Transcript Roman Medicine

Roman Medicine
A summary
Aims of this revision session
By the end of this revision session you will
• Describe the main features of Roman
medicine
• Describe the work of Claudius Galen and
evaluate his importance to the
development of medicine
• Evaluate the progress made from Greek to
Roman times
The Roman World
• The Romans took over most
of the Greek world
• Had a love-hate relationship
with all things Greek
• The Romans saw the Greeks
as being dreamers whilst they
were do-ers
• The first to develop in depth
public health facilities
Greek doctors in Rome
• The Romans accepted that
the Greeks had the best
doctors in the world and
transported many of them to
Rome
• Developed many ideas which
had been used in ancient
Greece
• Kept open Alexandria as a
centre of medial expertise
Practical medicine in Rome
• Most Roman households had
a copy of the works of
Hippocrates
• The father would usually
consult this book to treat
members of the family and
their servants
• Discordes wrote “The
Herbarium” which outlined the
uses of many herbs in
medicine
Supernatural treatments
• Many poor Romans believed
in supernatural explanations of
disease – especially the
worship of Asklepios
• Sacrifices to the gods were
common to promote good
health
• Popular but the reliance on
supernatural explanations of
disease was decreasing
Claudius Galen (1)
• Born in Turkey – studied at
Alexandria
• Most influential figure in
medicine for the next 1000
years
• Developed the ideas of
Hippocrates – particularly the
theory of the four humors
• Believed in the theory of
opposites – usually worked
Claudius Galen (2)
• Developed an interest in
anatomy – but got lots of
details wrong as he only
officially dissected pigs
• His work was important but
held back medicine for 1000
years – people thought that
he could do not wrong
• Believed in god so his ideas
were acceptable to
Christians and Muslims
Roman public health (1)
• First to realise the connection
between dirty water and poor
health
• Had Aqueducts and sewers
• Realised that you had to build
towns and settlements away
from swamps and near rivers
• Army had clean hospitals with
good ventilation
Roman public health (2)
• Most Roman towns had
public baths
• These serves both public
health and social
purposes
• They also had public
lavatories
• These PH ideas benefited
the people who lived in the
empire as well as Rome