They Stole It - African Medicine: The Ancient Knowledge

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Identify Imhotep and explain why historian James Henry Breasted called him the earliest known physician in history — two thousand years before Hippocrates
• Describe at least four distinct African healing traditions and the peoples they came from, including the Babalawo, Inyanga, Komfo, and Fulani healers
• Explain the significance of the Timbuktu manuscripts and what their existence reveals about African scholarship in medicine
• Analyze the Edwin Smith Papyrus — its content, its origin, and what it reveals about African surgical knowledge more than 3,600 years ago
• Evaluate the Homer passage from The Odyssey, Book Four, as a primary source documenting Greek recognition of Egyptian medical skill
• Explain the pattern by which African medical knowledge was dismissed, erased, and then profited from by Western medicine

Key Vocabulary

• Imhotep — An ancient Egyptian architect, physician, and scholar who lived around 2650 BCE — more than 2,000 years before Hippocrates. He served as chancellor to the Pharaoh Djoser. Historian James Henry Breasted called him the earliest known physician. Imhotep was later worshipped as a god of medicine in Egypt, and the Greeks identified him with their own god of healing, Asclepius. [1]Nunn, John F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996; Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. Ancient Egyptian medicine, Imhotep, and Imhotep's worship as a god of healing.[6]Breasted, James Henry. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1930. The first full English translation, dating the surviving copy to the 17th century BCE and the original text to about 3000–2500 BCE; calls Imhotep the earliest known physician.
• Babalawo — A Yoruba healer and divination priest from Nigeria, West Africa. The Babalawo ("Father of Secrets") practiced medicine through the Ifa system — a vast body of sacred verses that carries herbal remedies and healing practices passed down over centuries. [2]Sofowora, Abayomi. Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Africa. Ibadan: Spectrum Books, 1993. Survey of traditional healing systems across the African continent.[3]Bascom, William. Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1969. The Ifa system and the Babalawo.
• Inyanga — A Zulu herbalist and traditional healer from Southern Africa. Traditional healers in South Africa use around 3,000 plant species as medicine — a pharmacopoeia built across generations of careful observation and practice. [5]Van Wyk, Ben-Erik, Bosch van Oudtshoorn, and Nigel Gericke. Medicinal Plants of South Africa. Pretoria: Briza Publications, 2009. Medicinal plants used by South African traditional healers.
• Komfo — A healer-priest of the Akan people of Ghana, West Africa. Akan communities recognized distinct healing specialists — herbalists, priest-healers, bonesetters, and midwives. [2]Sofowora, Abayomi. Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Africa. Ibadan: Spectrum Books, 1993. Survey of traditional healing systems across the African continent.[4]Van der Geest, Sjaak, et al. Study of fracture treatment by bonesetters in Techiman District, central Ghana (University of Amsterdam, medical anthropology). Akan traditional practitioners: priest-healers, herbalists, and bonesetters.
• Edwin Smith Papyrus — The oldest known surgical document on earth. The surviving scroll was copied around 1600 BCE from a text first written as much as a thousand years earlier by African physicians. It describes 48 cases, including skull fractures, spinal injuries, the brain, sutures, splints, and honey on wounds. It was purchased in 1862 by an American collector in Luxor (ancient Waset, Kemet) and now carries his name instead of the names of the African physicians who wrote it. [1]Nunn, John F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996; Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. Ancient Egyptian medicine, Imhotep, and Imhotep's worship as a god of healing.[6]Breasted, James Henry. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1930. The first full English translation, dating the surviving copy to the 17th century BCE and the original text to about 3000–2500 BCE; calls Imhotep the earliest known physician.
• Timbuktu Manuscripts — A collection of more than 350,000 manuscripts preserved in Mali, West Africa, documenting centuries of African scholarship in medicine, mathematics, astronomy, law, and theology. Medical texts include herbal remedies and diagnostic techniques. [7]Hunwick, John O., and Alida Jay Boye. The Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu: Rediscovering Africa's Literary Culture. London: Thames & Hudson, 2008; Hammer, Joshua. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016. The Timbuktu manuscripts and the 2012–2013 rescue.
• Hippocrates — A Greek physician born around 460 BCE, widely called the "father of medicine" in Western tradition. Hippocrates was born more than 2,000 years after Imhotep, and more than 1,000 years after the Edwin Smith Papyrus was copied. [1]Nunn, John F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996; Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. Ancient Egyptian medicine, Imhotep, and Imhotep's worship as a god of healing.[6]Breasted, James Henry. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1930. The first full English translation, dating the surviving copy to the 17th century BCE and the original text to about 3000–2500 BCE; calls Imhotep the earliest known physician.
• N'anga — A traditional healer of the Shona people of Zimbabwe, Southern Africa. The N'anga practiced herbal medicine, spiritual healing, and diagnosis — serving the physical and spiritual health of Shona communities for generations. [2]Sofowora, Abayomi. Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Africa. Ibadan: Spectrum Books, 1993. Survey of traditional healing systems across the African continent.
• Fulani Healers — Traveling herbal healers of the Fulani people, whose traditional territory spans West and Central Africa. As a historically mobile, cattle-herding people, Fulani healers carried plant knowledge and remedies between communities across the continent. [2]Sofowora, Abayomi. Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Africa. Ibadan: Spectrum Books, 1993. Survey of traditional healing systems across the African continent.
• Honey as Antiseptic — The use of honey on wounds — a treatment recorded in the Edwin Smith Papyrus more than 3,600 years ago. Modern medicine has confirmed honey's antibacterial properties and still uses medical-grade honey in wound care today. The knowledge is African. The credit went to others. [1]Nunn, John F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996; Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. Ancient Egyptian medicine, Imhotep, and Imhotep's worship as a god of healing.[6]Breasted, James Henry. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1930. The first full English translation, dating the surviving copy to the 17th century BCE and the original text to about 3000–2500 BCE; calls Imhotep the earliest known physician.

The Full Lesson

Part 1 — A Continent of Healers

Africa did not have one system of medicine. It had hundreds. One for every people. Every region. Every language. [2]Sofowora, Abayomi. Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Africa. Ibadan: Spectrum Books, 1993. Survey of traditional healing systems across the African continent.

The Babalawo of the Yoruba in Nigeria — healers whose sacred Ifa verses carry herbal remedies and healing practices. The Inyanga of the Zulu — herbalists in a land where traditional healers use around three thousand medicinal plants. The Komfo of the Akan in Ghana, working alongside herbalists, bonesetters, and midwives. The N'anga of the Shona in Zimbabwe. The Fulani healers, who carried plant knowledge across the continent as they traveled. [2]Sofowora, Abayomi. Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Africa. Ibadan: Spectrum Books, 1993. Survey of traditional healing systems across the African continent.[3]Bascom, William. Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1969. The Ifa system and the Babalawo.[4]Van der Geest, Sjaak, et al. Study of fracture treatment by bonesetters in Techiman District, central Ghana (University of Amsterdam, medical anthropology). Akan traditional practitioners: priest-healers, herbalists, and bonesetters.[5]Van Wyk, Ben-Erik, Bosch van Oudtshoorn, and Nigel Gericke. Medicinal Plants of South Africa. Pretoria: Briza Publications, 2009. Medicinal plants used by South African traditional healers.

In Mali, the scholars of Timbuktu wrote it down — in more than 350,000 manuscripts. Medical texts. Herbal remedies. Diagnostic techniques. [7]Hunwick, John O., and Alida Jay Boye. The Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu: Rediscovering Africa's Literary Culture. London: Thames & Hudson, 2008; Hammer, Joshua. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016. The Timbuktu manuscripts and the 2012–2013 rescue.

"Africa did not have one system of medicine. It had hundreds. One for every people. Every region. Every language."

Part 2 — The First Physician

More than four thousand five hundred years ago, an African named Imhotep served the Pharaoh Djoser as chancellor, architect, and physician. Historian James Henry Breasted called him the earliest known physician in history. Not Hippocrates. Imhotep came two thousand years before Hippocrates was born. [1]Nunn, John F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996; Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. Ancient Egyptian medicine, Imhotep, and Imhotep's worship as a god of healing.[6]Breasted, James Henry. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1930. The first full English translation, dating the surviving copy to the 17th century BCE and the original text to about 3000–2500 BCE; calls Imhotep the earliest known physician.

He was so revered that he was later worshipped as a god of medicine in Egypt — and the Greeks identified him with their own god of healing, Asclepius. Greece took the knowledge. And then forgot where it came from. [1]Nunn, John F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996; Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. Ancient Egyptian medicine, Imhotep, and Imhotep's worship as a god of healing.

"Imhotep came 2,000 years before Hippocrates was born. He is the real father of medicine."

Part 3 — Greece Knew

Homer wrote it around 800 BCE in The Odyssey, Book Four: "Every one in the whole country is a skilled physician. For they are of the race of Paeeon." Paeeon was the Greek god of healing. Meaning Egyptians were as skilled in medicine as a god. [8]Homer. The Odyssey, Book Four. Translated by Samuel Butler. London: A.C. Fifield, 1900. Greek testimony to Egyptian medical skill.

Greece knew. Greece documented it. Greece borrowed from it. And then — over centuries of cultural and political shift — the origin was erased from the story that was taught. [1]Nunn, John F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996; Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. Ancient Egyptian medicine, Imhotep, and Imhotep's worship as a god of healing.[8]Homer. The Odyssey, Book Four. Translated by Samuel Butler. London: A.C. Fifield, 1900. Greek testimony to Egyptian medical skill.

"Every one in the whole country is a skilled physician. For they are of the race of Paeeon." — Homer, The Odyssey, Book Four

Part 4 — The Scroll From Waset

In 1862, an American collector named Edwin Smith was in Luxor — ancient Waset, Kemet — when he bought an ancient scroll from an Egyptian dealer. That scroll was copied around 1600 BCE from a surgical text first written as much as a thousand years earlier by African physicians. [1]Nunn, John F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996; Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. Ancient Egyptian medicine, Imhotep, and Imhotep's worship as a god of healing.[6]Breasted, James Henry. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1930. The first full English translation, dating the surviving copy to the 17th century BCE and the original text to about 3000–2500 BCE; calls Imhotep the earliest known physician.

It is the oldest surgical document on earth. It describes skull fractures, spinal injuries, the brain, sutures, splints, and honey on wounds — a treatment modern medicine still uses today. [1]Nunn, John F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996; Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. Ancient Egyptian medicine, Imhotep, and Imhotep's worship as a god of healing.[6]Breasted, James Henry. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1930. The first full English translation, dating the surviving copy to the 17th century BCE and the original text to about 3000–2500 BCE; calls Imhotep the earliest known physician.

Smith never published a translation. When he died, his daughter donated it to New York. The knowledge is African. The name belongs to the man who bought it. [6]Breasted, James Henry. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1930. The first full English translation, dating the surviving copy to the 17th century BCE and the original text to about 3000–2500 BCE; calls Imhotep the earliest known physician.

"The knowledge is African. The name belongs to the man who bought it."

Part 5 — One Thousand Years Ahead

The Edwin Smith Papyrus was copied more than a thousand years before Hippocrates was born. It lays out examination, diagnosis, and treatment — case by case, injury by injury — through careful observation. [1]Nunn, John F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996; Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. Ancient Egyptian medicine, Imhotep, and Imhotep's worship as a god of healing.[6]Breasted, James Henry. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1930. The first full English translation, dating the surviving copy to the 17th century BCE and the original text to about 3000–2500 BCE; calls Imhotep the earliest known physician.

"The Edwin Smith Papyrus was copied more than a thousand years before Hippocrates was born."

Part 6 — The Pattern

They could not destroy it. So they dismissed it. And then they profited from it. [1]Nunn, John F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996; Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. Ancient Egyptian medicine, Imhotep, and Imhotep's worship as a god of healing.[2]Sofowora, Abayomi. Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Africa. Ibadan: Spectrum Books, 1993. Survey of traditional healing systems across the African continent.

The honey treatment from the Edwin Smith Papyrus — still in clinical use. African medicinal plants — studied in modern pharmaceutical research. The Timbuktu manuscripts — nearly destroyed during the occupation of 2012 and 2013, and saved because librarians smuggled hundreds of thousands of them to safety. [5]Van Wyk, Ben-Erik, Bosch van Oudtshoorn, and Nigel Gericke. Medicinal Plants of South Africa. Pretoria: Briza Publications, 2009. Medicinal plants used by South African traditional healers.[6]Breasted, James Henry. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1930. The first full English translation, dating the surviving copy to the 17th century BCE and the original text to about 3000–2500 BCE; calls Imhotep the earliest known physician.[7]Hunwick, John O., and Alida Jay Boye. The Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu: Rediscovering Africa's Literary Culture. London: Thames & Hudson, 2008; Hammer, Joshua. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016. The Timbuktu manuscripts and the 2012–2013 rescue.

The knowledge was never lost. It was taken. Renamed. And sold back to the world without acknowledgment of where it came from. [1]Nunn, John F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996; Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. Ancient Egyptian medicine, Imhotep, and Imhotep's worship as a god of healing.[2]Sofowora, Abayomi. Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Africa. Ibadan: Spectrum Books, 1993. Survey of traditional healing systems across the African continent.

"They could not destroy it. So they dismissed it. And then they profited from it."

Critical Thinking Discussion Questions

1. Imhotep lived 2,000 years before Hippocrates was born, yet Hippocrates is called the "father of medicine" in most Western curricula. [1]Nunn, John F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996; Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. Ancient Egyptian medicine, Imhotep, and Imhotep's worship as a god of healing.[6]Breasted, James Henry. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1930. The first full English translation, dating the surviving copy to the 17th century BCE and the original text to about 3000–2500 BCE; calls Imhotep the earliest known physician. What does this omission reveal about how historical credit is assigned — and who benefits from that assignment?
2. Akan communities in Ghana recognized distinct healing specialists — herbalists, priest-healers, bonesetters, and midwives. [2]Sofowora, Abayomi. Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine in Africa. Ibadan: Spectrum Books, 1993. Survey of traditional healing systems across the African continent.[4]Van der Geest, Sjaak, et al. Study of fracture treatment by bonesetters in Techiman District, central Ghana (University of Amsterdam, medical anthropology). Akan traditional practitioners: priest-healers, herbalists, and bonesetters. What does this reveal about the organization of African medicine — and what assumptions does it challenge?
3. Homer wrote in The Odyssey that every Egyptian "is a skilled physician" — testimony from an outsider describing Egyptian medical culture. [8]Homer. The Odyssey, Book Four. Translated by Samuel Butler. London: A.C. Fifield, 1900. Greek testimony to Egyptian medical skill. What does it mean that this acknowledgment appears in one of the most celebrated texts in Western literary history — and yet is almost never discussed in lessons about the origins of medicine?
4. The Edwin Smith Papyrus was written by African physicians, bought by an American collector, donated to New York, and now carries the collector's name instead of any African name. [1]Nunn, John F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996; Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. Ancient Egyptian medicine, Imhotep, and Imhotep's worship as a god of healing.[6]Breasted, James Henry. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1930. The first full English translation, dating the surviving copy to the 17th century BCE and the original text to about 3000–2500 BCE; calls Imhotep the earliest known physician. Using specific details from the lesson, explain what this pattern reveals about how African intellectual contributions have been handled.
5. The Timbuktu manuscripts — more than 350,000 documents — nearly disappeared during the 2012–2013 occupation of Timbuktu, when librarians smuggled them to safety. [7]Hunwick, John O., and Alida Jay Boye. The Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu: Rediscovering Africa's Literary Culture. London: Thames & Hudson, 2008; Hammer, Joshua. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016. The Timbuktu manuscripts and the 2012–2013 rescue. What does it mean that the survival of this knowledge depended on people risking their lives to protect it — and what responsibility does that create for how we treat and teach this history?

Quiz — African Medicine: The Ancient Knowledge

Part A: Select the best answer and check your work instantly. Part B: Write in complete sentences.

Part A — Multiple Choice

Part B — Short Answer

Extension Activity

Onesimus and the Smallpox Inoculation: Research Onesimus, the enslaved African man who introduced the smallpox inoculation technique to colonial Boston in 1721, helping save many lives during a smallpox epidemic. Describe: (1) who Onesimus was and where his medical knowledge came from, (2) how he introduced the technique to Cotton Mather and what resistance it faced, (3) what happened to his name and his credit in most historical accounts of smallpox inoculation. Then write two to three sentences explaining what his story reveals about the larger pattern described in this lesson — and what it means that a man who helped save lives in America is rarely named in history books.