Papyrus Berlin 3027: spells and remedies for mother and child.
An 18th Dynasty papyrus collects incantations and recipes for mothers and children. Use it to test the line between medicine and ritual that modern categories draw.
Start with the edition
The Science in Ancient Egypt project describes Papyrus Berlin P 3027 as a compilation in hieratic, in Middle Egyptian, on a papyrus scroll now in the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection in Berlin. Its find spot is unknown, and it is dated between the reigns of Amenhotep I and Amenhotep II in the 18th Dynasty. Science in Ancient Egypt / Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities ↗
What it contains
The project classifies the text under medicine and lists recipes, incantations, children's diseases, and discomforts of the female breast and genital area. Erman published it in 1901 under the title 'Zaubersprüche für Mutter und Kind', spells for mother and child. Science in Ancient Egypt / Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities ↗
Try the research habit
The research record uses this papyrus to test modern category boundaries. A recipe and a spell sit in the same text, sometimes in the same paragraph. Ask whether sorting them into 'medicine' and 'magic' reflects the scribe's view or only ours.
A question to carry forward
If a remedy was spoken as well as applied, which part would a patient and a scribe each have considered the treatment?