Mesopotamians Research Paper

Ancient civilizations across history have shown unique and incredible feats of mankind. Arguably, two of the most prominent ancient civilizations in the Middle East and even the world are the Mesopotamians (Beginning 5,000 B.C.) and Egyptians (Beginning 3,150 B.C). Even though these two civilizations peaked about 2,000 years apart, they share numerous similarities contributing to their success, and also show even more differences that distinguish how each had a unique culture and way of life.

The Assyrians were using bandages to treat wounds and knew about inflammation, while the Egyptians were treating their mummies with crushed spices and perfumes (doc 1 and 4). Medical achievements were very important during this time period because there were diseases that were hard to protect oneself against, therefore the doctors must learn how to treat them one contracted. Document 2 shows a picture from an Egyptian book, and a boat is present. Boats were a very useful invention because using them made it easy to go up and down the Nile River. The Chinese had very advanced silk and bronze making techniques (doc 5 and 7).

While Greek Medicine particularly from the 5th century B.C onwards, increasingly used scientific method to develop cures, there still however remained people that considered medicine to be a religion. The ancient Greeks (Hellenic) made important discoveries about the human body and health, so by the sixth century BC, medicinal practices focused largely on a more clinical approach involving observation. Their discoveries were made by firstly studying the human anatomy using dissection and vivisection, finding ways to heal using things such as plants and herbs, then finally practising surgery on the human body using different instruments.

Medieval medicine was rooted in Ancient Greek practices. In 65 A.D., a Greek writer, Discorides, wrote a book, Material Medica. The book is about medical use of over five-hundred different plants. The book is translated into Hebrew and Arabic. Doctors in the Early Modern Era knew very little, and they used plants as the most important care and/or treatment. Due to unsanitary places and tools, many different diseases spread around Europe. Life was challenging during the Early Modern Era because of many diseases(Alchin). During the 1500s- 1600s, diseases overtook many people because doctors knew little, medicine was unknown, and there were many causes.

During the middle age people had lack of knowledge about disease only few people such as physicists or the church would know but not that detail. Even though during the ebola virus struck people still didnt had the cure but they would

The Nile river is known almost universally by historians as the cradle of medicine because it passes through the great region of Egypt. Egypt greatly contributed to the western civilization. Their knowledge was far superior to any

Diseases and their treatments changed and shaped the modern world. The Tang Dynasty of Ancient China had great value to the medicinal fields and led the way for medical technology and advancements that are used today by standardizing the supreme methods, procedures, and treatments during this time period; therefore, they made it less complicated for people to learn and teach how to practice medicine. Areas of medicine that were greatly improved and exceptionally recorded during the Tang Dynasty were symptomatology, etiology, surgery, orthopedics, and traumatology.

This is one area which contrasts greatly with the native cultures. The Indians of the Americas were far ahead of the Europeans of their time. Because of the closeness and respect for nature, many natural cures were used. The Aztecs had even gone as far as surgery to remove organs and even work on the brain. The Indians also took much better care of themselves pysically. This was done by a better diet and exercise. In some cultures a type of martial arts was taught beginning in adolesence, to keep in shape both mentally and pysically. Despite all of these advancements, they were powerless to the new and unfamilliar European diseases.

Illness is in no way a new thing, if you had happened to to sick at the time of ancient egyptians there probably was a treatment for it. However in ancient egypt, the medicine that we think of now was not the preferred way in treating diseases. The egyptians had a leg on on the other societies of the ancient world. This mostly relates to their embalming process where they religiously practiced removing and preserving human remains. The ancient egyptians believed that in order for a soul to travel to the afterlife the body must be preserved.Through the embalming process, egyptians had gained great knowledge of anatomy, dissection and preservation. The entire mummification process took multiple skilled prist and roughly 70 days to complete.

Alexandrian researchers discovered several new finds pertaining to the heart. The researchers learned that the heart could be used for diagnosis. Similarly, they now deemed the heart as a pump with valves, contrary to earlier beliefs about the heart. This kind of thinking was far more advanced than the previous suppositions surrounding the heart’s function. Furthermore, these findings also allowed the surgical techniques of the Eurasian people to evolve.

Many individuals ponder how remarkable it is that humans have lasted this long in a world full of war and through chaotic times. One element that has helped humanity is the use of medicine and healthcare systems. Medicine and healing have been around for many centuries, and has made countless advances in the system and cures to diseases within many civilizations. Instead of discussing the change of medicine over all time and around the world, we will narrow the ways in which a civilization heals their sick into a smaller time period and this period was the era of the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. In the Ancient and Medieval Worlds, medicine and health were very important to help the ill and infirm, and many medical techniques were developed

Egyptians were considered some of the best doctors in ancient times, starting from the Stone Age and onward. Written documents and cave carvings found from this time period suggests that they were highly advanced for their time, particularly in the impressive knowledge of human anatomy. For example, the Edwin Smith papyrus lay out a myriad of surgical treatments for a certain type of injury, giving many historians insight on how Egyptians operated in the field. (Lawrence 444) The Edwin Smith papyrus was divided into sections: title, examination, diagnosis, and treatment, a clear sign of the vast amounts of understanding in medicine. (Schlager 94) It is said that medicine became a main focus in the civilization due to the fear of illness and

Starting soon after the achievements of Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, in 460 BC Greek medicine and treatments began to intensely develop and improve due to anatomical research. Ancient physicians and anatomists such as Erasistratus, Herophilus, Galen, and Andreas Vesalius conducted dissections on live and dead organisms to lead them to make important discoveries about the anatomy, functionality, and overall health of humans. With passing time, each person built off of their influences work by testing validity, expanding on research, and all the meanwhile making their own discovers. However, human dissection and vivisection experiments were limited due to conflicts with ethnics and the ways of the Catholic Church. There was also the

Egyptian daily living was mostly made up of philosophies, their fear of the gods and magic. They believed that people who acquired any type of physical and mental illnesses were somewhat caused by paranormal forces and that magic and their religious conviction were how they learned to live with them and treat people. Based on our assigned readings it seemed that Egyptian physician specialty revolved around their ability to be able to apply first aid techniques such as displaced joints and repairing of broken bones. They were able to take care of superficial wounds on the surface of the skin. However they lacked the ability to be able to perform deep level procedures. Their wound dressing was remarkable. A popular natural remedy they often used was willow leaves. Applying them to the skin helped to keep down inflammation. If there was a sickness that the Egyptians thought had some chance of healing they would first make observation and then decide when was the time they should get involved if it was at all required. One disease we can identify that existed at

In ancient Egypt the people often time used magic and medicine for the same things. The ancient Egyptians believed in spells or what we call magic and in medicine to solve their problems. The problems could have been something going on in their tribe or town or someone being sick. The Egyptians might chant out a magic spell that they believe works for certain situations and swallow medicine to help the same problem.