Kahun gynaecological papyrus: Did you mean...?

The books of the New Testament were written in the 1st century CE. As Christianity spread in the 2nd century CE, many copies were made, some by non-professionals. Early manuscripts are considered to be closer to the original than later manuscripts...

A bronze gynaecological instrument, Roman, 1st century CE. (Archaeological Museum of Como, Italy)

Recipes were written in cuneiform inscriptions. They concern conditions such as infertility and pregnancy. Probably from Babylon, Mesopotamia, Iraq. Circa 600-400 BCE. (The British Museum, London)

A medical recipe was written on this clay tablet to prevent miscarriage. It recommends that a women should wear for 3 days a particular species of dried edible mouse which has been stuffed with myrrh. Probably from Babylon, Mesopotamia, Iraq...

The English word 'veterinarian' as defining one who provides medical care to animals, comes from the Latin verb veheri meaning “to draw” (as in "pull") and was first applied to those who cared for “any animal that works with a yoke” – cattle...

Ancient Egyptian culture flourished between c. 6000 BCE with the rise of technology (as evidenced in the glasswork of faience) and 30 BCE with the death of Cleopatra VII, the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt. It is famous today for the great...

In Europe, in the 19th century CE, an interesting device began appearing in graveyards and cemeteries: the mortsafe. This was an iron cage erected over a grave to keep the body of the deceased safe from 'resurrectionists' - better known as...

The Edwin Smith Papyrus is the world's oldest surviving surgical document written in hieratic script in ancient Egypt around 1600 BCE. Plate 6 and 7 of the papyrus, pictured here, discuss facial trauma.

The London Medical Papyrus (c. 1629 BCE) is among the oldest medical texts in the world.

Sheets of the Westcar Papyrus, Egyptian, date disputed. (Altes Museum, Berlin)