The Ebers Papyrus: Evidence of Ancient Egyptian Pest Control

Papyrus scrolls are primary sources for understanding ancient Egyptian history, containing references to numerous events from those distant times. Among these is a remarkable record of the ingenuity of the ancient Egyptians: their ability to eliminate fleas without external aids. This is documented in the Ebers Papyrus, dated to 1550 BC and preserved in the library of the University of Leipzig. The papyrus contains a collection of ancient Egyptian medical texts.

The Ebers Papyrus features numerous effective medical recipes, some of which date back 3,000 years. One of these recipes suggests purifying homes to get rid of fleas. According to the papyrus, sprinkling natron water around the house repels fleas. The ancient Egyptians had discovered that fleas could transmit diseases.

The papyrus includes a detailed drawing of a flea, despite its minuscule size. The precision with which the Egyptians depicted the flea raises questions about how they managed to achieve such accuracy without magnifying lenses or microscopes. The ancient Egyptians also recorded the word "flea" in hieroglyphics, giving it a specific determinative symbol, "pi," placed at the end of the word to clarify its meaning. This determinative is an ancient Egyptian linguistic invention that made it easier for readers to understand written words.

It's worth noting that Charles Rothschild, along with Karl Jordan, collected the "Oriental Rat Flea" in Shendi, Sudan, describing it in 1903. They named it cheopis after Khufu (Cheops), the Pharaoh associated with the Great Pyramid, as Rothschild and Jordan believed the flea originated in Egypt. The Ebers Papyrus is named after its buyer, Bernhard Ebers, who acquired it in 1875, following the common practice of naming papyri after their owners. Ebers is believed to have purchased the papyrus from Upper Egypt.