1. KURSK STATE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY
Department of Public Health
History of Medicine
Medicine in ancient Rome
KURSK-2015
FATIN NAZIHAH BINTI JASNI
GROUP 30
1ST YEAR 1ST SEMESTER
Madam Ryndina Vera Vasilivna
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2. CONTENT
NO. TOPIC PAGE
1 INTRODUCTION OF MEDICINE IN ANCIENT ROME 3
2 HOW AQUEDUCTS DEVELOP 4
3 STRUCTURE OF AQUEDUCTS 5
4 INTRODUCTION OF MEDICINAL HERBS IN ANCIENT ROME 6
5 MEDICINAL HERBS AND ITS BENEFIT 7
6 CLAUDIUS GALEN 8
7 MEDICAL INSTRUMENT 9-11
8 ASCLEPIEIONS IN ROMAN MEDICINE 12
9 ASCLEPIUS SYMBOL 13
10 STRUCTURE OF ASCLEPIEIONS 14
11 INSULA TIBERINA 15
12 CONCLUSION 16
13 REFERENCE 17
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3. THE INTRODUCTION
• The Romans 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.
• The Romans paid especial attention to the health of their soldiers as without these
soldiers, the Roman Empire could collapse
• Roman cities, villas and forts were built in what were considered healthy places.
The Romans knew not only where to build but also where not to build
• Ancient Roman medicine combined various techniques using different tools and
rituals.
• Romans believed in supernatural causes for many diseases and in some
supernatural cures .
• The Romans favored the prevention of diseases over the cures of them; unlike in
Greek Society where Public Health was a personal matter, Public Health was
encouraged by the Government at the time; they built bath houses and aqueducts
to pipe water to the cities. Many of the larger cities, such as Rome, boasted an
advanced sewage system, the likes of which would not be seen in the Western
world again until the late 17th and 18th centuries (see Cloaca Maxima).
• They also did not fully understand that germs were related to diseases 3
4. 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 money on a doctor, many Romans
spent money on keeping fit.
Hence their desire to improve the public health
system in the Roman.Clean water was very
important to the Romans.
Cities, towns and forts were built near springs.
However, as Roman cities and towns grew, they
needed to bring in water from further afield. As the
population grew, so did the need for clean water
Trying to shift large volumes of water underground in pipes
was not possible as lead pipes would be too weak and
bronze pipes would be too expensive. The Romans could
not make cast iron pipes as the techniques for doing this
were not known to them.
If water could not be brought via pipes, the Romans decided to
bring it overland in what were conduits. When the water got to the
city, it was fed off into smaller bronze or ceramic pipes. To get the
water to flow at an even (and slow) pace, conduits were built on a
slight slope. Valleys were crossed by using aqueducts. The
aqueducts that fed Rome carried an estimated 1000 million litres of
water a day
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6. MEDICAL HERBS
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 the household 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 the liver and to
apply the marrow to those that are painful or
swollen."
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7. MEDICAL HERBS
Sage: Although it had
little medicinal value,
they had great religious
value.
Elecampane: Used to
help with digestion
Fennel: It was thought
to have calming
properties
Fenugreek: Used in the
treatment of
pneumonia
Garlic: Beneficial for
health, particuarly of
the heart
Mustard seeds :good
for stomach aches
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8. • 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 own practices in Rome itself. After
200 BC, more Greek doctors came to Rome but their success at the expense
of Romans did generate some mistrust.
CLAUDIUS GALEN
• Galen was a famous doctor who encouraged his students to
dissect animal corpses to find out more about the human
body
• Galen discovered, among other things, that blood ran
through the arteries and veins in your body and that the
human skeleton had a specific form, which greatly
influenced doctors from the Christian and Arabic religions
because the theory "fitted in" with their belief that only God
could create such a complex structure.
• Many of Galen's theories were wrong however, such as his
ideas on the human anatomy, particuarly the structure of
the jaw and the shape of the human bone structure
(anatomy); because he was not able to dissect human
subjects, Galen believed that the bone structure of an ape
would be similar to ours.
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9. MEDICAL INSTRUMENT
• Roman surgeons carried a tool kit which contained forceps, scalpels,
catheters and arrow extractors.
• The tools had various uses and were boiled in hot water before
each use.
• In surgery, surgeons used painkillers such as opium and
scopolamine for treatments and acetum (the acid in vinegar) was
used to wash wounds.
• Romans didn't believe in the supernatural as much as the Greeks;
the Greeks used temples and religious belief to try and cure
someone, yet the Romans developed specific hospitals which
enabled the patients to be fully rested and relaxed so they could
completely recover. By staying in the hospitals, the doctors (which
now had different levels of qualification) were able to observe the
illness rather than rely on the supernatural to cure him/her.
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10. SCAPELS
• These instruments were strictly used to make incisions, whether it
be deep or long cuts.
• Scalpels were mostly made from bronze or steel
BONE HOOKS
•These instruments were long and thin and were mostly used for maneuvering tissue
• The Greeks also used this tool. The hooks came in two varieties: sharp and blunt.
•Sharp hooks were used to remove tissue from wounds and blunt hooks were used for
dissections.
BONE DRILLS
• Picture a wine cork screw, this is what a bone drill looked like.
• Bone drills were used to remove diseased bone tissue from the skull or to
remove any foreign object(s).
• Similar tools had been used by Prehistoric Man to remove evil spirits
VAGINA SPECULUM
• This is one of the rarest surviving Roman medical instruments.
• These tools were large and were often recommended for diagnosing vaginal
and uterine disorders
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11. SPATULA
• This instrument was used to mix and apply various ointments to patients.
PROBE
• : This instrument was used to carefully examine a wound before treatment
SURGICAL SAW
• This instrument was used to cut through bones in amputations and
surgeries.
FORCEPS
• Used as modern pincers are used today. Its main purpose was to remove
splinters and other small unwanted fragments in the tissue
CATHETER
• Used to cause urination. It would was likely far more uncomfortable than
modern catheters due to the fact that Roman catheters were made of some
sort of metal such as bronze. 11
12. Asclepieions in Roman Medicine
• What means asclepieions?
When the Roman Army conquered Greece
they adopted many of their medicinal beliefs
and ideas. The cult of Asclepios had spread
across much of Greece and numerous
temples (asclepieions) had been built in his
name. Asclepieions (or Asklepieions) were
places of healing. They contained baths,
gardens and other facilities designed to
improve people's health. People who were
being treated in the Asclepieions would
sleep in front of a statue of the Greek God in
the hope that he would heal them in their
sleep. Though several accounts have been
recovered, detailing the progress in health
made by people admitted to the
Asclepieions, it is unlikely that they were
based on fact; they may simply have been
used as propaganda.
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15. INSULA TIBERINA
• Insula Tiberina was a temple to the
god of healing Aesculapius, or the
Greek god Asklepios, and a hospital.
• It was built on a small isle in the
Tiber River and has been a center of
medicine well into the middle ages.
• It was built when a plague fell upon
Rome in 295BC. Normal treatments,
herbs and appeals to their Gods did
not work against it.
• In desperation the Romans built
the temple, dedicated to the Greek
god of healing, Asklepios
• the plague soon went away.
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16. CONCLUSION
They could afford good medical equipment and better remedies so
they didn’t bother to look for the cause they just wanted to know how
to treat it. But there was a lot of war happening in the roman times so
they didn’t have chance to take time out to look for explanations. Also
they needed better equipment and remedies as lots of people were
being injured. Herbs were commonly used and they encouraged
people to exercise regularly and eat a better diet. Rome was a big step
forward in cleanliness; public health facilities improved massively by
introducing aqueducts that carried clean, fresh water, sewage systems
taking away waste, public toilets and bodies were buried away from
towns. Even though some people still prayed to Gods the natural world
was more important to the Romans. Besides, the Romans absorbed
many of the Greek ideas on medicine.
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