discovered in Egyptian burial locations, including Tutankhamen's tomb and
the sanctuary fo the bulls at Saqqara.
There were plenty of herbs distilled or immersed in wine, which was then consumed as oral
medicine.
Egyptians believed that garlic and onions worked to help endurance and consumed significant
amounts of them. Asthmatics and those suffering from bronchial-pulmonary problems were
regularly provided raw garlic. Onions assisted with digestive system issues.
Garlic was then an essential healing factor just as it still is for the modern Egyptian and most
Mediterranean people: fresh cloves are peeled, mashed, and macerated in a mixture of vinegar
and water.
Another method to take garlic is to macerate several mashed garlic cloves in olive oil for both
protection and therapy.
Applied as an external liniment or taken internally it is beneficial for bronchial and lung complaints Including colds. A freshly peeled clove of raw garlic wrapped in muslin or cheesecloth and pinned to the undergarment is hoped to protect against infectious diseases such as colds and influenza (Kathryn A, Steven B, Shubert B (1999). Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, Routledge).
Another plant used by Egyptians is Coriander.
It was believed that Coriander, C. Sativum had refreshing, stimulating, carminative, and digestive characteristics.
Both the fruits and the plant were used in boiling as a spice to deter and eliminate flatulence; they were also used as a tea for stomach and all sorts of urinary problems including cystitis.
To temper their annoying impacts, coriander leaves were frequently introduced fresh to spicy ingredients.
Cumin, Cumin cyminum is an umbelliferous herb indigenous to Egypt. The seeds were considered to be a stimulant and effective against flatulence.
They were often used together with coriander for flavoring. Cumin powder mixed with some wheat flour as a binder and a little water was applied to relieve the pain of any aching or arthritic joints. Powdered cumin mixed with grease or lard was inserted as an anal suppository to disperse heat from the anus and stop itching (Zucconi L.M. (2007). Medicine and Religion in Ancient Egypt, Religion Compass 1 (1): 26–37).
Leaves from many herbs have been used in poultices and related compounds, such as willow, sycamore, tree or Ym-tree. Tannic acid obtained from acacia plants was widely used to help cool the vessels and cure burns.
As laxatives, castor oil, figs and dates have been used. Tapeworms were handled with an infusion of pomegranate root steeped in water, strained and drunk.
The alkaloids inside it blocked the nervous system of the worms and gave up their grip. Ulcers and stomach ailments were handled with yeast.
Some of the medications were produced from imported plant products from foreign countries.
Mandrake, brought from Canaan and cultivated locally since the New Kingdom, was considered an aphrodisiac and caused unconsciousness if combined with alcohol.
Cedar oil, an antiseptic. comes from the Levant.
Since the Middle Kingdom, the Persian henna has been cultivated in Egypt and used against hair loss.
They cured catarrh with aloe from East Africa. Frankincense, containing tetrahydro-cannabinol and used like hashish as a pain killer, was imported from Punt.(Rosen G (1979). Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences,
Yale University. Dept. of the History of Medicine, Project Muse, published by H. Schuman,)
Additionally, minerals and animal products were also used. Honey and grease form part of many wound treatments. Mother's milk was regularly provided against viral illnesses such as prevalent cold, fresh meat set on open injuries and sprains, and animal dung was sometimes believed to be efficient.
For their medicinal characteristics, lead-based chemicals such as carbonates and acetates were common. Malachite also had therapeutic importance as an eye-liner. The impacts of its
germicidal features have been valued in a nation where eye diseases were prevalent.
It is important to remember that some other drugs, frequently referred to as family drugs
(pesticides), were designed by ancient Egyptian chemists in order to eliminate domestic pests.
A standard pest control recipe was to wash the home with Nitron water and firewood coal,
combined with ground pipit plant. Goose fat was used to safeguard against fly bites and fresh oil to heal mosquito bites.
To constrain reptiles and rodents, other intriguing recipes were obtained. A dried fish, for instance, or a piece of Nitron at the entrance to the pit of a serpent will hold it inside. A part of cat fat distributed throughout the house keeps rats away.
Medical Prescriptions
Medical prescriptions were written with high skill.
An order usually began with a description of the medicine, e.g., " Medicine to discharge blood out of wounds," followed by ingredients and measures used in addition to method of preparation and usage whether in tablet form, ointment or by inhaling (Silverburg, 1966).
- - Acacia (acacia nilotica) - vermifuge eases diarrhea and internal bleeding, also used to treat skin diseases.
- - Aloe vera - worms, relieves headaches, soothes chest pains, burns, ulcers and for skin disease and allergies.
- - Basil (Ocimum basilicum) - excellent for the heart.
- - Balsam Apple (malus sylvestris) or Apple of Jerusalem - laxative, skin allergies, soothes headaches, gums, and teeth, for asthma, liver stimulant, weak digestion.
- - Bayberry (Myrica cerifera) – stops diarrhea, soothes ulcers, shrinks hemorrhoids, repels flies.
- - Belladonna - pain reliever; camphor tree - reduces fevers, soothes gums, soothes epilepsy.
- - Caraway (Carum carvi; Umbelliferae) - soothes flatulence, digestive, breath freshener.
- - Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum; Zingiberaceae) - used as a spice in foods, digestive soothes flatulence.
- - Colchicum (Citrullus colocynth) - also known as
- "Meadow Saffron," soothes rheumatism, reduces swelling.
- - Common Juniper tree (Juniperus phonecia; Juniperus drupaceous) - digestive, soothes chest pains, soothes stomach cramps.
- - Cubeb pepper (Piper cubeba; Piperaceae) - urinary tract infections, larynx and throat infections, gum ulcers and infections, soothe headaches.
- - Dill (Anethum graveolens) - soothes flatulence, relieves dyspepsia, laxative and diuretic properties.
- - Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) - respiratory disorders, cleanses the stomach, calms the liver, soothes pancreas, reduces swelling.
- - Frankincense (Boswellia carterii) - throat and larynx infections, stops bleeding, cuts phlegm, asthma, stopsvomiting.
- - Garlic (Allium Sativa) - gives vitality, soothes flatulenceand aids digestion, mild laxative, shrinks hemorrhoids,rids the body of "spirits" (during the building of the Pyramids,the workers were given garlic daily to give them thevitality and strength to carry on and perform well).
- - Mustard (Sinapis alba) - induces vomiting, relieves chest pains.
- - Myrrh (Commiphora myrrha) - stops diarrhea, relives headaches, soothes gums, toothaches and backaches.
- - Onion (Allium cepa) - diuretic, induces perspiration,prevents colds, soothes sciatica, relieves pains and other cardiovascular problems.
- - Parsley (Apium Petroselinum) - diuretic.
- - Mint (Mentha piperita) - soothes flatulence, aids digestion, stops vomiting, breath freshener.
- - Sandalwood (Santalum album) - aids digestion, stops diarrhea, soothes headaches and gout.
- - Sesame (Sesamum indicum) - soothes asthma.
- - Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) - laxative.
- - Thyme (Thymus/Thimbra) - pain reliever.
- - Tumeric (Curcumae longa) - closes open wounds (also was used to dye skin and cloth).
- - Poppy (Papaver somniferum) - relieves insomnia andheadaches, anesthetic, soothes respiratory problems,relieves pain.
- -Henna (Lawsonia inermis) - astringent, stops diarrhea,close open wounds (and used as a dye).
- - Honey was widely used, a natural antibiotic and used todress wounds and as a base for healing unguents, aswas castor oil, coriander, beer, and other foods.
- - Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra - mild laxative, expels phlegm, soothes liver, pancreas and chest and respiratory problems.
