Ebers Papyrus

The Ebers Papyrus dates to approximately 1550 BCE during Egypt's New Kingdom period, making it one of the oldest and most extensive surviving medical texts from the ancient world. It is believed to be a copy of medical knowledge that was already centuries old at the time of its writing.

The Ebers Papyrus is housed in the library of the University of Leipzig in Germany. It was purchased in Luxor, Egypt, by the German Egyptologist Georg Ebers in the 1870s, from whom the papyrus takes its name.

The scroll preserves hundreds of remedies, diagnoses, and magical formulas covering a wide range of conditions including digestive complaints, heart disease, skin disorders, and parasitic infections. It also contains surgical instructions and incantations meant to accompany treatments.

The Ebers Papyrus is a substantial scroll written in hieratic script, measuring approximately 20 meters in length. It is organized into over 100 columns (sometimes called pages), each dealing with specific medical conditions and their treatments.