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History

Ancient surgery

Surgeon in Ancient Egypt

Surgery – repairing and reshaping the body with knives and stitches – is as modern as modern medicine gets. But is it really all that innovative? Archaeological and historical evidence suggests that people have been having surgery for thousands of years.

This website investigates what is known about the theory and practice of surgery in ancient India, Egypt, Greece, Alexandria and Rome, after which progress froze until the end of the Middle Ages.