By Donna Anderson
Portland -- Raiders News Network -- This week, researchers at the University of Manchester said they had uncovered new evidence which firmly placed the origins of modern medicine in ancient Egypt and not Greece.
An article by Deborah Gabriel at Black Britain news said, "The researchers from the Knowledge Horizon Centre for Biomedical Egyptology (KNH) were examining ancient texts written on papyrus – made from the plant- which ancient Egyptians used to make scrolls. The medical papyri were written at least 3500 years ago, 1000 years before Hippocrates, who it is claimed was the father of medicine, was even born.
"The Egyptian papyri contain medical treatments and prescriptions used in ancient Egypt. Professor Rosalie David, Director of the KNH Centre told Black Britain: “The evidence we are finding with the plants is that they did have these very valid remedies from at least 1500BC and almost certainly these were copies of earlier papyri which were also the same, so I think you could put the founding of medical science back in the time of the periods in Egypt.”
"The papyri from ancient Egypt were discovered in the 19th century and translated from hieroglyphs into European languages, but initially it was believed that the ancient medical texts were just “magical treatments.” The team at KNH looked at the evidence from the plants used in ancient medical remedies to check if they were valid as pharmaceutical treatments and compared this with the translations.
"The researchers discovered that early assumptions were wrong and that the papyri contained treatments that would be valid for the illnesses they described: “It’s showing that very early on, the ancient Egyptians had a very systematic method of treating the sick. It wasn’t just spells and random treatment,” Professor David said.
"African scholars have long identified Imhotep, the Prime Minister of Pharaoh Djoser, the 2nd King of the 3rd Egyptian Dynasty, as the founding father of medicine, including Dr Molefi Kete Asante, John Henrik Clarke and Cheik Anta Diop – who provided substantial anthropological evidence of the black origin of the ancient Egyptians. Professor David told Black Britain:
'“Imhotep was a man we know from the Egyptian records as the architect of the first pyramid in Egypt – the step pyramid at Saqqara that goes back to the very beginnings of their history to about 2600 BC. In Egyptology we’ve always thought of Imhotep as an architect, the people later in Egyptian history and indeed the Greeks, regarded him as the father of medical science… He probably was the founder of medical science in Egypt right back at the time when they were building the earliest pyramids.”
Imhotep acknowledged as the founding father of medicine
"Many of the remedies used by the ancient Egyptians are used today, although the active ingredients are synthetically produced. However, Professor David told Black Britain that there is a possibility that the remedies could be made using natural ingredients.
"Researchers found 70 per cent of the ingredients mentioned in the Egyptian papyri that are still in use in modern medicine. The KNH Centre is in partnership with modern Egyptians who have a scheme in Sinai where they are growing medicinal plants according to the information they are given by the Bedouin living there. These are used to make traditional medicines.
'“What we are trying to do is to see whether the very ancient medicine in Egypt traces through to this preserved traditional medicine and maybe through to the modern times,” Professor David said. However, for many of the prescriptions, researchers have been unable to identify the ingredients, because they cannot be accurate about the translation of the ingredients. “We may be able to find plants that fill those gaps as the work goes on,” she said.
"The ancient Egyptians’ traditional form of medicine may yet revolutionise the medical industry if holistic medicines can be reproduced without costly synthetic materials produced by giant drug companies. “It opens up possibilities for all sorts of exploration, so we think it’s really exciting,” Professor David told Black Britain.
What was not pointed out
During the third Egyptian Dynasty and at least 1,000 years before the Exodus, the priest Imhotep served as the vizier of the Pharaoh Zoser. Imhotep was an engineering genius and built the first-known massive stone structures, including the great Step-Pyramid (still standing) at Saqquara. From history we learn that Imhotep's well-founded distinction as a builder was surpassed only by his talent as a skilled magician and healer. When the Egyptians suffered under a seven-year famine which occured during the reign of Zoser, the king appealed to Imhotep, who in turn consulted the sacred books. After several days Imhotep emerged from isolation and announced to the king "the hidden wonders, the way to which had been shown to no king for unimaginable ages." Zoser, impressed with Imhotep's discernment, obeyed the divinations. Simultaneously, Egypt withdrew from the famine and Imhotep was decreed the chief Kheri-heb priest ("son of Ptah") of Egypt.
But the popularity of Imhotep's life eventually gave way to the fame that followed his death, as later he was elevated, deified, and transformed into a healing god. By the time of the reign of the Pharaoh Menkaure (BC 2600), temples throughout Egypt were dedicated to the god Imhotep. Such temples contained incubation or "sleeping" chambers used in the convalescence of the sick and the mentally diseased. The same became acknowledged as the most potent healing alchemies of Egypt. The incubation-temple of Imhotep at Memphis, for instance, proved to be so popular that the Greeks identified Imhotep with Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, and affirmed his divine membership within the powerful Egyptian "trinity" composed of Imhotep, Ptah, and Sekhmet the lion-headed goddess.
It's said that Imhotep convinced the Egyptians that premature forms of sickness and disease could be ultimately avoided if the proper aspects of healing-magic were carefully employed. The magicians of Imhotep used the magic crystals and incantations of Isis to call upon Sekhmet--the goddess-sovereign of epidemics and diseases to work with the positive energies of Serapis in the administration of the healing needs of the Egyptians. Such rituals were often accompanied with burnt offerings, and the ashes of the same were sprinkled into the air as a health-blessing for the Egyptians. At other times the diagnosis called for an extended stay in the temple of Serapis where the sick or injured person was placed under the mystical spell of the katoche. The katoche supposedly provided the internal coercion of the god and ultimately led to the proper diagnosis, and divine assimilation, of the transmissible and healing energies of the god. The katoche, affiliated with Imhotep's sleep-wizardry, was linked to the mystical crystals of Isis. These, in turn, were joined with Sekhmet's administration of the overall life-giving energies of Ptah and Osiris. Combined, they provided the Egyptian magicians with the powerful and esoteric tools necessary for the overall health of the people. Such magic was indeed powerful, and the fame of such men and magic (Jannes and Jambres) continued up until the times of the New Testament. (2 Tim. 3:8)
Yahweh judged Imhotep in the Old Testament
When the Hebrew God attacked the divine health of the Egyptians in Exodus (see Exodus 9:8-9) by placing a filthy, eruptive disease of boils upon the population, He was accomplishing what no other surrounding power had attempted to do -- send the respected Egyptian magicians of Imhotep fleeing powerless before Moses -- unclean and unable to perform their priestly duties. Yahweh simultaneously illustrated the inferiority of the Egyptian high gods -- Ptah and Osiris -- and denounced them as helpless against His power. He judged the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet and demonstrated her impotence at regulating diseases. He altered the Imhotep ritual of "casting ashes" and made the ashes a cursing instead of a blessing. He mocked the temples of Imhotep and Serapis, and thereby notified the surrounding nations that neither crystals, nor psychic dreams, nor positive energies, nor yet coercions of men and their gods, can defy the incontestable will of Yahweh.
For more details about Imhotep and the Exodus plagues, read "The Gods Who Walk Among Us", by Thomas Horn
Original Source