An introduction to reproduction in pharaonic Egypt

Reproductive science is a new-born medical speciality compared with other specialities such as surgery or dentistry. However, infertility and obstetrical complications commonly diagnosed in the 20th century have a history as old as medicine itself. In an attempt to distance themselves from the African and Middle-Eastern roots of our culture, the European intellectuals of the 18th and 19th century have written the history of the democratic world starting with the Greco-Roman period. Egyptian medicine has influenced the medicine of neighbouring civilisations, including the culture of ancient Greece and its influence spread onward, thereby affecting Western civilisation. The aim of this review is to give credit to these early researchers, who often concluded with extremely accurate observations and to present their colourful and sometimes controversial contribution to our knowledge of reproductive anatomy, physiology and pathology.