
The Brugsch Papyrus (Pap. Berl. 3038), also known as the Greater Berlin Papyrus or simply Berlin Papyrus,
[ Following Nunn, the Berlin Papyrus is "sometimes known as the Papyrus Brugsch" (p. 37).] is an important ancient
Egyptian medical papyrus. It was discovered by Giuseppe Passalacqua in
Saqqara
Saqqara ( : saqqāra ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in the markaz (county) of Badrashin in the Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
.
Friedrich Wilhelm IV of
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
acquired it in 1827 for the
Berlin Museum, where it is still housed. The style of writing is that of the
19th Dynasty, and it is dated between 1350 and 1200 BC.
The papyrus was studied initially by
Heinrich Karl Brugsch, but was translated and published by
Walter Wreszinski in 1909. Only a German translation is available.
The papyrus contains twenty-four pages of writing. Much of it is parallel to the
Ebers Papyrus. Some of the contents deals with
contraception
Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...
and
fertility
Fertility in colloquial terms refers the ability to have offspring. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to reproduce, which is termed fecundity. The fertility rate ...
tests.
Some historians believe that this papyrus was used by
Galen
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (; September 129 – AD), often Anglicization, anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Ancient Rome, Roman and Greeks, Greek physician, surgeon, and Philosophy, philosopher. Considered to be one o ...
in his writings.
References
Bibliography
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External links
Ancient Egyptian medical works
Papyri from ancient Egypt
2nd-millennium BC manuscripts
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