Plants for Health: Vegetal Medicaments between Egypt and Ḫatti

De Pietri, Marco (2022) Plants for Health: Vegetal Medicaments between Egypt and Ḫatti. In: Aegyptus et Pannonia VII. Magyar-Egyiptomi Baráti Társaság, Ókori Egyiptomi Bizottság, Budapest, pp. 111-127. ISBN 9786156571014

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Abstract

It is already known, mainly thanks to Elmar Edel’s studies, that after the battle of Kadesh and during the later so-called Pax Hethitica period, the Hittite court asked the pharaoh several times for medical assistance. Many letters exchanged between the Egyptian and the Hittite courts mention the dispatch from Egypt to Ḫatti of physicians appointed to heal Hittite people, mainly for eye diseases and, once, for a case of sterility. This paper further investigates this topic, specifically trying to pinpoint some clues for a possible exchange of healing plants between these two countries. To fulfil this goal, I will briefly summarise all the attestations of plants allegedly sent from Ḫatti to Egypt, from the 18th to the 19th dynasty, exploring texts of different genres: the Annals of Thutmose III, the El-Amarna letters (mentioning a plant called nikiptu), the later Egyptian-Hittite correspondence, until a love poem from Deir el-Medina quoting a “blossom from Ḫatti”.

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