A Dummies Guide to Medicine in the Roman Empire
When was Ancient Rome?
Historians believe Rome was founded in 753BC. It grew from being a small kingdom into a large Republic. From the first century BC until the fifth century AD, Rome had a large empire – and its the spread of Roman ideas around this empire that we’re interested in!
How was Ancient Rome organised?
For the purposes of this post, we’ll look at the Empire. Unlike the Greek civilisation the Romans were quite rigid in their organisation. At the top of the pile was the Emperor and beneath him the senate. The members of the senate were elected by citizens of Rome. Around the Empire control would be handed to a governor. He often had a large military force at his disposal to ensure law and order. In Briton some areas retained their old rulers, who acted as tenant kings and governed locally under Roman supervision. In areas where there had been lots of opposition, Roman rule was direct and enforced by the Roman army.
What was Roman Culture like then?
The Romans were pragmatic and borrowed ideas from many of the areas that they conquered or controlled. This meant that a lot of Greek ideas were widely accepted by Romans, as were religions and ideas from elsewhere in the empire. The Romans also enjoyed gladiatorial games and chariot racing. In general though the Romans weren’t as big a set of ‘thinkers’ as the Greeks, they tended to be more focussed on the practical side of things and ‘got on with it.’
How did this influence medicine?
On a simple level the Empire results in the spread of ideas and practices from as far apart as the North of England to Palestine, Egypt and into Persia. Roman values also meant that they took their own way of life with them: this meant that their liking for baths, for example, spread quite quickly. The Gladiatorial games gave surgeons loads of opportunities to look at different kinds of wounds and the importance of the army meant that there were lots of hospitals, surgeons and roads – all of which help to improve health.
Did the Romans create anything new then, or was it just a lot of borrowed ideas?
They certainly borrowed a lot – supernatural ideas continued, for example – but they also created a lot as well. The two ‘big’ things that this period is best known for are a person and an idea. The person was Galen, the idea: Public Health.
Whats Galen important for then?
Galen wrote LOADS. He came up with lots of new ideas about how the body worked and developed the ideas of people like Hippocrates. His real claim to fame is that his ideas were accepted for so long – all the way into the Renaissance! He wasn’t always right – Vesalius later corrects some of his more glaring errors – but he provided fairly sound advise on all types of illness / surgical need and, as doctor to the Emperor, had the clout to get his message heard!
Whats important about Public Health?
Nowadays we’re reminded that ‘coughs and sneezes spread diseases.’ They do… but infected water does a pretty nasty job of spreading disease too! The Romans brought clean water into towns and cities using Aqueducts and took dirty water away using Sewers. They also invested in public toilets and bathhouses. Whilst they didn’t know it, in doing so they were limiting the number of germs that could be spread through the water supply. Result? Healthier towns and cities – though don’t for a second think that this means that all Roman towns were clean and disease free as that wasnt the case!
