Georg Moritz Ebers (1837-1898) was a German Egyptologist.
During a journey to Egypt 1873 he visited Luxor where he found and bought the ancient papyrus which is named after him: it is known as the Ebers papyrus.
The papyrus dates from ca. 1550 BC.
The papyrus roll was more than 18 m long.
It has more than 100 columns of text.
It is one of the oldest and best-preserved documents from ancient Egypt.
The topic of the text is magic and medicine.
It is a handbook of ancient Egyptian medicine.
The seller demanded 500 British pounds for the ancient document. Ebers could not and would not pay so much.
After some negotiation, the price was reduced to 350 British pounds, which was still a large amount of money at that time, but it was accepted.
Ebers brought the papyrus to Germany. When he began to study the document, he realised that it was very fragile.
It had survived in the dry Egyptian climate, but how long was it going to last in Germany where the climate is more humid?
He decided to cut the long scroll into 29 separate items and to place each item under glass. For protection.
In addition, he decided to create a facsimile edition which could be used by scholars.
This edition was completed in 1875.
Shortly after this project was completed, he lost his voice and he had to retire from his job. But he was still active as a writer for several years.
Today the original papyrus is kept in a special vault in the university library of Leipzig. The vault has constant temperature and low humidity.
In recent years, a new facsimile edition has been created.
The Ebers papyrus must be handled with great care.
After all it is more than 3,500 years old.
PS. Most of the original papyrus survived World War II. But four of the 29 items were lost during the war. Today only 25 of the 29 items are preserved.
REFERENCES
# 1. A film
Magie und Medizin:
Die Geheimnisse des Papyrus Ebers
A documentary film which premiered in 2023
** Writers and directors: Denis Kliewer and Ulli Wendelmann
** Narrator: Britta Steffenhagen
** Language: German
** Subtitles: German
** Run time = 90 minutes
In 2023, this film was shown on French and German television (arte).
# 2. A book
The Ebers Papyrus: A New English Translation, Commentaries and Glossaries
By Paul Ghalioungui
(1987)
Paul Ghalioungui (1908-1987) was an Egyptian scientist whose main area of interest was ancient Egyptian medicine.
*****
Magie & Medizin:
Die Geheimnisse des Papyrus Ebers
A documentary film which
was shown on German television (ARD)
in 2023
*****
The German Egyptologist
Georg Moritz Ebers
(1837-1898)
*****
Towards the end of his life,
Georg Ebers wrote a memoir
A German version was published in 1893
It was translated into English by
Mary Joanna Safford
The Story of My Life:
From Childhood to Manhood
The memoir is available online
via Gutenberg
*****
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