Roman Medicine

• Roman Medicine was based on Greek Medicine and the belief in the Theory of The Four Humours. The first Doctors in Rome were Greek.
• Doctors were considered fakes and charlatans in early centuries, but grudgingly accepted under the Empire with the arrival of Galen (129-210 CE) in Rome who is considered to be the Father of Roman Medicine.

Ancient Greek Medicine

• The Four Humours:
  • Greek and  Roman medicine was based on the Theory of Humours, which incredible as it may seem today, continued in practice right up until the 1800’s.
  • There are many similarities between the Theory of Humours and Traditional Chinese Medicine.
• Hippocrates (c.460-370 BCE)
  • He is considered to be the Father of Western Medicine.
• Asclepius
  • The Greek God of Medicine and Healing. In 293 BCE his cult arrived in Rome.
• Erasistratus (304-250 BCE)
  • A Greek Physician who discovered Circulation through the veins and arteries and thought that the heart acted as a pump, but of air, not blood.

Greek Doctors in Rome

• Archagathus (c.210 BCE)
  • In 210 BCE he was the first Greek Doctor to develop a reputation as a skilled surgeon in Rome, but it was short lived and he acquired the nickname ‘carnifex’ meaning butcher.
• Asclepiades (124-40 BCE)
  • Asclepiades was more successful: He arrived in Rome in the 1st century BCE. He opposed Hippocrates in saying Doctors, not Nature, had the power to heal.
• Dioscorides: (64 CE)
  • He was an army Physician during the reign of Nero.
  • De Materia Medica – ‘Regarding Medical Materials’: Published in 64 CE, this Encyclopedia in 5 volumes. It contained Herbal remedies based on 600 Plants.
• Galen (129-210 CE):
  • Considered to be the Father of Roman Medicine.

Roman Physicians

Roman Doctors were either from Greece or Egypt and were usually Slaves or Freedmen.

• Cato the Elder (234-139 BCE)
  • He published ‘On Agriculture’: which contains a list of medicinal vegetables and herbs.
• Dioscorides: (64 CE)
  • He published a book with the Herbal remedies of 600 Plants: ‘De Materia Medica’.
• Celsus (c.25 BCE – c.50 CE):
  • De Medicina
• Galen (129-210 CE)
  • Considered to be the Father of Roman Medicine.
• Aetius of Amida (430-520 CE)
  • He Published 16 Books on Medecine.

Galen (129-210 CE)

• Galen (c. 129-210 CE) is considered to be the Father of Roman Medicine.
• He was Physician to the Emperors Commodus, Marcus Aurelius and Septimius Severus.
• Galen wrote 500 books, all in Greek. He employed 20 scribes to write his works. Over half of Greece’s surviving literary output is attributable to Galen. He made six key discoveries or methods.
• Prognosis:
  • Galen believed in foretelling the likely outcome of a disease, to Prognosticate.
  • He opposed the use of divination and mysticism, and insisted on using observation and reasoning,
    before finalising his Diagnosis.
• Live Dissection:
  • He would dissect a live pig severing each nerve in its neck making the pig squeal loudly.
    When the nerve from the brain to the larynx was severed, the pig ceased squealing.
  • This proved that the brain and not the heart controlled the ability to make sounds, disproving Aristotle.
• Dissecting Barbary apes:
  • He believed them to be very similar to humans, he was able to identify and learn all the bones in the human body. He identified seven pairs of nerves originating in the brain.
  • He proved beyond dispute, that arteries contained blood and not air, disproving 400 years of previous thinking.
• The Circulatory system:
  • He discovered that blood circulates and that it was regenerated in either the heart or the liver.
• The Respiratory system:
  • He would use bellows to inflate animal lungs.
• The Nervous system:
  • The importance of the brain in controlling the functions of organs. He made these discoveries by dissecting the of nerves of living animals.
• He was a skilled surgeon:
  • He performed operations on the brain and could remove cataracts of the eye.

Symbol of the Medical Profession

• The symbol of the Greco-Roman medical profession was the Rod of Asclepius, a staff encircled by a serpent.

The Roman Hospital

• In Roman cities:
  • During the Roman Republic and Early Empire, the sick and dying went to the Temples, in particular the Temple of Asclepius, where they could be tended to and prayed for, but these had no facilities.
  • Roman Public Hospitals did not exist until after the era of the Emperor Constantine I and the rise of Christianity. However, the Roman Army Fortresses did have a Hospital called a Valetudinarium.
• Roman Legionary Hospitals:
  • Valetudinarium at Novaesium and Xanten.
  • Field Hospitals were created in tents.
• Viminacium
  • Excavations produced a rare set of eight instruments in a bronze box belonging to an eye doctor, for treating cataracts and trachoma, that are almost identical to modern instruments.

Temple of Asclepius in Rome (291 BCE)

• • The Romans built many Temples in the Empire to Asclepius, the Greek God of Healing and Medecine.
  • The Temple of Asclepius in Romewas built in 291 BCE and was located on Tiber Island.
  • It acted as the hospital for the city of Rome.

‘House of the Surgeon’ in Pompeii

• • The ‘House of the Surgeon’ in Pompeii revealed an extensive collection of surgical instruments.
  • Surgical Instruments recovered from this and other sites in Pompeii, include scalpels, bone hooks, bone drills, bone forceps, bone levers, speculum, catheter, probes, spatulas and bone saws.

Diagnosis, Diseases and Cures

• Theory of Humours
  • The Diagnosis was made using the Theory of Humours  and surprisingly, was still in use until c. 1800 CE.
• The Cure
  • The cure consisted of the Bleeding of patients, operations using instruments, the application of Herbal Medicines and the taking of Spa waters.
• Drycupping and Bleeding
  • Cupping vessels have been found which were used to draw the blood to the surface of the skin without breaking it. They believed that impurities would be drawn out of the blood. Celsus recommended drycupping rather than bloodletting.
  • The Bleeding technique was to break the skin and either slowly collect the blood in a cupping vessel or to use leeches.
• Roman Surgical Instruments
  • Roman Instruments that have been found include scalpels, bone hooks, bone drills, bone forceps, bone levers, speculum, catheter, probes, spatulas, bone saws.
• Roman Medical Operations
  • Doctors use these surgical instruments to perform operations when treating injuries.
• Trepanning
  • Trepanning was also performed by Greek and Roman doctors, where a hole was cut in the skull to relieve a fractured skull.
• Caesarian Section
  • An operation performed on the mother to remove the baby through the abdomen.
  • The operation has been known since c.1,000 BCE in China, 300 BCE in India, and was discussed by Pliny the Elder who thought Julius Caesar may have been named because an ancestor of his was born by this method.
• Leprosy
  • In 62 BCE Leprosy first appeared in Rome after Pompey and his Legions returned from Asia Minor. Lepers were isolated, and confined to Leper Houses.
• Roman Poisoner
  • The Romans used professional poisoners against their enemies.
• Mithridatium
  • Mithridatium was supposedly the cure against all poisons. Amongst the 65 ingredients, Mithridatium contained the following Herbs; Rhubarb, Parsley, Hypericum and Rose leaves and Spices included Cinnamon, Ginger, Saffron, Spikenard, Myrrh, Frankincense and Cardamom.

Roman Chemist Shop

• The Roman Dispensary:
  • The Dispensary was a shop containing hundreds of medicinal plants and drugs.
  • One remedy might require hundreds of different ingredients.

Roman Herbs

• • Valerian Extract
  • Roman Herb Garden
  • Labdanum
    • Resin from the cistus shrub to treat chest infections.

Roman Wine

• • Wine was considered to be part of a healthy diet and had a medicinal, social and religious role in Roman Society. It has been estimated that every person in the Roman Empire would have consumed a bottle of wine every day.
  • Wine was drunk on a daily basis by men and women in all social classes of Roman Society, including slaves.

Honey

• • Honey has medicinal healing properties.
  • Hippocrates recommended honey as a medicinal cure for healing various ailments .
  • It was used by the Roman Legions to heal the soldiers wounds.

Roman Baths

• • The Roman Baths or Thermae was part of the fabric of Roman social life and Hygienic Bathing was at the heart of Roman Civilisation.

Spa Towns and Springs

• • Water Sources and Thermal Springs were famed for their medicinal qualities.
• Baiae
  • A reference in 178 BCE to ‘Aquae Cumanae’, the ‘Cumaean Waters’, shows the Spa Town was already popular under the Roman Republic.
  • Under the Roman Empire, Baiae became the main Spa Town and Resort for the Roman Emperors and the Roman Aristocracy.
• Glanum
  • Galnum was a major Spa Town in southern Gaul.
• Vichy
  • Located in the Province of Gallia Aquitania, during the Gallo-Roman Period, Vichy was known as Aquae Calidae or Vicus Calidus, ‘town of hot waters’.
  • The hot waters were famed for their medicinal qualities. Two hot springs today still retain their Roman construction
• Roman Baths Museum in Bath
  • The Town of Bath in Somerset was called Aquae Sulis by the Romans.
  • It was the location of a hot spring, Temple and Roman Baths.
• Buxton
  • Buxton was a Roman Spa called Aquae Arnemetiae, which is still famous for its waters today. The mineral bearing waters, known as ‘Chalybeate’, have been drunk as a cure for ailments for centuries.

Roman Dentists

• Very little is known about Roman Dentistry.
•  However, a collection of extracted teeth with cavities, found in a drain below the Forum Romanum, indicates that not only did they experience tooth decay, but dentists skilled in extraction also existed.
• Oddly, the bodies excavated from Pompeii revealed no tooth decay.

Roman Opticians

• The Instruments of the Eye Doctor
  • Excavations at Viminacium produced a rare set of eight instruments in a bronze box belonging to an eye doctor, for treating cataracts and trachoma, that are almost identical to modern instruments.
  • The instruments consisted of tweezers, scalpels, needles, cataract needles, stone palette and a glass balsamarium. Also found were round flat pastilles bearing an inscription describing their contents as containing Saffron. They were kept in cartridges.

Roman Pandemics

• There were several Pandemics during the Roman Period.
  • Antonine Plague (169-180 CE) also known as the Plague of Galen
  • Plague of Cyprian (249-262 CE)
  • Plague of Justinian (541-549 CE)

Roman Veterinary Medicine

• Vegetius (5th century CE)
  • He wrote Digesta Artis Mulomedicinae’, a lesser known Work than his ‘De Rei Militari’, which is a treatise on Veterinary Medicine. In Book III, the first four chapters deal with Anatomy of Horses.
  • The Roman Legions used horses which were bred from stock which came from Persia, Cappadocia, Iberia and Libya.
  • According to Polybius, horses were fed on Barley and were allocated 6 Bushels per month.

Temple of Asclepius on Tiber Island, Rome