It's another sweltering morning in Memphis, Egypt. As the sunlight brightens the Nile, Passachette checks her supplies. Honey, garlic, cumin, acacia leaves, cedar oil. She's well-stocked with the essentials she needs to treat her patients.
Passachette is a sunu, or a doctor. In order to become one, she had to train as a scribe and study the medical papyri stored at the Pur Ankh, the house of life. Now she teaches her own students there. Before teaching, Pesachet has a patient to see. One of the workers at the temple construction site has injured his arm.
When Pesachet arrives, the laborer's arm is clearly broken. And worse, the fracture is a sed with multiple bone fragments. Pessachet binds and immobilizes the injury.
Her next stop is the House of Life. On her way, a woman intercepts Pessachet in the street. The woman's son has been stung by a scorpion. Pessachet has seen many similar stings and knows exactly what to do.
She must say an incantation to cast the poison out. She begins to recite the spell, invoking Serket, patron of physicians and goddess of venomous creatures. Pessachet recites the spell as if she is Serket.
This commanding approach has the greatest chance at success. After she utters the last line, she tries to cut the poison out with a knife, for good measure. Pessachet packs up to leave, but the woman has another question.
She wants to find out if she's pregnant. Pessachet explains her fail-safe pregnancy test. Plant two seeds, one barley, one emmer.
then urinate on the seeds every day. If the plants grow, she's pregnant. A barley seedling predicts a baby boy, while emmer foretells a girl. Pessachet also recommends a prayer to Hathor, goddess of fertility. When Pessachet finally arrives at the House of Life, she runs into the doctor-priest, Iseci.
She greets Iseci politely, but she thinks priests are very full of themselves. She doesn't envy Iseci's role as Nero Pehut. which directly translates to Herdsman of the Anus to the Royal Family, or Guardian of the Royal Anus.
Inside, the House of Life is bustling as usual with scribes, priests, doctors, and students. Papyri, containing all kinds of records, not just medical information, are stored here. Pesachet's son, Akit Hetep, is hard at work copying documents as part of his training to become a scribe. He's a particularly promising student.
but he was admitted to study because Pessachet is a scribe, as was her father before her. Without family in the profession, it's very difficult for boys and impossible for girls to pursue this education. Pessachet oversees all the female Sunus and Sunus-in-training in Memphis.
The men have their own overseer, as the male doctors won't answer to a woman. Today, Pessachet teaches anatomy. She quizzes her students on the metu, the body's vessels that transport blood, air, urine, and even bad spirits.
Pessachet is preparing to leave when a pale, thin woman accosts her at the door and begs to be examined. The woman has a huge, sore lump under her arm. Pessachet probes the growth and finds it cool to the touch and hard like an unripe hemat fruit.
She has read about ailments like this but never seen one. For this tumor, there is no treatment, medicine, or spell. All the texts give the same advice.
Do nothing. After delivering the bad news, Pessachet goes outside. She lingers on the steps of the House of Life, admiring the city at dusk.
In spite of all her hard work, there will always be patients she can't help, like the woman with the tumor. They linger with her. But Pessachet has no time to dwell. In a few short weeks, the Nile's annual flooding will begin, bringing life to the soil for the next year's harvest and a whole new crop of...