Medicine in ancient Egypt

The medicine of the ancient Egyptians is some of the oldest documented.

From the beginnings of the civilization in the late fourth millennium BC until the Persian invasion of 525 BC, Egyptian medical practice went largely unchanged but was highly advanced for its time, including simple non-invasive surgery, setting of bones, dentistry, and an extensive set of pharmacopoeia. Egyptian medical thought influenced later traditions, including the Greeks

If one had to be ill in ancient times, the best place to do so would probably have been Egypt. Not that an Egyptian's chances of survival would have been significantly better than those of his foreign contemporaries, but at least he had the satisfaction of being treated by physicians whose art was renowned all over the ancient world.

Herbal and mineral Medicine.

Ebers papyrus

Herbs played a major part in Egyptian medicine. The plant medicines mentioned in the Ebers papyrus for instance include opium, cannabis, myrrh, frankincense, fennel, cassia, senna, thyme, henna, juniper, aloe, linseed and castor oil - though some of the translations are less than certain. Cloves of garlic have been found in Egyptian burial sites, including the tomb of Tutankhamen and in the sacred underground temple of the bulls at Saqqara. Many herbs were steeped in wine, which was then drunk as an oral medicine.

Egyptians thought garlic and onions aided endurance, and consumed large quantities of them. Raw garlic was routinely given to asthmatics and to those suffering with bronchial-pulmonary complaints. Onions helped against problems of the digestive system.

Garlic was an important healing agent then just as it still is to the modern Egyptian and to most of the peoples in the Mediterranean area: Fresh cloves are peeled, mashed and macerated in a mixture of vinegar and water. This can be used to gargle and rinse the mouth, or taken internally to treat sore throats and toothache. Another way to take garlic both for prevention as well as treatment is to macerate several cloves of mashed garlic in olive oil. 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.

Coriander, “C. Sativum” was considered to have cooling, stimulant, carminative and digestive properties. Both the seeds and the plant were used as a spice in cooking to prevent and eliminate flatulence; they were also taken as a tea for stomach and all kinds of urinary complaints including cystitis. Coriander leaves were commonly added fresh to spicy foods to moderate their irritating effects. It was one of the herbs offered to the gods by the king, and seeds were found in the tomb of Tutankhamen and in other ancient burial sites.

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.

Medical instruments relief on temple walls

Leaves from many plants, such as willow, sycamore, acacia  or the ym-tree, were used in poultices and the like . Tannic Acid derived from acacia seeds commonly helped for cooling the vessels and heal burns. Castor oil, and dates, were used as laxatives.

  Tape-worms, the snakes in the belly, were dealt with by an infusion of pomegranate root in water, which was strained and drunk. The alkaloids contained in it paralyzed the worms' nervous system, and they relinquished their hold. Ulcers were treated with yeast, as were stomach ailments.

Plants in medicine

Some of the medicines were made from plant materials imported from abroad. Mandrake, introduced from Canaan and grown locally since the New Kingdom, was thought to be an aphrodisiac and, mixed with alcohol, induced unconsciousness. Cedar oil (an antiseptic) originated in the Levant. The Persian henna was grown in Egypt since the Middle Kingdom, and - if identical with henu mentioned in the Ebers Papyrus - was used against hair loss. They treated catarrh with aloe, which came from eastern Africa. Frankincense, containing tetrahydrocannabinol (a painkiller) was used like the hashish. It was imported from Punt.

Minerals and animal products were used too. Honey and grease formed part of many wound treatments, mother's milk was occasionally given against viral diseases like the common cold, fresh meat laid on open wounds and sprains, and animal dung was thought to be effective at times.

Cosmetics

A jar of cosmetics at the Cairo Museum bears the legend: "Eye lotion to be dispersed, good for eyesight." An Egyptian papyrus from 1500 BCE discusses recipes for treating conjunctivitis and cornea, iris, and eyelid problems. Lead-based chemicals like carbonates and acetates were popular for their therapeutic properties.

  Malachite used as eyeliner also had therapeutic value. In a country where eye infections were endemic, the effects of its germicidal qualities were appreciated even if the reasons for its effectiveness were not understood.

It is worth noting that: Dr. Paul Ghalioungi wrote many books and articles on that subject. refer to "Dr. Ghalioungi and ancient medicine" on Goole search... 

Egyptians Inventions

  

Things that Egyptians Were the First to Create

Egypt has a glorious past, its people descended from a civilization that was once the most intellectually and technologically advanced in the world. Because we all sometimes need a reminder, here’s a quick round up of successful inventions that were created by Egyptians before any other civilization.

Eye makeup (eye shadow and eye liner) – 4000 BC

Egyptians were among the first to popularize the use of eye makeup. 

Some of the earliest makeup palettes date back to circa 5000 BCE, the most common colours being green (made out of malachite, a green carbonate of copper) 

and black (made out of galena, an ore of lead).

System of writing (pictographs) – 3200 BCE

Composed of around 500 symbols, Egyptian hieroglyphics date back to 3200 BCE and represented the first writing system based on illustrated representations of words or sounds.

With the exception of Mesopotamian cuneiform, which emerged independently around 3200 BCE, the innovation of writing in Egypt predated other civilizations’ advancement by thousands of years. The next civilization to invent writing would be the Chinese in 1200 BCE.

Papyrus paper – 3000 BCE

Made from the papyrus plant indigenous to the banks of the Nile River in Egypt, ancient Egyptians were the first among all civilizations to use these thin, paper-like stationary for writing. By 1000 BCE, papyrus papers were being exported out of Egypt for use all over West Asia, as they were more convenient than clay tablets.

365-day calendar – 4000 BCE

Ancient Egyptians originally used a calendar year of 360 days, split into 12 months of 30 days each. It wasn’t until around 4000 BCE that they added extra five days to keep up with the solar calendar, for a total of 365 days. In 238 BCE, Egyptians even invented the leap year. The 365-day calendar, including the leap year, is still in use in most parts of the world today.

Ox-drawn plow – 2500 BCE

The banks of the Nile were once fertile agricultural sites, where ancient Egyptians would grow wheat and a variety of vegetables. The ox-drawn plow made irrigation much easier and farming much more lucrative.

Breath mints

Sadly, ancient Egyptians did not have the best teeth in the ancient world (likely due to the sand residue left in food products by rock grinders), as evidenced by the presence of rotting teeth and terrible tooth abscesses in the mouths of mummies. To cover the smell, Egyptians became the first civilization to invent breath mints, which were originally pellets made out of cinnamon, myrrh, frankincense and honey.

Shaving and haircuts (the clean-cut look)

In ancient Egypt, hair removal for both men and women was an established custom in society. Body hair was associated with barbarianism and un-cleanliness, whereas being clean and well groomed was a sign of sophistication. When the Romans invaded, they looked down on the practice as they believed that body hair was a sign of masculinity, and a man without body hair must be somehow disabled.

The pin-tumbler door lock – 4,000 BCE

A hollowed-out bolt in the door is connected to pins that can be manipulated with the insertion of a key. These locks were much more advanced than those invented years later in Rome, which were built into the door and much easier to pick.

Toothbrushes and toothpaste – 5000 BCE

Ancient Egyptians may have had bad teeth due to the rock debris in their food, but at least they tried to take care of themselves. 

They were the first to have used toothbrushes and toothpaste (made from eggshells and ox hooves) to clean their teeth as a regular ritual.

Reed pens and black ink – 3200 BCE

Not only were ancient Egyptians the first to invent papyrus paper and writing, they were also the first to invent black ink and popularize the use of reed pens. The ink was made from water, soot and vegetables gums.

Wigs

Both men and women as either a fashion statement or to hide baldness used wigs widely in ancient Egypt. They were originally made from human hair and later from date palm fibers.

  

High heels – 3500 BCE 

The first images depicting the use of high heels in Egypt date back to 3500 BCE. Nobility, both male and female, typically wore high heels while common people would walk barefoot. The only exceptions were butchers, who’d wear high heels in order to walk over pools of blood from animal carcasses.

Originally Written by Laura Logan 

Hab El Aziz

"Hab El Aziz"  or Cyperus Esculentus

If you traveled through TANTA in Egypt by train, car or otherwise you probably remember buying or seeing a small coloured reeds basket filled with a little fruit resembling dried raisins.

Sweets on display-Tanta

It is called “Hab El Aziz حب العزيز” and was sold together with “Homosia حمصيه” and “Semsemia سمسميه” it is commonly found during the Moulid of :"El-Sayyed El-Baddawi" everywhere in Tanta.

Cyperus Esculentus (also called chufa sedge, nut grass, yellow nut sedge, tiger nut sedge, or earth almond) is a crop of the sedge family widespread across much of the world. It is native to most of the Western Hemisphere as well as southern Europe, Africa, Madagascar, the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent. It has become naturalized in many other regions, including Ukraine, China, Hawaii, Indochina, New Guinea, Java, New South Wales and various oceanic islands.

Cyperus esculentus can be found wild, as a weed, or as a crop. There is evidence for its cultivation in Egypt since the sixth millennium BC, and for several centuries in Southern Europe. In Spain, C. esculentus is cultivated for its edible tubers, called earth almonds or tiger nuts. However, in most other countries, C. esculentus is considered a weed.

HISTORY

Prehistoric tools with traces of C. esculentus tuber starch granules have been recovered from the early archaic period in North America, from about 9,000 years ago, at the Sandy Hill excavation site at the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation in Mashantucket, Connecticut. The tubers are believed to have been a source of food for those Paleo-Indians.

Dr. Zohary and Dr. Hopf estimate that C. esculentus "ranks among the oldest cultivated plants in Ancient Egypt." Although noting that "Chufa was no doubt an important food element in ancient Egypt during dynastic times, its cultivation in ancient times seems to have remained (totally or almost totally) an Egyptian specialty." Its dry tubers have been found in tombs from predynastic times about 6000 years ago. In those times, C. esculentus tubers were consumed either boiled in beer, roasted, or as sweets made of ground tubers with honey. The tubers were also used medicinally, taken orally, as an ointment, or as an enema, and used in fumigants to sweeten the smell of homes or clothing. There are almost no contemporary records of this plant in other parts of the old World.

Besides Egypt, at present C. esculentus is cultivated mainly in Spain, where it is extended for common commercial purposes in mild climate areas. The Arabs introduced the plant, at first in the Valencia region. They are found extensively too in California and were grown by the Paiute in Owens Valley. C. Esculentus is also cultivated in countries like Guatemala, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, USA, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, India, Yemen, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Sudan, South Sudan, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Northern Cameroon and Mali, where they are used primarily as animal feed or uncooked as a side dish, but in Hispanic countries they are used mainly to make horchata, a sweet, milk-like beverage. In Northern Nigeria it is called 'Aya' and it is usually eaten fresh. It is sometimes dried and later rehydrated and eaten. Toasting the nuts makes a snack when sugar coated, it is very popular among the Hausa children of Northern Nigeria, a drink known as 'Kunun Aya' is also made by processing the nuts with dates and later sieved and served chilled.

CHUFA TUBERS

Biology

C. Esculentus is an annual or perennial plant, growing to 90 cm tall, with solitary stems growing from a tuber. The plant is reproduced by seeds, creeping rhizomes, and tubers. The tubers are 0.3 – 1.9 cm in diameter and the colours vary between yellow, brown, and black. One plant can produce several hundred to several thousand tubers during a single growing season. With cool temperatures, the foliage, roots, rhizomes, and basal bulbs die, but the tubers survive and re-sprout the following spring when soil temperatures remain above 6 °C

Use as food

Dried tiger nut has a smooth tender, sweet and nutty taste. It can be consumed raw, roasted, dried, baked or as tiger nut milk or oil.

HORCHATA

Dried tubers sold at the market of Banfora, Burkina Faso. The tubers are edible, with a slightly sweet, nutty flavour, compared to the more bitter-tasting tuber of the related Cyperus rotundus (purple nutsedge). They are quite hard and are generally soaked in water before they can be eaten, thus making them much softer and giving them a better texture. They are a popular snack in West Africa, where they are known as ncɔkɔn in the languages Bamanankan or Dyula.

They have various uses; in particular, they are used in Spain to make horchata. “Horchata” is a nonalcoholic beverage of milky appearance derived from the tubers of the tiger nut plant mixed with sugar and water. It has a great economic impact in the Valencia region of Spain.

CHUFA

Flour of roasted tiger nut is sometimes added to biscuits and other bakery products as well as in making oil, soap, and starch extracts. It is also used for the production of nougat, jam, beer, and as a flavoring agent in ice cream and in the preparation of kunnu (a local beverage in Nigeria). Kunnu is a non-alcoholic beverage prepared mainly from cereals (such as millet or sorghum) by heating and mixing with spices (dandelion, alligator pepper, ginger, liquorices) and sugar. To make up for the poor nutritional value of kunnu prepared from cereals, tiger nut was found to be a good substitute for cereal grains. Tiger nut oil can be used naturally with salads or for deep-frying. It is considered to be a high quality oil. Tiger nut “milk” has been tried as an alternative source of milk in fermented products, such as yogurt production, and other fermented products common in some African countries and can thus be useful replacing milk in the diet of people intolerant to lactose to a certain extent

KUNNU

.

Tiger nuts should be eaten in only moderate amounts at any one time. Ingestion of 300 Gm of the fibrous dehydrated nuts, chewed without being rehydrated has been known to cause rectal impaction.

Use in medicine and cosmetic industry

As a source of oils, the tubers were used in pharmacy under the Latin name bulbuli thrasi beginning no later than the end of 18th century. In medicine tiger nuts are used in the treatment of flatulence, diarrhea, dysentery, debility and indigestion.

Tiger nut oil can be used in the cosmetic industry. As it is antioxidant (because of its high content in vitamin E) it helps slow down the ageing of the body cells. It favours the elasticity of the skin and reduces skin wrinkles.

Wine of Egypt's Golden Age

LABELS

While we may still need to decode a wine label in order to understand all of the vital information it’s imparting, we have to admit that the label is a very convenient invention. It’s quite hard to imagine what we’d do if we were uninformed about the wine inside the bottle. Without the label, there’d be no way to identify the grapes used to make the wine, where the wine was made, who made it, or it’s vintage. It would also be difficult to determine which wine was worth more than another, making trade nearly impossible. Which is exactly why, the ancient Egyptians invented the wine label.

From 1550 to 1070 BC Egypt dominated the wine trade. While wine did not originally exist in the region, it made its way to Egypt via trade, and the Egyptians wholeheartedly embraced and improved it. They first introduced standardized amphorae to make the transportation of the wine easier, creating seals of reeds and clay that protected the wine as it traveled across the world.

WINE MAKING ON WALL PAINTINGS - LUXOR

As Egypt became the center of the wine world, wine became the prestige beverage among nobility. High priests and kings fell in love with wine and took to collecting it by the thousands, building massive cellars to store the various wines they had procured. They even brought the wines with them to the afterlife – King Tutankhamen was buried with over 26 amphorae filled with different wines – and they surrounded tombs with highly sought after wines that many thought would benefit them in the next world.

But with so much collecting and trading of wine, there was a small problem: no one knew exactly what wine was inside each amphora, so a labeling system was adopted. The system was incredibly specific; recording the year the wine was made, where it was made, who made it, and even the style of the wine. All of this information was imprinted on the clay amphorae as they dried. On top of these essential facts, the Egyptians would often include notes on the amphorae that included how much wine was inside and whether the wine was good, great or excellent – basically creating the first wine ratings.

Wine amphoras in King Tutankhamun’s tomb,
 Valley of the Kings, Thebes, Egypt, c. 1330 BC Labeled
 “Year Four. Wine of very good quality of the House-of-Aton of the Western River. Chief vintner Khay.”

Based on excavations of Tutankhamen’s tomb, researchers uncovered that only wines from certain years were buried with the king, leading them to believe that even centuries ago, these ancient wine lovers were paying attention to which years were good and which were bad.

Sexuality in Ancient Egypt

Life in Ancient Egypt

Text Excerpts with no intention to infringing on any of the copyright of original authors. Articles written by Caroline Seawright, Alissa Lyon, Daniel Kolos and Richard Sullivan

Sexuality in ancient Egypt was open, untainted by guilt. Sex was an important part of life - from birth to death and rebirth. Singles and married couples made love. The gods themselves were earthy enough to copulate. The Egyptians even believed in sex in the afterlife. Sex was not taboo. Even the Egyptian religion was filled with tales of adultery, incest, homosexuality and masturbation ... with hints of necrophilia! Masculinity and femininity itself were strongly linked with the ability to conceive and bear children.

...Revel in pleasure while your life endures and deck your head with myrrh. Be richly clad in white and perfumed linen; like the gods anointed be; and never weary grow

In eager quest of what your heart desires - Do as it prompts you...

MARIAGE

To the ancient Egyptians, the most attractive women tended to be the fertile ones.

A woman who had children was seen to be more fortunate than ones without. Taking after Isis, the mother goddess of Horus, Egyptian women strove to be intelligent, wise, mystical and mothers. Where her twin sister Nephthys was barren, Isis was fertile.

In the Egyptian community, men had to prove their masculinity by fathering children, while the women had to be able to bear these sons and daughters. Being a mother meant being able to keep her marriage secure and to gain a better position in society.

But an Egyptian family was not just a status symbol - the Egyptians loved their children and were not afraid to show it. But there were some advice to parents, written by scribes:

Do not prefer one of your children above the others; after all, you never know which one of them will be kind to you. 

Adultery in Egypt was wrong. Women got the worst punishment for adultery - a man might just be forced into a divorce, but a woman could conceivably be killed for that crime. In the Tale of Two Brothers, the adulterous wife was found out, murdered and her body was thrown to the dogs.

Unmarried women, on the other hand, seem to be free to choose partners as they so desire, and enjoy their love life to its fullest.

Itinerant Performers and 'Prostitutes'

The Egyptian sacred 'prostitute' (who was probably a highly regarded as a member of Egyptian society because of her association with different gods or goddesses (such as Bes and Hathor), rather than the street walker that the modern mind imagines) advertised herself through her clothing and make up. Some of these women wore blue faience beaded fishnet dresses. They painted their lips red, and tattooed themselves on the breasts or thighs and even went around totally nude. There is no evidence that these women were paid for these fertility-related acts, so some believe that word 'prostitute' is probably an incorrect term for these women. In fact, the Victorian era theory that these women were prostitutes is not backed up by evidence at all. All archaeological evidence for women with such tattoos shows them to have been New Kingdom female musicians or dancers.

Another idea pointed out by Daniel Kolos, an Egyptologist academically trained at the University of Toronto, is that this premarital sexual activity might be a prerequisite for marriage. One of the theories that disassociate these women from being prostitutes is that their sexual activity could be part of a "coming-of-age ritual", just as circumcision was one for males. With Egypt's heavy emphasis on fertility as the defining nature of a man or a woman, this idea is a highly likely probability.

Other theories could be that the young virgin girls joined itinerant performing groups - dancers, singers and the like - and during their time with these groups they experienced their first sexual encounters. If a girl became pregnant, she would probably leave the troupe to head home to her family with proof of her fertility. (Motherhood was venerated, giving a woman a much higher status in society, so pregnancy was something to be proud of in ancient Egypt.)

These travelling groups of women were strongly linked with midwifery and childbirth-related deities. The goddesses Isis, Nephthys, Meskhenet and Heqet disguised themselves as itinerant performers, travelling with the god Khnum as their porter. Carrying the sistrum and Mena instruments - instruments with sexual overtones - they showed it to Rawoser, the expectant father. Knowing that his wife, Raddjedet, was having a very difficult labor, he told these women - the disguised goddesses - about his wife's troubles, and at their offer of help, he let them in to see her.

These women do not seem to be pay-for-sex prostitutes; instead they seem to be a link with the divine, a helper of expectant mothers and singers, dancers and musicians. This is not to say that there were no pay-for-sex prostitutes in ancient Egypt, it it just that there is little evidence of this found. Considering Egypt's very different image of sexuality, the modern concept of both sexuality and prostitution do not fit this ancient society. Women operated under a totally different cultural imperative than women today, thus ancient Egyptian sexuality must be looked at without modern prejudices. It seems that these female performers, these 'prostitutes', were treated with courtesy and respect, and there seemed to be a well-established link between these travelling performers and fertility, childbirth, religion and magic.

Contraception

The Egyptians had their own ways and means of getting around the fact that sex produced children. They had both contraceptives and abortions; mostly these were prescriptions that were filled with unpleasant ingredients such as crocodile dung. Here is one of the nicer ones:

Prescription to make a woman cease to become pregnant for one, two or three years: Grind together finely a measure of acacia dates with some honey. Moisten seed-wool with the mixture and insert it in the vagina. 

Incest

From the close family relationships in Egyptian mythology and the fact that Egyptians seemed to have no taboo against incest, many have concluded that incest was rife in ancient Egypt.

There were probably some brother and sister marriages, but more likely than not, the siblings in question would have been half-brothers and half-sisters. The problem arises from the limited Egyptian terms of kinship, which are very confusing. A 'father' could refer to the actual father, the grandfather or male ancestors, while 'mother' could be the same, but for the females of the family. 'Sister' could mean the royal family, on the other hand did have more incestuous marriages. One theory is that the royal blood ran through the females, not the males, and so to become pharaoh a man had to marry a royal princess (who would be his sister or half-sister). This is known as the Heiress Princess theory, which is now largely discredited.

Another explanation for these marriages is that:

The prevalence of brother-sister marriages within the New Kingdom royal family, a custom in obvious contrast to contemporary non-royal marriage patterns, appears to have been an attempt to reinforce the links between the royal family and the gods who themselves frequently indulged in brother-sister unions. 

THE GODS AND SEX

Hathor and Ra

Baba a pre-dynasty baboon god, taunted Ra who stood for Set becoming ruler rather than Horus, "Your shrine is empty!" With that, Ra stormed off to be alone - presumably this is a story about a solar eclipse - and refused to join the other gods. Realizing that they'd gone too far, the others sent Baba away, but still Ra refused to stop sulking. Finally, Hathor decided on a plan. She went into Ra's presence and stood before him and started to dance and strip, revealing her nakedness and lewdly showing him her private parts. The dance caused Ra to laugh, forget his hurt feelings and he once again rejoined the gods.

Nut and Geb

Nut, the goddess of the night sky, and her brother Geb, the god of the earth, were originally thought to be in a constant state of lovemaking. Ra grew angry with his grandchildren, and commanded their father Shu to separate the two lovers. The god of the air took his place, and trampled on the ithyphallic Geb, and lifted Nut high into the air. Nut was found to be pregnant, and was then cursed by Ra - she would never be able to bear her children on any month of the 360-day year. Thoth managed to win a game against Khonsu, god of the moon, and used some of the light of the moon to create five extra days (making the year 365 days). During those days Nut gave birth to her five children - Isis, Osiris, Nephthys, Set and Horus the Elder (not to be confused with Horus, the child of Isis and Osiris).

Nephthys and Osiris

Some tales of sex and the Egyptian gods is on the seamier side - one of the reasons given as to why Set and Osiris hate each other was because of Nephthys, Set's sister-wife. She was barren (she represented the desert, as did Set), and she hit on the plan of disguising herself as Isis and seducing Osiris. Getting Osiris drunk, Nephthys took Osiris to her bed, and the two had drunken sex together. Osiris dropped his garland of melilot flowers in the act of passion. Set found the adulterous goddess and the flowers, and knowing whom the flowers belonged to, he began to plan Osiris' death. The child of this union was thought to be Anubis, god of mummification.

Now as the overflowing of the Nile are sometimes very great, and extend to the boundaries of the land, this gave rise to the story of the secret intercourse between Osiris and Nephthys, as the natural consequence of so great an inundation would be the springing up of plants in those parts of the country which were formerly barren. 

Isis and Osiris

After his first attempt, Set managed to kill Osiris again and cut up his body into numerous parts. These parts Set spread all over Egypt. Isis, Nephthys and Anubis searched Egypt, and managed to retrieve all of the pieces of the body, except one - Osiris' phallus. Set had dropped the penis into the Nile (making it fertile), where it was eaten by a fish. The god and goddesses pieced Osiris together and created the first mummy. Using her magic, Isis fashioned a replacement for Osiris' missing part, either out of clay, wood or gold, and attached this to her dead husband's body. Through magical spells, life was breathed back into Osiris' body (though some dispute this and believe that Osiris was dead at the time)... The goddess managed to share a time of passion with her husband who impregnating her with their child, Horus. Osiris then passed into the afterlife, becoming god of the dead. This part of the mythos borders on necrophilia!

Hapi

The Egyptian god if the Nile, Hapi, was a masculine deity, given female properties because of the fertility of the Nile River. Without the Nile, there would be no Egypt. Due to the duality of Egyptian thought, there were two Hapi gods - one of Upper Egypt wearing the water lily (lotus) on his head, and one of Lower Egypt wearing papyrus. He was usually depicted as a blue or green colored man with a protruding belly, carrying libation jugs. He also has full breasts, indicating his ability to nourish Egypt. Despite being a hermaphrodite god, both the northern and southern versions of Hapi were given wives - Nekhbet in Upper Egypt and Wadjet in Lower Egypt.

Min

Lettuce was thought to be the favorite food of the fertility god, Min. He was depicted as a god with an erect penis, wearing a feathered crown and carrying a flail. Lettuce was his sacred plant, and an aphrodisiac to the ancient Egyptians - this particular species of lettuce was tall, straight and secreted a milky substance when pressed!

Another aphrodisiac was the onion. They were forbidden to the priests who had vowed celibacy, for fear that their passion might take over, and that they might desecrate themselves!

Fennel, ginger, pomegranates, coriander in wine and radishes mixed with honey were thought to have aphrodisiac qualities, too.

The water lily was also a symbol of sexuality, as well as immortality and health. It was possibly even a narcotic that the Egyptians used, but it was more likely to be a sexual stimulant.

Some of the more unusual aphrodisiacs included pearls dissolved in a cup of wine, baboon feeces added to aphrodisiac ointments!

Artwork

The Turin Erotic Papyrus contains various pictures of sexual activity, perhaps focused on Ramses II and his many wives. It has been theorized that, more likely, it is just the fantasies of an ancient Egyptian who happened to sketch them out on papyrus, or an artwork poking fun at the sexual side of the Egyptian lifestyle. Most of the positions drawn on this papyrus seem to be rather uncomfortable!

The most erotically graphic - some would say pornographic - work of Egyptian art is the so-called Turin Erotic Papyrus (Papyrus 55001), now in the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy. Painted in the Ramesside period (1292-1075 BC), the severely damaged papyrus has not been treated well by time and the elements. It consists of a continuous series of vignettes drawn on a papyrus scroll about 8.5 feet long and 10 inches high. The first third of the scroll (reading from right to left) shows animals and birds carrying out various human tasks. The rest consists of explicit depictions of sexual acts ...

Yet the vignettes' artistic merit is high, indicating that the papyrus had an elite owner and audience. The draftsmanship is of good quality, and the 12 erotic vignettes are carefully designed both as an entire structure and as separate.

Another sexual sketch - this time graffiti - from ancient Egypt shows a woman with a pharaoh's crown, maybe Hatshepsut (1473-1458 BC) engaging in sex with a male that many presume to be Senmut. This sketch has caused many people to believe that Hatshepsut and her favorite courtier were lovers.

From various sources, it seems that the Egyptian preferred method of intercourse were face-to-face or from behind.

References in writing to sexual intercourse between men are as rare as those to sexual intercourse between men and women; the absence of references in writing to sexual intercourse between women reflects the general male bias of the written record. Homosexual intercourse between a king and his general is implied in the fragmentary 'Tale of Neferkara and Sasenet', in the description of secret nocturnal visits by the king to the general, detected by the hero of the tale; although the tale is damaged, it reads as if the nocturnal visits are considered illicit. 

After Life

The Egyptians thought of their afterlives as more of a continuation of life on earth (albeit a better life). This being the case, the Egyptians believed in sex life after death!

Egyptian men had false penises attached to their mummies while Egyptian women had artificial nipples attached. Both would become fully functional in the afterlife, where they were free to engage in sexual intercourse, if they so desired.

There were even fertility dolls in many graves - women with wide, childbearing hips that were often carrying children in their arms. Other fertility dolls, known as paddle dolls, don't have any legs, and their bodies end in very wide pubic area, with tiny heads and arms.

These dolls show that the Egyptians believed that fertility and sex were interlinked, though the ancient Egyptians quite clearly enjoyed sex in its own right!