MAUI WOWIE STRAIN
Surprisingly little is known about the life of the boy pharaoh
Tutankhamen, but some historians believe they know how he died. Scans of
the young king’s body show that he was embalmed without his heart or
his chest wall. This drastic departure from traditional Egyptian burial
practice suggests that he may have suffered a horrific injury prior to
his death. According to a handful of Egyptologists, one of the most
likely causes for this wound would have been a bite from a hippopotamus.
Evidence indicates that the Egyptians hunted the beasts for sport, and
statues found in King Tut’s tomb even depict him in the act of throwing a
harpoon. If the boy pharaoh was indeed fond of stalking dangerous game,
then his death might have been the result of a hunt gone wrong.
MAUI WOWIE STRAIN
An ancient physician was usually a jack-of-all-trades, but evidence
shows that Egyptian doctors sometimes focused on healing only one part
of the human body. This early form of medical specialization was first
noted in 450 B.C. by the traveler and historian Herodotus. Discussing
Egyptian medicine, he wrote, “Each physician is a healer of one disease
and no more…some of the eye, some of the teeth, some of what pertains to
the belly.” These specialists even had specific names. Dentists were
known as “doctors of the tooth,” while the term for proctologists
literally translates to “shepherd of the anus.”
