The Eye of Horus: The Connection Between Art, Medicine, and Mythology in Ancient Egypt

Abstract

Ancient Egyptian civilization is one of the oldest cultures in human history. Ancient Egyptians are well-known for pioneering the fields of art, medicine, and the documentation of discoveries as mythological tales. The Egyptians mastered the integration of anatomy and mythology into artistic symbols and figures. The mythology of Isis, Osiris, and Horus is arguably one of the most recognized mythologies in ancient Egypt. The Eye of Horus was used as a sign of prosperity and protection, derived from the myth of Isis and Osiris. This symbol has an astonishing connection between neuroanatomical structure and function. Artistically, the Eye is comprised of six different parts. From the mythological standpoint, each part of the Eye is considered to be an individual symbol. Additionally, parts of the Eye represent terms in the series 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, and 1/32; when this image is superimposed upon a sagittal image of the human brain, it appears that each part corresponds to the anatomic location of a particular human sensorium. In this manuscript, we highlight the possible scientific speculation of the ingenuity of ancient Egyptians’ remarkable insight into human anatomy and physiology.