This painting captures a moment in the life of an Egyptian physician of the Eighteenth Dynasty (1500-1400 B.C.). This physician is confronted with a patient suffering from tetanus as described in Egyptian researcher Edwin Smith's recovered papyrus. The Physician is clothed in clean white linen and a dark wig, as befits the dignity of his status in Egyptian society. An assistant assists holding the papyrus which directs the prescribed treatment for this malady by traditional Egyptian medicine. Magico-religious rites are also being observed by the priests to the right, who are trained in this adjunctive specialty.
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