anointed it with oil and spices and then wrapped it in linen
bandages. Amulets, talismans, precious stones, and other
objects were placed within the bandages as they were wound
about the body.
Mummifi cation was not the sole privilege of Egyptian
royalty. Members of the wealthy aristocracy also were af-
forded this practice, as were favored pets and sacred animals,
such as cats. Some historians consider mummifi cation as
forming the ancient origins of medical science, because the
elaborate process allowed Egyptian priests to make a careful
study of the symptoms of disease and the causes of physical
death.
Egyptian physicians developed skills in surgery, setting
broken bones, treating burns and wounds, dentistry, and pre-
paring medications from vegetable plants, herbs, and miner-
als. Treatments included honey to dress wounds and soothe
pain; aloe vera for burns and headache; and frankincense, dill,
camphor, mustard seed, onions, garlic, sandalwood, sesame,
thyme, and poppy seeds for various ailments and symptoms.
An ancient Egyptian prescription could comprise several of
these ingredients as well as much more repulsive substances
meant to drive away evil spirits: the blood or fat of lizards
and snakes, ground pig’s teeth, rotten meat or other food, and
boiled beetles or rhinoceros horn.
Medical science in ancient Egypt was also preventive in
nature. Ritual bathing and purifi cation played a key role in the
prevention of disease, and dream interpretation was used to
diagnose the causes of illness. Th e ancient Greeks considered
Egypt the home of the medical arts. It was common for Greek
scholars and physicians to make pilgrimages to the Nile Val-
ley to study and learn from Egyptian priests and shamans.METALLURGY AND CHEMISTRY
Th e Greeks and the people of the Near East took much of their
knowledge of metallurgy and chemistry from the Egyptians,
who were already systematically mining copper in the Pre-
dynastic Period, which ended in the late fourth millennium
b.c.e. In the Eastern Desert between the Nile Valley and the
Red Sea, copper ores were dug from the earth, refi ned into
base metal, and formed into tools and weapons—a business
carried on exclusively under the control of the state. Later the
Egyptians learned to combine copper and tin to make bronze
and developed uses for lead, cobalt, and galena.
Around 800 b.c.e. Egyptian smiths learned methods of
smelting iron, which may have fi rst been mined from mete-
orites. Th e “metal of heaven,” as it was known, was rare and
valuable, and its handling was restricted to the priestly caste
and privileged artisans working for the state. By the middle
of the seventh century b.c.e. these smiths had learned new
ways of hardening iron to make tools more durable and to
lend weapons a sharper edge.
Gold mining was another monopoly of the state. Gold
(nub) gave its name to an entire region, Nubia, which was
renowned for its valuable deposits. Th e precious metal was
extracted from gold-bearing ore as well as river sands. Th eEgyptians developed an effi cient method of washing this
“gold of the river” by placing the ore in bags of fl eece and run-
ning water through it, thereby removing the soil and dross
and leaving behind small gold fragments and nuggets.
Th e Egyptians also developed an early glassmaking tech-
nology in which glass threads were wound around a core of
hardened clay. When the clay was burned away, glass jars and
bottles were left behind. Glassmaking employed soda, lime,
and lead in various combinations and was the subject of con-
stant experimentation and refi nement, with the goal to create
larger and more transparent pieces. Th e Egyptians developed
an extensive industry around the use of various paints and
dyes to create imitation pearls and precious gems from glass.
Egypt’s glassmaking technology was exported to the Near
East and later to ancient Greece and Rome.MATHEMATICS
Of the two kinds of ancient scientifi c texts, mathematical
texts are more compatible with modern standards of science.
(Accomplishments in medicine possible before the discovery
of bacteria were, aft er all, very limited.) Th e earliest evidence
of hieroglyphic mathematics dates to the fi rst half of the sec-
ond millennium bc.e. A similar but more sophisticated de-
velopment in mathematics occurred around the same time in
cuneiform sources from Mesopotamia. Near Eastern math-
ematics then stagnated until the Greek miracle of the later
fi rst millennium b.c.e. Two factors put Egypt at the forefront
of this resumed growth. First, Alexander’s conquest in the
fourth century b.c.e. made Greek into an Egyptian language,
Egypt’s preferred vehicle of intellectual discourse. Second,
royal philanthropy transformed Alexandria into the world
center for the study of mathematics for several centuries.
Much knowledge of Egyptian mathematics is contained
in the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, a document dating from
around 1600 b.c.e. and which contains tables of fractions;
formulas for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and divi-
sion; a table of prime numbers; and a method for solving lin-
ear equations. In ancient Egypt mathematics was a practical
and not a “pure” theoretical science. Egyptian numbers and
calculation developed with the need for precise measurement
in construction; surveying land boundaries; building canals
and roads; and performing government functions such as
calculating taxes and measuring inventories of grain, gold,
and other public goods. Th e numbering systems allowed
merchants to trade and exchange goods of various weights
and volumes and enabled the state to calculate the size of
granaries used for storing corn. Th e Egyptians developed an
advanced system of geometry, a key element in positioning
and constructing pyramids and royal tombs and in building
various public structures: monuments, sphinxes, obelisks,
lighthouses, and gardens.
Egyptian mathematics attained great precision and so-
phistication. Its number system was decimal, without a zero
or a place value system, such as the one in which the fi rst 5
in 55 means 50 and the second 5 means just 5. Th e Egyp-science: Egypt 9270895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i927 927 10/10/07 2:30:28 PM