Peseshet

Peseshet

Peseshet, who lived under the Fourth Dynasty, is often credited with being the earliest known female physician in ancient Egypt. Her title was "lady overseer of the female physicians," [Plinio Prioreschi, "A History of Medicine", Horatius Press 1996, p.334] [Lois N. Magner, "A History of Medicine", Marcel Dekker 1992, p.28] but whether she was a physician herself is uncertain [Sheldon J. Watts, "Disease and Medicine in World History ", Routledge 2003, p.19] . She had a son, Akhethetep, in whose mastaba at Giza her personal stela was found [Giorgio Lise, "Medicina nell'antico Egitto", Cordani 1978, p.41] [Paul Ghalioungui, "Les plus anciennes femmes-médecins de l'histoire", in BIFAO 75 (1975), pp.159-164] .

She may have graduated midwives [Mario Tosi, "La donna nell'antico Egitto", Giunti 1997, p.79] at an ancient Egyptian medical school in Sais; midwifery must have existed, even though no ancient Egyptian term for it is known. Interestingly, the Hebrew Bible - while not a proven source for historical events prior to the 7th century BCE - refers to midwives in Exodus 1,16:

"And he (i.e. the king of Egypt) said: When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them upon the stools..." ["The Holy Bible, The British and Foreign Bible Society, London 1972]

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