g6 
Papyrus Ebers. 
[January, 
Egyptian domestic life, and is said to be the largest, best 
preserved, and most legible text in the language of 
hieroglyphics. 
The title translated is as follows : — 
Papyrus Ebers, the Hermetic Book of Medicines of the 
Ancient Egyptians, in Hieratic Writing. Published, with 
Synopsis of Contents and Introduction, by George Ebers. 
With a Hieroglyphic-Latin Glossary by Ludwig Stern. 
Under the Patronage of the Royal Bureau of Education in 
Saxony. Leipzig : William Engelmann, 1875. 2 vols. Folio. 
The papyrus of which this work is a fac-simile reproduc- 
tion was discovered by the archaeologist Ebers, during his 
visit to Egypt in the winter of 1872-3. Ebers and his friend 
Stern were residing at Thebes, collecting archaeological 
data, and there became acquainted with a well-to-do Arab 
from Luxor, who brought to them for sale a wooden image 
of Osiris and a papyrus of no especial value. Suspecting 
that the Arab was holding in reserve objects of greater 
interest, Ebers offered him a considerable sum for any 
superior specimens in his possession. This induced the 
Arab to return on the following day, bringing with him a 
metallic case containing a papyrus roll enveloped in mummy 
cloths. Ebers immediately perceived he had a prize, but 
was unable to command the large sum of money demanded 
for it until provided with the means through the liberality of 
a German gentleman, Max Gunther, travelling in that 
vicinity. According to the Arab’s account, the papyrus had 
been discovered fourteen years previously, by a man since 
dead, between the bones of a mummy in a tomb of the 
Theban Necropolis. 
Ebers hastened back to Leipzig with his precious roll, 
and deposited it for safe keeping in the University Library 
of that city. And now, with the co-operation of an enter- 
prising publisher and the assistance of royal patronage, he 
places it at the disposal of the civilised world, by reproduc- 
ing it in these handsome volumes. 
The papyrus as received by Ebers consisted of a single 
solidly-rolled sheet of yellow-brown papyrus of finest quality, 
three-tenths of a metre wide, and a little more than twenty 
metres long. It formed one enormous book, but was divided 
into no pages, which were carefully numbered. For pur- 
poses of preservation and exhibition in convenient form it 
has since been cut into several lengths. The writing, which 
is exceedingly clear and regular, is partly in black and partly 
in red ink, the latter occurring at the heads of sections and 
in the expression of weights and measures. The characters 
