Early concepts of nutrition, digestion, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and their treatment: Ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome

Abstract

The Egyptian concept of medicine was complex and related to a widespread religious belief that combined the worship of gods and the medical arts. The healing properties of food, and especially mother’s milk, were well‑known and endowed with divine qualities. Half‑female‑half‑cow Hathor was usually depicted with cow horns and the sun between them. Since medicine and magic were tightly linked, the omens, facts, conscious and unconscious assumptions merged with a mystical mosaic that formed a volatile but honorable system that is currently regarded as a medical art. Supernatural powers were taken into account, and the meaning of art was associated with the powers attributed to the deities. Despite their obvious social and religious‑political experience, the Egyptians had limited knowledge of the internal structure of human body, paying considerable attention to magic, mysticism and afterlife. They deeply believed that most of the diseases originated in the intestines due to their «contaminated» contents. The main problem in understanding diseases and developing their treatment in ancient Egypt was the restrictions associated with the prohibition of body’s desecration. This was based on the assumption that if the shape of the body is not preserved at the time of resurrection, the soul can be lost in void. Thus, the ancient Egyptians were especially concerned with the preservation of body, believing that desecration by animals or worms could also lead to the complete loss of remains for the soul.
 In the society of Ancient Rome, illuminated only by the flame of fire and the thirst for knowledge, the enjoyment of food and the continuation of the family were of great importance. Unsurprisingly, the ancients respected the sensations of eating. Thus, such exquisite dishes as lark tongue, black caviar, ostrich brain, Falernian wines at the time of Emperor Heliogabalus evoked a unique complex of sensations during eating. Examples of ancient Roman medical tools, including mirrors, found in the house of a surgeon from Pompeii (72 — 62 BC), prove the early tendency to visualize human insides. The qualification of the ancient masters of medical tools is confirmed by the fact that the principles used two thousand years ago have changed slightly.
 Thus, there were initial concepts of nutrition, digestion, diseases of the digestive tract, and even the rudiments of diagnosing these diseases in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome. They served as the basis for the further development of gastroenterological science.