Honey And Ancient Medicine

For example, we know that honey was mixed with exotic spices….but it was also mixed with fly blood, pig’s eyes, washerman's slops, and bird blood.

Examples of honey used in ancient Egyptian medicine are as follows:

Remedy for blindness

"A pig's eye, antimony (a type of metal), red ochre and a little honey are finely ground and mixed together and poured into the ear of the man so that he may be cured at once.

Then recite this spell twice: 'I have brought this ointment and applied it to the trouble spot and it will remove the horrible suffering.'"

For a swelling on the neck

"If you examine a swelling on his neck, and you find it is soft to feel with a white secretion, then you shall say concerning it: 

"You are suffering from an enlarged gland on the neck; it is a disease which I will treat by an operation to guard the channels."

You shall prepare remedies to treat it with, a dressing that breaks the surface: acacia fruit, blood of the hwr-bird, fly's blood, honey, northern salt, are ground, mixed together and the gland is bandaged therewith."

For a diseased eye:

"To clear up the pus: honey, balm from Mecca and gum ammoniac. To treat its discharge: frankincense, myrrh, yellow ochre."

Occipital neuralgia (chronic headache disorder):

"If he is ill in his nape and his eyes are dim-sighted, then thou shalt say concerning it:

"it is (due to the fact) that the vessels of his nape have received the disease."

What is done against it: myrtle, washerman's slops, pignon, fruit of  a 3ms, are mixed with honey, applied to his nape and (it) is bandaged therewith for 4 days."

A boil in the throat:

"If thou examinest an enlarged gland in the throat of a man which has arisen through an attack of bile or matter in any limb of a man.......then thou shalt say concerning it:

"(it is) one suffering from an enlarged gland in his throat, matter running in its place; it is a disease which I will treat".

Thou shalt prepare for it remedies to cause it to decay by means of medicines: onion, date-wine, thwj, cumin, northern salt, yeast-fluid, powder of beans, fruit of 11 ml, honey, oil, are mixed together and (it) is bandaged therewith for 4 days, until he gets well."

Softened tubercular gland

"If thou examinest a cystoid enlarged gland on his neck....... then thou shalt say concerning it:

"(it is) one suffering from cystoid enlarged gland on his neck; it is a disease which I will treat by an operation that guards the vessels."

Thou shalt prepare for it remedies to treat it with a dressing that breaks the suppurating membrane: acacia seyal, tbwj, fruit of rim}, blood of the hwr-bird, fly's blood, honey, 'maw, spry, northern salt, are ground, mixed together and (it) is bandaged therewith."

Use of beeswax

Beeswax was also used in Ancient Egypt.  The Ebers Papyrus (1550 B.C.) reveal that beeswax was the main ingredient in many recipes for the preparation of ointments and creams used to to treat burns and wounds and to soothe joint pain. 

Honey And Ancient Greek Medicine

Hippocrates, the Greek philosopher, was convinced about the uses of honey in medicine, and used honey in different formulations for treating a range of complaints:

• For pain, he used oxidhoney (honey and vinegar).
• For thirst Hippocrates favoured mead. 
• For rapid onset of fever and symptoms such as headache, chills or muscle and joint pains (acute febrile diseases), Hippocrates would advise honey and water mixed with various other substances.
• To treat ulcers, Hippocrates used two formulations as enema:
  - strong white vinegar boiled together with honey, sodium carbonate, alum and an amount of Choles
  - boiled together: honey and copper oxide.

Hippocrates also said that for chest diseases, he thought: 

"barley soup is better than all other cereal foods for chest diseases - also vinegar and honey, because they bring up phlegm"

Hippocrates also recommended the use of beeswax in case of purulent tonsillitis.

Celsus (a Greek philosopher) was reportedly also familiar with the therapeutic usage of honey.

Theriac or theriaca was a medical concoction originally formulated by the Greeks in the 1st century AD. Theriaca andromachi or 'Venice Treacle' contained 64 ingredients. In addition to viper flesh and opium, it included cinnamon, agarics and gum arabic. The ingredients were pulverized with honey, and reduced to a type of paste.

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