Since human creation, the human heart is occupying honorable role
from physical health, mental and spiritual aspects and beyond. Pharaonic
Period, is dated from the 32nd century BC, when Upper and Lower Egypt
were unified, until the country fell under Macedonian rule, in 332 BC.
The ancient Egyptians believed that the heart, rather than the brain,
was the source of human wisdom, as well as emotions, memory, the soul
and the personality itself. The ancient Egyptians also did not think
much of the brain. In fact, when creating a mummy, the Egyptians scooped
out the brain through the nostrils and threw it away.
The human heart was a sacred body part, and its health depended on
its contribution to the universal harmony. Historically, the ancient
Greeks acknowledged the value of Egyptian medicine. “It was said in
Greece that to have studied medicine in Egypt was the highest credential
a physician could present”[1]. Scholars agree, “The role of Egyptian
medicine in the development of the scientific foundations of Greek and
Roman medicine is significant”[2].
The knowledge of the heart, pulse, and vessels in ancient Egypt
ought not to be surprising. “To the ancient Egyptians, the heart was
the centre of thought, emotion, and all other nervous function, an organ
of such importance that it was thought necessary to salvation after
death, and was left in the body at the time of mummification to ensure
its availability at judgment and during the afterlife.
The heart was thought capable of recording all the good and evil acts
performed by a human being during life”[3]. Laura M. Zucconi affirms
that for ancient Egyptians, “The soul of a person was seated in the
heart and during the Judgement of the Dead one’s heart was weighed
against the Feather of Maat”[4].
In ancient Egyptian texts there are two words that are used for the
heart, IB and HATY. Teodor Lekov explains that the usage of IB “implies
nuances of ‘internal’, ‘hidden’, ‘invisible’, ‘inner self.” The usage of
HATY, on the other hand, “means literally something like ‘(that) which
is in front’, in sense of ‘outer’, ‘visible’”[5]. Lekov agrees with the
proposal that “in most of the cases the heart-IB is identified with the
consciousness, with the organ of thoughts and senses, while the
heart-HATY more often designates the physical heart, the anatomical
organ”[6]. At this point, it may appear that similar to our contemporary
view of the heart; ancient Egyptians used “heart” in two ways,
metaphorically and literally. When the heart-IB is used, it is a
metaphor, and when the heart-HATY is used, it denotes the literal heart.
However, Lekov, reveals in his article that “in many cases the two
words are used as synonyms, and one can replace the other in variants of
given text” [7]. Moreover, he states, “when the heart-IB is not
present, the heart-HATY is lacking too,”[8] implying that there is a
real, non-metaphorical, interdependence between the two modes of the
heart. In addition, Lekov offers examples to show that in ancient
Egyptian texts the heart-HATY, which is commonly assumed the anatomical
physical organ, can and at times does leave the body, and when this
occurs, “the whole complex of human perception is interrupted” [9]. The
presence of the heart-HATY is necessary for the organs of perception to
function because, “The heart is the center who commands the process of
perception, and controls every limb in the body” [10].
The traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a style of traditional
medicine based on more than 2,500 years of Chinese medical practice that
includes various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage (tui
na), exercise (qigong), and dietary therapy. According to the bible of
traditional Chinese medicine, the Huangdi Nei Jing, or the Yellow
Emperor’s Classic of Medicine, which is an ancient treatise on health
and disease said to have been written by the famous Chinese emperor
Huangdi around 2600 BC, the Heart is responsible for housing Spirit.
Because TCM is a by-product of a spiritual journey by ancient masters,
much of the language in this classical text is related to spiritual
purpose. These ancient masters lived in a very different cultural
context— free from the unique pressures, problems and distractions of
life in the twenty-first century. However, it explains the Heart’s role
very well. It says simply the king’s responsibility is to follow Natural
Law. Its ultimate function is to be happy.
Ayurveda, the traditional Indian medicine (TIM) and traditional
Chinese medicine (TCM) as a model of the most ancient yet living
traditions as well as tibtian medicine are all sharing the common
philosophy and believe of the heart being the centre of energy and the
master of the process of body mind alignment.
Hippocrates (c.460 – c.370 BC) was a Greek
physician of the Age of Pericles (Classical Greece), who is considered
one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine.
Hippocrates was the first to introduce the concept of ‘physis’ and to
transform hieratic or theocratic medicine into rational medicine. The
overall construction of the Asclepieion on Kos clearly indicates that he
and his school followed a holistic concept, combining scientific
thought with drug therapy, diet schedules, and physical and mental
exercise, also asking for God’s help [11]. He is often referred to as
the “Father of Medicine”. He was the first known practitioner to adopt a
rational method in diagnosis and therapy, which subsequently developed
into the scientific method of today. It has been said that Hippocrates
did for medicine what Socrates and Plato did for philosophy. According
to Katz and Katz [12], the location of the intellect was an important
question being debated at the time of Hippocrates. In the treatise “The
Heart” (vide infra), it was said, “For man’s intelligence, the principle
which rules over the rest of the soul, is situated in the left
ventricle.” From his book Wounds in the Head XIX (Withington, 1927)
[13], and similar references in The Sacred Disease, it is unlikely that
Hippocrates considered consciousness to have resided in the heart
[14,15].
In the fourth century B. C., the Greek philosopher Aristotle
(384- 322 BC). He was great biologist of his era. He opened fertilized
chicken eggs at various times and observed so the temporal development
of the chicken and his organs.
Aristotle exploited wars and
politics for scientific developments. The expedition of Alexander the
Great into Asia helped Aristotle to extend his knowledge not only of the
animal tribes, but also of their structure. He performed some
dissection experiments that was allowed only with animals.
He
identified the heart as the most important organ of the body, the first
to form according to his observations of chick embryos. It was the seat
of intelligence, motion, and sensation a hot, dry organ. In his treatise
On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body, written in the second
century A. D., Galen1 (129 AD – 210 AD), reaffirmed common ideas about
the heart as the source of the body’s innate heat and as the organ most
closely related to the soul.
Dr. Alabdulgader, a senior congenital cardiologist/electrophysiologist,
has obtained multiple board certifications and memberships from
prestigious medical schools and universities in record time (1991-1995)
and established a major cardiac hospital funded by his Royal Highness
Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz.
He established the first registry of
congenital heart diseases in the middle east which was followed by a
nationwide registry and was credited for being the first to described a
new congenital anomaly of the heart in 2005. He established a series of
international conferences (King of Organs) for advanced cardiac sciences
in 2006 which is the first medical conference that explores topics
related to the information processing and energetic role of the heart.
Dr.
Alabdulgader believes that we are at the start of a true revolution in
the history of medicine, and his understanding of the broader role of
the human heart in ethical, religious and social contexts has drawn
major media attention. He was recently elected as a member of the
scientific board of the International committee on Global Geological and
Environmental Change.
- Boisaubin Eugene V. Cardiology in ancient Egypt. Texas Heart Institute Journal. 1988; 15: 80-85.
- Magdi
M Saba, Hector O Ventura, Mohamed Saleh, et al. Ancient Egyptian
Medicine and the Concept of Heart Failure. Journal of cardiac failure.
2006; 12: 416-421.
- Boisaubin Eugene V. Cardiology in ancient Egypt. Texas Heart Institute Journal. 1988; 15: 80-85.
- Zucconi Laura M. Medicine and religion in ancient Egypt. Religion Compass. 2007: 1: 26-37.
- Lekov Teodor. The Formula of the Giving of the Heart in Ancient Egyptian Texts. The Journal of Egyptological Studies. 2004.
- Ziskind
B, Halioua B. La conception du coeur dans l’Egypte ancienne [Concepts
of the heart in Ancient Egypt]. Med Sci (Paris). 2004; 20: 367-373.
- Ziskind
B. L’examen. Cardiovasculaire a la lumière des papyrus médicaux de
l’Egypte ancienne [The cardiovascular examination in the light of the
medical papyruses of old Egypt]. Hist Sci Med. 2006; 40: 61-68.
- Ziskind
B, Halioua B. Contribution de l’Egypte pharaonique à la médecine
cardiovasculaire [Contribution of Ancient Egypt to cardiovascular
medicine]. Arch Mal Coeur Vaiss. 2004; 97: 370-374.
- Saba MM, Ventura HO, Saleh M, et al. Ancient Egyptian medicine and the concept of heart failure. J Card Fail. 2006; 12: 416-421.
- Hallmann-Mikołajczak
A. Papirus Ebersa. Ksiega wiedzy medycznej egipcjan z XVI w P.N.E
[Ebers Papyrus. The book of medical knowledge of the 16th century B.C.
Egyptians]. Arch Hist Filoz Med. 2004; 67: 5-14.
- Orfanos CE. From Hippocrates to modern medicine. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2007; 21: 852-858.
- Katz AM, Katz PB. Diseases of the heart in the works of Hippocrates. Br Heart J. 1962; 24: 257-264.
- Withington ET. Hippocrates. Volume III. London: William Heinemann; 1927.
- Lloyd GER. Hippocratic writings. New York: Penguin; 1950.
- Tsung O. Cheng. Hippocrates an cardiology. Am Heart J. 2001; 141: 173-183
