Medicine in ancient Rome
Medicine in ancient Rome was highly influenced by ancient Greek medicine, but also developed new practices through knowledge of the Hippocratic Corpus combined with use of the treatment of diet, regimen, along with surgical procedures. This was most notably seen through the works of two of the prominent Greek physicians, Dioscorides and Galen, who practiced medicine and recorded their discoveries. This is contrary to two other physicians like Soranus of Ephesus and Asclepiades of Bithynia, who practiced medicine both in outside territories and in ancient Roman territory, subsequently. Dioscorides was a Roman army physician, Soranus was a representative for the Methodic school of medicine, Galen performed public demonstrations, and Asclepiades was a leading Roman physician. These four physicians all had knowledge of medicine, ailments, and treatments that were healing, long lasting and influential to human history. Medicine in Ancient Rome was one of the most important influences to the modern medicine we have now.
Ancient Roman medicine was divided into specializations such as ophthalmology and urology. To increase their knowledge of the human body, physicians used a variety of surgical procedures for dissection that were carried out using many different instruments including forceps, scalpels and catheters.
Introduction
The Roman Empire was a complex and vigorous combination of Greek and Roman cultural elements forged through centuries of contact. Later Latin authors, notably Cato and Pliny, believed in a specific traditional Roman type of healing based on herbs, chants, prayers and charms easily available to and by the head of household.Greek medicine was introduced into Italy with the establishment and development of military and political contacts between the two regions. It was not until the introduction of the healing god Asclepius in 291 BC and the arrival of the Greek doctor Archagathus in 219 BC that foreign medicine was publicly accepted in Rome, mainly due to future overall adaptation to the Roman practices.
Setting aside some of the broader implications of the Greek influence on Roman society, the effect of ancient Greek medicine, ethnography, and meteorology was particularly pertinent to two fields: architecture and health care. This was particularly important from the perspective of the Roman army, in which there were many medical advances. A medical corpus was established, permanent physicians were appointed, the valetudinaria were established, and in Caesar's time, the first traces of systematic care for the wounded appeared. The variety and nature of the surgical instruments discovered in Roman remains indicate a good knowledge of surgery.
Roman medicine
Roman medicine was highly influenced by the Greek medical tradition. Prior to the introduction of Greek medicine Roman medicine was a combination of religion and magic. The first Roman physicians were religious figures with no medical training or the head of the family. The first professional physicians were Greek physicians. Asclepiades of Bithynia arrived in 124 BC. He was a popular physician known for his kindness to his patients often prescribing wine, rest and a swinging couch. The incorporation of Greek medicine into Roman society allowed Rome to transform into a monumental city by 100 BC. Like Greek physicians, Roman physicians relied on naturalistic observations rather than on spiritual rituals; but that does not imply an absence of spiritual belief. Tragic famines and plagues were often attributed to divine punishment; and appeasement of the gods through rituals was believed to alleviate such events. Miasma was perceived to be the root cause of many diseases, whether caused by famine, wars, or plague. The concept of contagion was formulated, resulting in practices of quarantine and improved sanitation. The Romans established systems of public hygiene indicating there was an understanding that this was of importance to public health. This can be seen in their practices of burying the dead outside the city walls, their large supplies of water available through aqueducts, public bathing areas and public sewage systems. They also began draining swamps in close proximity to cities.One of the first prominent doctors in Rome was Galen. He became an expert on the human anatomy by dissecting animals, including monkeys, in Greece. Due to his prominence and expertise in ancient Rome, Galen became Emperor Marcus Aurelius' personal physician.
In 46 BC, Julius Caesar granted Roman citizenship to physicians when the Roman army had a need for trained surgeons. The Romans conquered the city of Alexandria in 30 BC, which was an important center for learning; its Great Library held countless volumes of ancient Greek medical information. The Romans adopted many of the practices and procedures they found in the Great Library. In 10 AD Augustus gave tax immunity to physicians practicing in Rome, as well as excluding them from public duties. These incentives caused uneducated and unqualified physicians to flood to Rome, causing tax exemption to only be offered to a select number of public physicians per region.
Opposition to Greek medicine in Rome / Pre-Physicians
despised every aspect of Greek society the Romans decided to mimic including sculptures, literature and medicine. He regarded the welcome given in Rome to Greek medicine and physicians as a major threat. In Rome, before there were doctors, the paterfamilias was responsible for treating the sick. Cato the Elder himself examined those who lived near him, often prescribing cabbage as a treatment for many ailments ranging from constipation to deafness. He would issue precise instructions on how to prepare the cabbage for patients with specific ailments. He also used cabbage in liquid form. For example, a mixture of cabbage, water, and wine would be embedded in a deaf man's ear to allow his hearing to be restored. Cato would treat fractured or broken appendages with two ends of a cut reed that were bandaged around the injury.Contributors
Many Greek doctors came to Rome. Many of them strongly believed in achieving the right balance of the four humors and restoring the natural heat of patients. Around 200 BC many wealthy families in Rome had personal Greek physicians. By around 50 BC, it was more common than not to have a Greek physician. Physicians were also more inclined to study anthropology, biology and physiology because of the great impact that philosophy had on them. The popular belief was that philosophy created interest in medicine as opposed to medicine creating an interest in philosophy.Dioscorides
Pedanius Dioscorides, was a Greek botanist, pharmacologist and physician who practiced in Rome during the reign of Nero. Dioscorides studied botany and pharmacology in Tarsus. He became a well-known army surgeon. While traveling with the army, Dioscorides was able to experiment with the medical properties of many plants. Compared to his predecessors, his work was considered the largest and most thorough in regards to naming and writing about medicines, many of Dioscorides predecessors work was lost. Dioscorides wrote a 5-volume encyclopedia, De materia medica, which listed over 600 herbal cures, forming an influential and long-lasting pharmacopoeia. De materia medica was used extensively by doctors for the following 1500 years. Within his five books, Dioscorides mentions approximately 1,000 simple drugs. Also... contained in his books, Dioscorides refers to opium and mandragora as a sleeping potion that can be used as a natural surgical anesthetic.Galen
Galen of Pergamon was a prominent Greek physician, whose theories dominated Western medical science for well over a millennium. By the age of 20, he had served for four years in the local temple as a therapeutes of Asclepius. Although Galen studied the human body, dissection of human corpses was against Roman law, so instead he used pigs, apes, sheep, goats, and other animals. Through studying animal dissections, Galen applied his animal anatomy findings and developed a theory of human anatomy.Galen moved to Rome in 162. There he lectured, wrote extensively, and performed public demonstrations of his anatomical knowledge. He soon gained a reputation as an experienced physician, attracting to his practice a large number of patients. Among them was the consul Flavius Boethius, who introduced him to the imperial court, where he became a physician to Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Despite being a member of the court, Galen reputedly shunned Latin, preferring to speak and write in his native Greek. He treated Roman emperors Lucius Verus, Commodus, and Septimius Severus. In 166, Galen returned to Pergamon, but went back to Rome for good in 169.
Galen followed Hippocrates' theory of the four humours, believing that one's health depended on the balance between the four main fluids of the body. Food was believed to be the initial object that allowed the stabilization of these humours. By contrast, drugs, venesection, cautery and surgery were drastic and were to be used only when diet and regimen could no longer help. The survival and amendment of Hippocratic medicine is attributed to Galen, who coupled the four qualities of cold, heat, dry, and wet with the four main fluids of the body, would remain in health care for another millennia or so.
Galen wrote a short essay called "The Best Doctor Is Also A Philosopher", where he writes that a physician needs to be knowledgeable about not just the physical, but additionally logical and ethical philosophy. He writes that a physician "must be skilled at reasoning about the problems presented to him, must understand the nature and function of the body within the physician world, and must practice temperance and despise all money". The ideal physician treats both the poor and elite fairly and is a student of all that affects health. Galen thought that eleven years of study was an adequate amount of time to make a competent physician. He references Hippocrates throughout his writings, saying that Hippocratic literature is the basis for physicians' conduct and treatments. The writings of Galen survived longer than the writings of any other medical researchers of antiquity. Galen also wrote an astrological doctrine, De diebus decretorus, in which he describes the importance of astrology in prognosis and diagnosis. In On Semen'', Galen discusses his views on embryology in distinction to the earlier views articulated by Aristotle.