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| prior to the plague, Romans had no physicians because they refused to pay fees to profiteers to save their lives. They stuck with fold remedies. Then the plague hit and the elders had to debate importing a physician from Egypt or an iatros but finally consulted with the Sibylline books. Their advice was to summon Asklepios from his shrine in Epidauros. A team was dispatched and brought back Asklepios in the form of a snake, and the snake settled on the Island of the Tiber. The plague abated. |
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Roman statesman: Wrote to his son marcus in 200 BCE: The greeks "are a quite worthless people, and as intractable one, and you must consider my words prophetic: when that race gives us its literature it will corrupt all things, and even all the more if it sends hither its physicians. They have conspired together to murder all foreigners with their physic, but this very thing they do for a fee, to gain credit and destroy us easily..."
HATED PHYSICIANS, ESPECIALLY THE IATROS. |
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| A greek iatros who came to Rome. Therapeutic slogan "swiftly, safely, sweetly." Prescribed few medicines, among them wine and music. Opposed venesection. Started the Roman transition from folk medicine to trusting physicians with their knowledge of greek medicine. |
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| "Natural History" written by Pliny the Elder. Compiled in record time of 2 years. Written only at night with compulsive data collecting during the day. Books were read to him nearly every second of the day. He compiled 37 books (encyclopedic) with ~20,000 facts from 2000 volumes by 100 selected authors. The Natural history was revered as a pillar of human knowlege for 1600 years. Contained information on great variety of subjects. |
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| Wrote Historia Naturalis or natural history. Started his career as a public officer in Germany serving in the cavalry, then returned to Rome and studied law. Died from poisonous fumes resulting from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. |
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| Recommended for intestinal worms and recorded in Historia Naturalis. This a surprisingly effective drug. |
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| Recorded in Historia Naturalis as a plant having the following properties: stops bleeding, and taken in sweet wine cures cough and asthma. Same as modern day Ephedrine. The plant is described as having no leaves but numerous rush like jointed tufts (accurate). Prior to this it was thought ephedrine was only discovered by the Chinese (called ma huang). Likely that this was a completely separate Mediterranean discovery. |
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| A Roman. Wrote in first century AD. Most important documentation we have on Alexandrian medicine is through his writings. Wrote De medicina. Wrote in latin. His work was unappreciated in antiquity but is now hailed as spectacular. His is the only complete medical work to come down from antiquity. Celcus believes anatomy is important but is against vivisection. Not opposed to dissecting the dead. |
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Written by Celsus. Details surgical operations such as removing goiters, hernia operations, bladder stones, and amputation of limbs. A series of 8 books. Only complete medical text to come down from antiquity. Substance is hippocratic, but enriched by alexandrian progress and Indian imports.
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cylindrical "wound boxes." contained several cylinders of polished metal, each containing half a dozen instruments. Used in roman surgery.
picture on page 358 of majno |
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The simplest and most versatile tool of Greek medicine. Spoon shaped probes made of bronze.
Also in picture page 358 majno |
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| Medicated stick used as a probe or broken up and dissolved to make a medicated solution used mainly on the eyes. The modern technical term for collyrium is eyedrops and it stems from antiquity. |
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Used for extracting barbed arrows and described by Celsus. The spoon protected the barbs from piercing the skin as the arrow was pulled out.
picture on page 361 majno |
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AKA the dilator, a famous Pompeian medical instrument and one of the earliest applications of the screw. May have been used to dilate wounds.
Picture on page 360 majno |
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Used to pinch off bleeding vessels (which celsus describes for the first time in De medicina).
many pictures on page 363/362 of majno |
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| metal pins used for closing wounds together when stitching is unsuitable. (greeks call them ancteres) described by Celsus |
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infected wounds (inflamed wounds) should not be sutured.
Four cardinal descriptors of inflammation initially described by Celsus:
Redness, swelling, heat and pain
(rubor, tumor, calor, dolor) |
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Hospital for the sick and wounded in the Roman army
pictures page 385 of majno |
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| A wealthy Roman lady who embraced her Christian faith and founded with her own money a home for the sick. She called it "nosokomeion" "sick-tending place." This is similar to the roman army hospitals, which had disappeared after the empire. Christ essentially took over the role of Asklepios. This also reflected a concern for human beings that in the Western world was entirely new. |
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What are some of the remedies recommended by Pliny? What do your examples
reveal about the cultural practice of Roman medicine in the time of Pliny? |
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| Much of the remedies are "folk remedies" such as ash of a old shoe for chafings. Also dung, herbs, vinegar, honey, and wine for various ailments. The cultural practice of Roman medicine at the time of Pliny was still biased in terms of anti-greek (THIS MAY NOT BE TRUE...my speculations?) |
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Give examples of some tools of the medicus. How effective were these tools?
What do they indicate about the level of medical professionalization at Rome by
the time of the Empire? |
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| The tools of the medicus were highly specialized and quite effective "spoon of Diokles," speculum, forceps for tying of blood vessels, many different probes. This indicates that the level of medical professionalization at Rome had shifted dramatically by the time of the empire from its original pagan roots. It also shows the heavy influence of greek medicine on the Medicus. |
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To what extent did Rome borrow medical ideas from India? Give specific
examples of medical/religious treatments that these two cultures had in common. |
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| Many of indian medicines made their way to Rome. Ex: Lycium, a plant extract used especially for eye troubles. Also, a tale of hearts being poisoned resisting fire is told in sushruta and this theory traveled to rome as well and was displayed in a poisoning trial. Another example is couching cataracts. This operation pushes the lens of the eye down to correct vision in cataracts. This is accomplished with a needle, etc, that is stabbed sideways into the edge of the cornea. Sushruta describes this same procedure and it, therefore, likely originated in India. Plastic surgery also likely passed down in detailing how to repair large gaps in skin as well as ear lobes. Another example is treatment for snake bite-tying a ligature above the bite and draw the poison out either with a cup or by sucking it out. |
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