DISEASE is proved to have been a constant, ever-present menace to man from the earliest times. Even the most modern ailments — cancer, heart and vascular disease — threatened the average man in ancient civilizations! Yet, we have learned that even in those dim, distant eras, the scourge of disease was fought by what modern historians call "a competent medical faculty." The most modern drugs, anesthetics, complicated surgical procedures — even the vaunted antibiotic — were used by the ancients in a never-ending war against ill health! To the researcher, this is interesting — even amazing, but a most important question is yet to be solved: WHO ORIGINATED THIS ANCIENT PRACTICE?
Ancient Records Rejected As Myth
There is a reason why modern historians are confused by the startling records of ancient history. The structure of history, to which all material is subjected to test, was preconceived before all the facts were in. The result is, many historical accounts are judged not acceptable today. The modern study of antiquity does not take into account any intervention of God or of the Devil in the course of history! Historians take it for granted that the events of history, like their present lives, are NOWHERE affected by the intervention of supernatural powers. Since the recorded supernatural events of the past cannot be scientifically tested, they are rejected as MYTH! This is the universally accepted approach to history explained in Chapter I. The application of this theory to history has resulted in chaos as the ancient world finds mankind intimately associated with the supernatural. Gods and demons directly influenced every aspect of daily life! Association with the supernatural was a way of life. In spite of this self-evident fact, where the supernatural (myth) is involved, the record receives no further investigation — it is summarily rejected! (See Hockett, The Critical Method in Historical Research and Writing, p. 62.) All ancient records, subsequently, are reinterpreted to fit the fallacious modern assumption that the supernatural has not affected — indeed, even guided — the development of history. Any facts which will not fit this present theory are discarded. Consequently, the recorded history of any nation prior to 1000 B.C. is subject to doubt, accusation and dismemberment. The fabric of history has been unraveled — the true picture distorted! On occasion, there is no written record to substantiate the oral traditions of history. In such cases, these valuable sources are also discredited. This is not a valid judgment, as some ancient peoples preserved and highly valued the tradition of perpetuating important works orally. Notice!
What medicine did the Vedic Aryans [old Indians] practice? What did they think of health and disease, of the human body and its place in the whole of nature? We have no medical book [of India] from that early period.... We must keep in mind, however, that medicine was a craft which was passed on from father to son, from master to pupil, and appeared in medical books only centuries later (Sigerist, A History of Medicine, p. 154).
Oral transmission of important data was official and highly respected. "The oral tradition was more highly cultivated in India than in any other country, and was considered the authentic version of a text to a much higher degree than any written book" (Ibid., p. 149). To carelessly dismiss these ancient records as myth or inaccurate and unreliable is a travesty! It is for just such intellectual folly that the identity of the man who initiated medical practice, is to this day virtually unknown. To enable proper identification of the inventors of medical practice 4000 years ago, every source — secular history, written or oral, and the record of the Bible — must be considered. It is these ancient records, long regarded as unreliable myth, which REVEAL THE IDENTITY OF THE FIRST PHYSICIANS!
Mythology Provides A Key!
Myth simply means "an ancient traditional story of gods or heroes.... a story with a veiled meaning." (Chambers, Chambers' Twentieth Century Dictionary, p. 708.) The political, religious, and medical history of every ancient civilization is considered lost among these traditional origins. "The History of Medicine, in the earlier ages of Greece, is enveloped, as in every other country ... in the densest clouds of mystery and fable" (Hamilton, The History of Medicine, Surgery and Anatomy, p. 35). The present confusion results from a deliberate attempt by the ancient priesthood to bathe their religion and medicine in mysticism. Priests purposefully kept this knowledge obscure! It was not to be revealed to the common man. The simple practice of medicine was purposefully veiled in a maze of mysticism. Notice! "The real instruction in the mysteries of his profession is not given him until his initiation ceremony has been completed." Even "the initiation is carefully guarded from the public eye [historical present tense used]" (McKenzie, The Infancy of Medicine, p. 5). Only the priests were to understand the origin and source of their medical prowess.
To secure to themselves the permanence of this monopoly, and the full advantage of this DELUSION, the priests laboured with... skill, to disguise the rules of their practice beneath a multitude of superstitious observances, and to surround it with a fence of imposing and impenetrable mystery (Hamilton, The History of Medicine, Surgery and Anatomy, p. 12).
Though assuming a myriad of forms universally, throughout the ages — all myth has essentially the same origin! "MESOPOTAMIA was the starting point of Oriental civilization" (Garrison, History of Medicine, p. 61). The early rulers of this Mesopotamian society are the ones around whom the basic structure of all mythology was built. Though given varied names, relevant to the language of the peoples by whom they were worshipped, the gods of the ancient world were not nearly so many as it appears. "At a very early time it was... felt that this immense multitude of gods represented but various aspects of ONE, the divine being" (Sigerist, A History of Medicine, p. 154). On the surface, however, it appears that even the early history of Greek medicine, like that of its political developments, is hopelessly lost in mythology. Medicine was entirely in the hands of a priestly caste to 500 B.C. The priesthood of every nation practiced this device of deception and exclusivism to the time of Hippocrates. Hippocrates, himself, was a member of just such a priesthood which perpetuated the myths! Even the renowned Hippocratic Oath gives allegiance to the Greek pantheon of medical dieties: "I swear by Apollo Physician, by Asclepius, by Hygieia, by Panacea, and by all the gods and goddesses..." (Marti-Ibanez, The Epic of Medicine, p. 65). The mirage of gods and goddesses was a malicious farce — the important question is: To WHOM was Hippocrates swearing allegiance? Scant few have ever thought this question important! Virtually no one has guessed the depths of antiquity to which he is referring. Supposedly the Father of Medicine himself, he has preserved in Greek myth the true identity of the ancient physicians who established the healing art! Though securely hidden from the public, these priesthoods knew the identity of the gods they worshipped. Who, then, was this "divine" being whom the Greeks called APOLLO?
Apollo Identified!
Apollo was the great Greek god of healing. He was "the inventor of the healing art" (Castiglioni, A History of Medicine, p. 120). In his hymn to Apollo, Callimachus wrote of the great physician: "And wise physicians taught by him delay, The stroke of fate and turn disease away." Hippocrates was simply following the tradition of centuries when he recognized Apollo's authority in medical matters — but Apollo was not Greek! Rather, he was the principal god of an earlier Mediterranean people who settled in Greece long before Homer's time. "Apollo was the early IMPORTED god of medicine... (Selwyn-Brown, The Physician Throughout The Ages, p. 67). From what nation did the Greeks import Apollo? The answer is EGYPT! Hippocrates had recognized the eminence of, and pledged his allegiance to, a foreign god, which originated fully 1700 years before his own age. Notice!
The medical mythology of Greece and Egypt is essentially the same: and the Apis and Serapis, the Isis and Osiris or Thoth, of the latter are to be recognized in the Apollo and Minerva, the Hermes and the Orpheus of the former (Hamilton, The History of Medicine, Surgery, and Anatomy, p. 36).
Osiris and Apollo are but NATIONAL REPRESENTATIONS of the same individual! Other historians record this fact. "Osiris was much given to husbandry... [also] called by the Greeks Dionysus..." (Williams, The Historians History of the World, p. 28l). Dionysus was a prominent healing deity of Greece. "The most important position belonged to Thoth [Osiris]... he became identified with Hermes..." (Castiglioni, A History of Medicine, p. 46). The worship of Osiris was INTERNATIONAL in scope! "In the course of time... Isis, Osiris, and Horus were universally worshipped even beyond the boundaries of Egypt" (Sigerist, A History of Medicine, p. 269). All the ancient medical gods and goddesses primarily revolve around these three original Egyptian (and Mesopotamian) deities. The identification and involved relationship of these gods throughout the world, all of which is hopelessly bathed in mysticism, is a full subject in itself. Even the initiate priests, who lived in those days, required lengthy instruction to fully understand the labyrinth. These central, prominent deities were given as many as fifty different names! OSIRIS was also called: Anepu, Apis, Serapis, Marduk, Enlil, Cosmas Belos, Vishnu, Surya, Dhanvantari, Moloch, Mithras, Du'uzu, Tammuz, Baal, Min, Dumuzi, Adonis, Apollo, Bacchus, Phaethon, Anubis, Hephaestus, Saturn, and Pluto. ISIS was named: Hept, Ashtoreth, Neit, Athena, Neit-hotep, Ma, Enio, Cybele, Minerva, Astarte, Themis, Bellona, Venus, Aurora, Aphrodite, Hygieia and Diana. HORUS was named: Itit, Gilgamesh, Jupiter, Ninyas, and etc. As one historian writes, "We find ourselves bewildered in a motley crowd... whom we are at a loss to discriminate from each other" (Ibid., p. vi). The reason being that these many names, including some titles, refer to only three original deities! Of course many of the above names later became associated with certain nations and cities, but this was a gradual, nationalistic development. Originally all nations gave allegiance to a single triad of gods!
Ancient Gods — Really Early Rulers!
It has often been said, "great actions are oftentimes the forerunners of great reactions." In a word, the apparently miraculous results obtained by early physicians, gave rise to the origin of medical gods. The healing gods of the ancient world appear to us as romantic fancies of a mythological age, but in those early times, they were very real personages!
The traditional gods from Dionysus and Heracles up to Zeus and Cronis were simply ONE-WORLD RULERS and benefactors of mankind — who had by their own insistence or the gratitude of their subjects been transferred to the ranks of Heaven (Selwyn-Brpwn, The Physician Throughout the Ages, p. 67).
The mysticism we call mythology today was well developed in the earliest times. James Breasted proved that the Papyrus Ebers dated from the Old Kingdom of Egypt. At that early date, Osiris, Hermes, Isis, and Horus are already being mentioned as medical deities. A pantheon of healing gods was then under development — "developed from outstanding surgeons and physicians" who had previously lived (Ibid., p. 199)! As explained in Chapter IV, the medical procedures used by the ancient physicians produced a remarkable effect! It is easy to see how such practitioners, in a profoundly religious age, could claim deification. Epidemics, exposing entire nations to annihilation, posed a particularly dangerous threat. Rulership depended on their ability to thwart the ravages of disease. This will be explained more fully in the following chapter. The following quotation reflects this vital interest in containing disease and the subsequent public response to a successful effort.
Aristaios [Apollo-Osiris]... was noted for his expertness in public health work and EPIDEMICS. When the plague visited Keos he went there and restored the public health, and was rewarded by the building of a temple and healing sanctuary [in his name] in that town. In other places he had temples and was worshipped... (ibid., p. 65).
Such results were considered miracles!
From what has been just said [the miraculous recovery of Keos], we can readily understand... HOW almost every nation of antiquity came to refer the origin of medicine to the immediate instruction of the Gods; and HOW the Isis and Osiris, the Apis and Serapis of the Egyptians CAME TO BE REGARDED AS DIVINITIES, and worshipped with divine honours (Hamilton, The History of Medicine, Surgery and Anatomy, p. 9-10).
These old world "benefactors" had special, direct contact with supernatural powers and as a result were themselves accorded divine attributes. Later they were worshipped as gods — when in reality, they were only men! Today, the medical developments of the ancient civilizations are obscured by mythology. Many records are lost or dismissed. However, one fact has clearly emerged — in every nation the origin of medicine is coeval with the commencement of its empire! The invention of medicine is traced to the deified first kings whose rule was worldwide!
Which Ancient Rulers?
The evidence proving that the ancient gods of medicine were simply early rulers is ample! The question now becomes WHICH RULERS? The key to this problem is a matter of elimination. The answer is easily found. In every case the central figure in the medical pantheon is a MALE DEITY who is pictured discovering many drugs — at times they are a result of "quick invention." Of course he is a "benefactor." In some records, following his demise, a FEMALE DEITY and HER SON are represented as pharmacists for the world. A single quotation for each is sufficient for example: "THOTH [also Apollo-Osiris] was also credited with the discovery of healing herbs, of which... the Egyptians possessed a great number" (McKenzie, The Infancy of Medicine, p. 21-22).
From the few magic texts we have quoted, it is apparent that ISIS held an important place in the pantheon of healing deities. Her legend is full of episodes of magic cures, and over and over again she appears as the great magician whose counsel is the breath of life, whose sayings drive out sickness.... It is well known that... the [medical] cult of Isis SPREAD ALL OVER THE ANCIENT WORLD and at a time when people were pining for healing.... To Diodorus she was a healing goddess, DISCOVERER OF DRUGS, versed in the art of curing people.... HORUS, the child of Isis and Osiris... appeared frequently and acquired himself special faculties to cure people.... The Greeks and Romans worshipped him as a healing god also who had been instructed in the healing art by his mother Isis... (Sigerist, A History of Medicine, p. 288).
The god of healing, a deified old-world ruler, was the first pharmacist — often called "the great husbandman." Who was he? Are there any ancient rulers credited with the same discoveries? YES — The phenomenon is worldwide! All nations point to one man as originator! EGYPT: In Egypt the first ruler to be accorded great respect due to his exploits as a physician is the Second King: ATHOTHSIS! "Works on ANATOMY and MEDICINE are stated to have been written even by the early sovereigns of Egypt. Athothis, the son of Menes is stated in the Berlin Papyrus to have written a book on medicine" (Selwyn-Brown, The Physician Throughout The Ages, p. 203). Furthermore, "Teta, styled Athothis.... According to Manetho, he constructed the royal castle of Memphis and wrote a work on anatomy, being PARTICULARLY OCCUPIED WITH MEDICINE" (Williams, The Historians History of the World, p. 91). "Ata [the fourth sovereign — Teta's mother-wife Uenephes]: A great plague broke out in [her] reign" (ibid.). It was just such incidence of disease which she was renown for attempting to control with her "great magic." Osiris, then is Athothis. It follows that Uenephes is Isis; the son, Horus is Kenkenes. CHINA: Chinese history states unequivocally that the origin of medicine was coeval with the foundation of their empire!
The Chinese established a medical system, which according to tradition, is as ancient as the monarchy. They have drawn the whole [of medical] science from the experience of the ancients. To SHIN-NUNG the DIVINE HUSBANDMAN, is the honor ascribed of having laid the foundation of this useful art. He [taught] that heaven had created herbs to remedy diseases. He therefore examined their qualities and communicated the result of his researches to the people. It has been justly inferred that the remedies invented by him must have been very excellent (Selwyn-Brown, The Physician Throughout The Ages, p. 246). According to ancient legends, the origin of Chinese medicine is attributed to the Emperor Shin-Nung.... He is said to have taught his subjects... compiling an herbal, in which more than a hundred remedies are mentioned (Castiglioni, A History of Medicine, p. 99).
Tradition records that he encountered as many as seventy different drugs in a single day. Shen-Nung, which may be spelled Shen, Shun or Shin, is the second of the five legendary rulers — himself a god of medicine. However, Shun was not Chinese; he was a foreigner. The Bamboo Annals make it clear Shun was a black foreigner! His identity will be revealed later. INDIA: "True Indian history begins with the famous battle of Kuruksetra in the winter of 1650-1649 B.C." (Hoeh, Compendium, p. 333). This heavy attack was launched against the Indians by the Assyrians from the West. As subsequent events developed, the Indian king perished, but through an unusual turn of circumstances, the Assyrians were defeated and India became truly independent. Prior to this significant date, names, but no dates, of previous kings are preserved. From earlier times India, particularly the civilizations along the Indus River valley, had been dominated by Aryans. As a result, the earliest kings belong to a foreign empire. However, Indian history does preserve, in tradition, the origin of medicine prior to 1650 B.C. "AGNI, the Aryo-Indian god... links with TAMMUZ.... Agni... he who has been looked for has entered all herbs. Tammuz is 'the healer' and Agni 'drives away all disease'," (MacKenzie, Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 94). Agni is considered the first physician of India. Agni is known to be Tammuz, so his true identity will be revealed when we reach the early rulers of Mesopotamia! In every nation the origin of medicine invariably is traced back to a god and/or ancient ruler of the empire's first dynasty. This strange phenomenon is universal! We have already seen this is true in Rome, Greece, Egypt, India, and China. And all other nations of Asia trace their medical origins to China or India. All modern nations trace their medical history to Greece or Rome — so, in effect, we have briefly traced the origin of all the world's medical practice to this ancient period! Can it yet be simplified further? YES! Remember the first physicians of all nations, excepting Egypt and Mesopotamia, were not native sons.
MESOPOTAMIA — Origin of Medical History!
As Garrison previously stated, "Mesopotamia was the starting point of Oriental civilization." In the framework of history, the records of all ancient nations go back to one momentous event: the building of the city and tower of Babel! This was the beginning of the civilization of this world. All nations reckon their origin from this event! It is at this point that the Bible becomes absolutely essential to the understanding of medical history. It is the Bible which reveals the names and the significance of the most ancient medical men and their practice. The Biblical account of the building of Babel is found in Genesis 11:1-9, which reads in part: And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And they said one to another: "Come, let us build us a city, and a tower... let us make us a name...." And the Lord said: "Behold, they are one people, now nothing will be withholden from them...." From thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. The most complete secular record of this event is that found in the Akkadian Creation Epic. It includes the statements which follow: "Having built a stage-tower a great height, they set up in it an abode for MARDUK, Enlil and Ea. This is Babylon, the place that is your home...." It continues with the establishment of a throne which dominated many other nations: the commencement of human government! At this point the document is fragmentary but one who dominates the human race is clearly mentioned: "He set up a throne Another in.... Verily, the most exalted is the son.... His sovereignty is surpassing.... MAY HE SHEPHERD THE HUMAN RACE!" The Biblical account reveals who these first two rulers of ancient Mesopotamia were! The Biblical Cush is the father; Nimrod is the son. "And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.... And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel..." (Genesis 10:8, 10). "With the reign of Cush and of Nimrod, the history of civilization begins. At this point (2254 B.C.) commences also the chronology of Egypt, of Assyria, of Babylonia, and of the whole Near East" (Hoeh, Compendium, p. 45).
Nimrod Was The First Man To Hold World Power!
Now the seemingly coincidental origins of medicine in Egypt, India, and China take on added significance! It becomes clear why so many nations point to a foreign physician-ruler. China's first king was a black foreigner. They called him Shun. His father's name was spelled Chusou or Kusou — simply a variant of Cush! His mother was "Queen of the West Land" or "Queen Mother of the West." This ancient Shun of the Chinese records is none other than the BIBLICAL NIMROD! On to Egypt! Immediately after the building of Babel, Egypt became the second center of civilization of the world. All the famous hero-gods who founded Babel are buried in Egypt. The development of these two societies was similar and contemporary. It is easy to see how both Babylonians and Egyptians later claimed to be the first people in the world. The first four rulers of Egypt's Dynasty I (Menes, Athothis, Kenkenes, and Uenephes) are the ones important to the medical history of the world. These individuals were also the first four rulers of Babylon! For a complete account and proof of the inter-relationship of these two dynasties, see the Compendium of World History by Dr. Herman L. Hoeh, Chapter 3. The Egyptian god Osiris (Athothis — Second King) was the Apollo of the Greeks, the Baal of the Phoenicians, the Agni of the Indians, the Shun of the Chinese, the Nabu of the Assyrians, the Tammuz of the Semites and the MARDUK of the Babylonians. All these national god-names refer to the NIMROD of the Bible! In Babylon, where the universal pattern was set, medicine was a sacred art taught in the temple. "The divine husbandman," the Babylonian Osiris was Marduk. In Babylon, the center of the world's pagan civilizations, MARDUK "held the power to overcome all disease" (Marti-Ibanez, The Epic of Medicine, p. 47). History traces the ancient, original god of Medicine in every nation on earth to Marduk! Marduk is Nimrod. The Biblical Nimrod is the patron deity — indeed the FATHER OF MEDICINE — to all nations of the world! The amazing story of how this occurred — and WHY — is told in the following chapter.
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