It is a Child for Her: Medical and Magical Treatments of Reproduction in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt 公开
Neiman, Leah (Spring 2018)
Published
Abstract
Reproduction is of great concern to all societies, however, the way in which each addresses the issue, and manages its inherent anxieties and risks is unique. The physical and emotional reproductive experiences of women in ancient Egypt were greatly prescribed by their culture, and specifically their religion. Treatments of reproduction can be split into two collaborative modalities: medical and magical. This study explores how both modalities contributed to the female reproductive experience during the Middle Kingdom (c. 2050-1750 BCE) through a textual analysis of the Kahun Medical Papyrus (c. 1850 BCE) and contemporary material culture from the archaeological record. The Kahun Medical Papyrus is both the earliest known medical treatise and solely concerned with women’s medicine. Through the description of 34 medical cases it provides a wealth of information on medical perceptions of the female body. Here, five of those cases regarding diagnosis of conception are retranslated with a close analysis of the grammar and diction to arrive at a clearer understanding of the physical experience of pregnancy during the Middle Kingdom. The emotional and spiritual components of reproduction are elucidated by magically potent objects such as birthing wands and decorated birth bricks. A cohesive analysis of both modalities produces an image of a deeply spiritual reproductive experience, defined by pleas for divine intervention, and in which medicine plays a purely diagnostic, not curative, role.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Part I: Context 12
Part II: Five Cases from the Kahun Medical Papyrus 31
Part III: Magical Protections of Birth 60
Conclusion 91
About this Honors Thesis
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