Medicine is not something that would only benefit humans. If you ask children (especially girls) what profession they want to have when they grow up, "veterinarian" is often at the top of the list of answers. Mostly, however, just until one realises that a veterinarian not only takes care of dogs and cats, but is also responsible for large animals, supervises their slaughter, or has to put beloved animals to sleep. Nevertheless, veterinary medicine is an extremely exciting, incredibly broad field - or who else provides hippos in the zoo with the birth control pill if not a veterinarian?
In a culture that worships animal-shaped (Greek: theriomorphic) gods, it is anything but surprising that the Egyptians also tested their medical knowledge on animals. Most of the information about the animals and their state of health can of course be gained from animal mummies, which we find in extremely large numbers (evil tongues claim that the Egyptians mummified everything anyway that could not save itself quickly enough). Hardly any animal was not mummified: Besides the "expectable" animals, we find snakes, shrews and even scarabs, which were given small special sarcophagi!
It is known from depictions that the Egyptians kept pets in any case, certainly preferably cats. Usually the animals appear in funerary representations of a family, sitting under the chair of the tomb owner (and, as in this example, eating a fish with relish).
Tomb of Nacht, TT52
Cat under the chair of his wife Tawi
about 1401-1391 BCE
from: J. Malek (see below)
With pets there is often a great emotional attachment, so that one would never carelessly accept bad treatment or damage to health. In some cases, mummified pets were found in their owners' tombs, so they received the same treatment after death and were probably meant to keep their owner company in the afterlife.
In addition, larger animals were of course farm animals, such as donkeys or cattle, which must have been virtually irreplaceable for a farmer. We know them from literature and illustrations, and the owners certainly took great care to ensure that the animals were always in good health; simply "buying new" was certainly an option in the rarest of cases. However, these animals were apparently not mummified, which suggests that they were not associated with a particularly "intimate" relationship. But this is now where veterinary medicine comes into play: In the so-called Veterinary Papyrus of Kahun, treatments and prescriptions for animals have come down to us (unfortunately very fragmented). The animals mentioned are a goose, a fish (for what should it be treated?), a dog, and three times cattle. Since a dog is also a farm animal for hunting purposes, this papyrus shows us that keeping farm animals healthy was very important to the Egyptians.
Veterinary Papyrus of Kahun
about 1850 BCE
from: F.L. Griffith (see below)
Of particular interest now is the state of the sacred animals, which were worshipped in temples as living images of the corresponding deities and were also mummified after their death. The best-known example is certainly the Apis bull, but there were of course also ibises that represented Thoth, falcons that stood for Horus, or crocodiles that were worshipped as Sobek. An examination of the mummies revealed something surprising: almost without exception, the animals were in an extremely poor physical condition!
At first sight this seems very strange to us, why should the Egyptians have treated divine animals badly? However, the devil is in the detail: The Egyptians did not pay attention to keeping the animals as species-appropriate as possible when they deified them! An animal existence behind temple walls, in semi-darkness without sufficient exercise and sunlight made the animals sick. In addition, there was another problem: the animals were literally spoiled and fattened with sweet treats such as cakes, on the one hand by the priests, on the other hand by visitors who also wanted to do something "good" for the divine animal. Knowledge about species-appropriate husbandry was apparently completely absent from the Egyptians, despite all other existing knowledge.
This context shows once again that what is well meant is far from well done!
Literature
- J. Malek, The Cat in Ancient Egypt, London 1993.
- F. L. Griffith, The Petrie Papyri. Hieratic Papyri from Kahun and Gurob. Plates, London 1898.
- S. Ikram, Tiermumien im Alten Ägypten in: Ägyptische Mumien. Unsterblichkeit im Land der Pharaonen, Stuttgart, 2007, pp.281-309.
Cover Picture
Mummy of a sacred Ibis, 3D-CT, from: Ägyptische Mumien (see above).
Comments