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Ancient Egyptian medicine traditions of 1000 B.C. and of an even much earlier period, are known to have used garlic, opium, castor oil, coriander, mint, indigo, and other herbs for medicine and the Old Testament also mentions herb use and cultivation, including mandrake, vetch, caraway, wheat, barley, and rye. This is an over simplification however as Egyptians had an almost universally revered reputation as practitioners of highly sophisticated forms of medicine. The excellent embalming of mummies is a prime example of an Egyptian practice which could be traced even further back in time to near pre-historical times by Egyptian calendars' reckoning. Records of the existence of these highly sophisticated healing systems are just beginning to emerge with the discoveries of new methods of understanding the language semantics of antiquity Egypt. |