MedicIne In Ancient Rome

The Ancient Romans, like the Ancient Greeks and Ancient Egyptians, made a huge input into medicine and health, though their input was mainly concerned with public health schemes. Though the Roman ‘discoveries’ may not have been in the field of pure medicine, poor hygiene by people was a constant source of disease, so any improvement in public health was to have a major impact on society.

TheRomans learned a great deal from the Ancient Greeks. They first came into contact with the Greeks in about 500 BC By 146 B.C. part of Greece had become a province of the Roman Empire and by 27 B.C., the Romans were in control not only of Greece but of Greek-speaking lands around the Mediterranean. They used the ideas of the Greeks but they did not simply copy them. Greek ideas they foundimpractical they ignored and it seems that the Romans were more keen on things that would lead to the direct improvement of the quality of life of the people in their huge empire.
"The Greeks are famous for their cities and in this they aimed at beauty. The Romans excelled in those things which the Greeks took little interest in such as the building of roads, aqueducts and sewers."

Strabo – a Greekgeographer.

Though Strabo may have been less than accurate, it does seem that the Romans were more practical especially as the Romans do seem to have been more interested in mathematics and solving practical problems.
"The Greeks held the geometer in the highest honour, and, to them, no-one came before mathematicians. But we Romans have established as the limit of this art, its usefulness inmeasuring and reckoning. The Romans have always shown more wisdom than the Greeks in all their inventions, or else improved what they took over from them, such things at least as they thought worthy of serious attention."

Cicero, Roman writer.

In the early years of the Roman Empire there were no people in what would be a separate medical profession. It was believed that each head of thehousehold knew enough about herbal cures and medicine to treat illnesses in his household. The Roman writer Pliny wrote:
"Unwashed wool supplies very many remedies…..it is applied….with honey to old sores. Wounds it heals if dipped in wine or vinegar….yolks of eggs….are taken for dysentery with the ash of their shells, poppy juice and wine. It is recommended to bathe the eyes with a decoction of theliver and to apply the marrow to those that are painful or swollen."

As the Roman Empire expanded into Greece, many Greek doctors came to Italy and Rome. Some of these were prisoners of war and could be bought by wealthy Romans to work in a household. Many of these doctors became valuable additions to a household. It is known that a number of these men bought their freedom and set up their ownpractices in Rome itself. After 200 BC, more Greek doctors came to Rome but their success at the expense of Romans did generate some mistrust.

Pliny did not trust Greek doctors:
"I pass over many famous physicians men like Cassius, Calpetanus, Arruntius and Rubrius. 250,000 sesterces were their annual incomes from the emperors. There is no doubt that all these physicians in their hunt forpopularity by means of some new idea, did not hesitate to buy it with our lives. Medicine changes everyday, and we are swept along on the puffs of clever brains of the Greeks…..as if thousands of people do not live without physicians – though not, of course, without medicine."

However, despite Pliny’s caution, many Greek physicians had the support of the emperors and the best known doctors were highlypopular with the Roman public. Pliny wrote that when Thessalus walked around in public, he attracted greater crowds than any of the famous actors and chariot riders based in Rome.

The Romans and Public Health:

The Romans were great believers in a healthy mind equalling a healthy body. There was a belief that if you kept fit, you would be more able to combat an illness. Rather than spend...