Historico-medical considerations on the use of mummy as a drug: a bona fide ineffective medicament or a noxious charlatanry?

Abstract

Pharmaceutical cannibalism has been historically significant across various cultures. Egyptian mummies, often studied for their mummification techniques, were also utilized in medicine, believed to have healing properties due to misconceptions about their embalming process. The term mumiya, which originated in Mediaeval Arabic, came to denote both mummified bodies and bitumen due to misinterpretations by Latin translators of Islamic medical texts. Scholars like Al-Kindi, Rhazes, and Ibn Sina promoted bitumen as a treatment for various ailments. The confusion led to the use of actual mummy parts instead of bitumen, especially after supplies of this material dwindled in the 13th century. Scepticism about the therapeutic benefits of mumia vera grew, particularly after the 18th century, raising concerns on its possible harmful effects on patients. In this paper, by reassessing the works of André Thevet Ambroise Parè in light of modern medical knowledge, we make the case for mumia vera Aegyptiaca to have been a potentially harmful form of pharmaceutical cannibalism.