Parasitic Worms Plagued These Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs
A study of ancient Egyptian mummies has shown that schistosomiasis and malaria hounded the pharaohs.
The Nile likely dictated which diseases were most common in ancient Egypt and Nubia.
Thirty-one mummies from as far back as 2,000 BC have helped reveal the disease landscape of the ancient culture.
The very lifeblood of the ancient Egyptian and Nubian cultures—the Nile—also likely brought a range of debilitating diseases upon the civilizations. And the mummies are now telling us all about it.
In a study published in Advances in Parasitology by University of Cambridge, biological anthropologist Piers Mitchell details how investigating 31 mummies—some dating as deep into history as 2,000 BC—revealed the diseases and parasites that would have overwhelmed the population. He stated that the Nile was a key driving force in it all.
“Despite the low rainfall in most of the region, the river Nile acted as a conduit for tropical water-born parasites that would not normally be found in arid regions,” Mitchell wrote in the study. “The civilizations of ancient Egypt and Nubia could not have existed were it not for the water of the river Nile. However, it was this very river that acted as the key driver of parasitism in the populations who lived there.”
Mitchell found that 65 percent of the mummies he studied were positive for schistosomiasis (a parasitic worm), 40 percent had headlice, and 22 percent suffered from falciparum malaria. “Such a disease burden must have had major consequences upon the physical stamina and productivity of a large proportion of the workforce,” he said.
To analyze the mummies, Mitchell used CT scans and light microscopy to investigate diseased tissue, and fragmented DNA offered up additional clues.
The widespread malaria infections were fascilitated by mosquitos breeding in the river’s waters. Sand flies spread visceral leishmaniasis, which was found in 10 percent of the mummies studied, and simply wading in irrigated waters while farming continually “put farmers at risk of infection by schistosomiasis.”
These ancient cultures were powerhouses in their time, but this was likely despite struggling with difficult diseases. “Egypt and Nubia were heavily burdened by the kind of parasites that are likely to kill you or cause a chronic burden of illness,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell notes in his 2023 book Parasites in Past Civilizations and Their Impact upon Health that ancient Egypt and Nubia appeared to be the civilizations that suffered the most severe health consequences from parasites across the entire globe.
“Malaria and schistosomiasis cause anemia, and the reduced number of red blood cells resulted in impaired ability of laborers to do hard work,” he wrote. “Despite this, the Egyptians managed to complete major building projects such as their pyramids, temples, and ornate tombs for kings and nobility. The widespread anemia from parasite infection in ancient Egypt meant they would have struggled to build these monuments using their own diseased workforce alone. They could only build the ancient Egypt we see today using imported labor, such as slaves captured during military campaigns.”
The presence of the Nile turned an otherwise dry land into a breeding ground for the types of parasites needing still water to fester. But that water may have helped stave off some other maladies like whipworm or roundworm—common among ancient societies that spread human feces on farmland for fertilization. Without the need for this type of fertilization, Mitchell believes that ancient cultures could have avoided at least these two additional parasitical problems.
Parasitic diseases of ancient civilizations weren’t limited to those of certain social classes. The insects were prevalent throughout the region (thanks to the proximity to the Nile), and showed no favor in who they infected—from pharaohs to commoners. The mummies tell us so.
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