Attitudes to the Brain in Ancient Egypt
Ms Sofia Aziz
7th June 2025
“All that is solid melts into air”
At this lecture, at the Cooper Gallery, Ms Sofia Aziz shared her recent research with a very appreciative audience. Ms Aziz explained that she wanted to explore why the ancient Egyptians (AE) discarded the brain and what the brain meant to them. Through radiological surveys, studying medical papyrus and palaeopathological records, Ms Aziz discovered that a great deal of common currency about mummification processes relating to evisceration and brain removal were not correct!
Ms Aziz took us from Herodotus and his two-sentence reference to how the brain was treated through to the, relatively, modern era and the work of Thomas J Pettigrew, a surgeon with a fascination with mummies to the point that he was nicknamed ‘Mummy Pettigrew’!
Ms Aziz talked us through the Edwin Smith Papyrus, dating from the 16-17th Dynasties and first translated by James Henry Breasted. This papyrus showed that not only were the AE medically aware in a sophisticated way of how the body works, but also of how the brain works. Parts of the papyrus detail injuries to the head and brain, symptoms of brain damage, how to assess brain damage (in some respects similar to today), and how to treat damage (where possible). They understood the connection between the brain, the spinal cord and paraplegia, incontinence etc. This shifted the understanding of the body and its various parts from the magical to the mundane realm. The hieroglyph for brain is interesting:
ȝis
Ms Aziz pointed out that the determinative looks like it has a leak or a drip – representing the spinal fluid and/or the spinal cord.
Ms Aziz’s study of mummies, as well as other studies (Smith, 1902; Wade, 2012), indicated different approaches to removing the brain as well as different approaches to discarding or retaining the brain. Many mummies have well preserved brains – apparently the high lipid content means brains preserve well…but also the high-water content means they rapidly liquefy if left in the air – in fact Ms Aziz suggests that might explain the discarding… smell and rot!
But what of the canopic jars and the four sons of Horus – here the thunderbolt struck. Through her research Ms Aziz looked at ancient manuscripts which detailed which parts of the body were protected by which son, Imsety, Duamutef, Hapy and Qebehsenuef. It turns out that Hapy was not originally the protector of the lungs, that was down to a redistribution of protection roles over the years and the set we have now is from Edwin Smith (of the papyrus) who changed the order completely and gave Hapy responsibility for lungs… on no evidence! To find out more…you’ll need to read Ms Aziz’s book as I didn’t note down which son had what!
Another myth busted was that of the importance of the heart – not that important, says Ms Aziz. The reference to the heart in the Book of the Dead is often cited when arguing for its importance… but other organs were also mentioned… plus there is no pattern for the retaining of the heart in the torse or in canopic jars. What is clear is that AE thinking of the heart is similar to modern thinking in that it has a physiological purpose and an emotional one (ỉb / ḥȝt), but these are used interchangeably!
Through all her research Ms Aziz found that the AE approach to internal organs, whether in the torso or the head, was not systematic. Organs were left in, were discarded, were preserved in resin, or linen, or granular material, were placed in canopic jars, were returned to the body with figures of the relevant protecting Gods and more. No pattern, nothing to suggest it was relevant to status, to sex, to preference. The only thought is that it might just reflect trends – “Tired of the same old mummification rites? This year, why not try total evisceration and delight the Gods and your family with our new range of canopic jars, two for one whilst stocks last.”
In conclusion, Ms Aziz left us with much to think about as all that was solid did indeed melt into air (or liquefy into dust and was discarded) and reminded us that that there is always so much to learn and the ancient Egyptians can still surprise us.
Fiona Thompson