Egypten 10.7 :: The Attar’s shop
- Object description
An Attar was – and still is – a sort of pharmacist in folk medicine. Knowledge about traditional medicines and the healing powers of amulets has survived the pharaonic era and the Middle Ages to the present day.
As in Pharaonic Egypt, a combination of medicine and magic was used in the Middle Ages to cure various ailments. Great emphasis was still put on the inherent powers of the written word. Powders and pills were washed down together with holy water and written spells.
Some of these old traditions have died out over time or have been rejected in the light of new medical research. However, much of this ancient wisdom lives on, both in the alleyways of Cairo and on the Egyptian countryside.
The content of this attar shop was collected by Carl Axel Silow in 1978 and originates from a village north of Cairo.
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