How did Ancient Egypt Protect Itself Against Disease? The ancient Egyptians believed that unless there were obvious symptoms of common diseases, the unknown illnesses were caused by evil spirits. They thought the most successful healing process was to worship gods that would frighten all of the evil forces away from the patient. There was one particular god who was believed to scare these spirits away called Bes. Bes was regarded as the protector of everything good and the enemy of everything bad. He particularly defended mothers and their children both during and after childbirth. Another method the ancient Egyptians believed was thoroughly effective in curing diseases, was to use spells and magical positions to expel evil spirits thought to have caused illness. An example of one of these spells is… ‘O Spirit, male of female, who lurks hidden in my flesh and in my limbs, get out of my flesh. Get out of my limbs!" This spell was a remedy for a mother and child. They also used the following spell as a remedy to people turning bald: "Fat of lion, fat of hippo, fat of cat, fat of crocodile, fat of ibex, fat of serpent, are mixed together and the head of the bald person is anointed with them.” Overall the ancient Egyptians strongly believed that all illnesses and diseases prevalent in their civilisation were caused by evil spirits.