Roman
Medicine
400 BC to AD
500
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Growth of the Roman Empire
Gaul
Gaul
Spain
Spain
Spain
.
Rome
Rome
Key
Key
Key
Macedonia
Macedonia
Macedonia
(Greece)
(Greece)
(Greece)
Roman
RomanEmpire
Empirec.250BC
c.250BC
c.
250 BC
Roman
Empire
c.250BC
RomanEmpire
Empirec.c.44BC
44BC
44
BC
Roman
..
Syria
Syria
Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria
Egypt
Egypt
Egypt
Roman
AD 14
RomanEmpire
Empirec.c.AD14
Roman Empire c. AD 138
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Growth of the Roman Empire
Spain
.
Rome
Macedonia
(Greece)
Key
Roman Empire c. 250 BC
.
Alexandria
Egypt
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Growth of the Roman Empire
Gaul
Spain
.
Rome
Macedonia
(Greece)
Key
Roman Empire c. 250 BC
Roman Empire c. 44 BC
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.
Syria
Alexandria
Egypt
© Boardworks Ltd 2004
Growth of the Roman Empire
Gaul
Spain
.
Rome
Macedonia
(Greece)
Key
Roman Empire c. 250 BC
Roman Empire c. 44 BC
.
Syria
Alexandria
Egypt
Roman Empire c. AD 14
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Growth of the Roman Empire
Gaul
Spain
.
Rome
Macedonia
(Greece)
Key
Roman Empire c. 250 BC
Roman Empire c. 44 BC
.
Syria
Alexandria
Egypt
Roman Empire c. AD 14
Roman Empire c. AD 138
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The Greek Empire, once so strong, began to decline in
the 3rd century BC. At the same time the Roman Empire
was beginning to develop around the Mediterranean Sea
and northwards into Gaul (modern-day France). By the
2nd century AD Rome controlled much of western
Europe, including England and parts of Wales.
To control this huge empire, Rome used a vast, highly
trained army. The Romans recognized that to keep this
army effective, able to take over new lands and defend
existing territory, its soldiers needed to be well cared for.
To this end, each Roman fort had a bath house, toilets,
fresh water supplies and a hospital. It was this emphasis
on hygiene, together with exercise and diet, which helped
keep their soldiers fit.
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Differences between Greek and Roman medical ideas
In conquering much of the
old Greek Empire the
Romans also acquired
Greek beliefs, knowledge
and theories about
medicine and health.
The organization and make-up
of the two empires, however,
was very different, and the way
they dealt with medicine
reflected this.
The Greek Empire was
made up of a number of
small city states, each
independent and selfgoverned. The Roman
Empire was controlled
from Rome by one
emperor, with a vast army
stationed in every part.
Because the Roman Empire was
controlled centrally, ideas spread
right across Europe very quickly,
whereas the Greek states had
limited contact with each other.
Moreover, Greek doctors loved
theorizing about medicine whilst
their Roman counterparts looked
for practical solutions.
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Roman public health
‘Public health’ means the measures put in place by a
government to look after the health of its people.
Today we all expect to have a toilet and a bath in our homes,
to have a ready supply of running water and to have sewage
taken away. These services are part of public health.
The Romans were the first to have a system of public health
and actively promote hygiene for everyone.
To some extent, this was a necessity, due to the number of
people living in their towns. Cities like Rome were very
densely populated and without public health systems would
have been revolting and dangerous places to live.
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How did the Romans improve public health?
The Romans thought carefully about where to build
towns or villas: “…place it at the foot of a wooded hill
where it is exposed to health-giving winds…” wrote
Marcus Varro.
They built huge aqueducts, like the Pont du Gard in
France, to carry fresh water to public buildings, forts
and many private homes.
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They built public bathhouses which charged minimal
entrance fees. Most villas had their own bathhouse, like
this one at Bignor in Sussex.
Hot bath
Frigidarium
(cold plunge
bath)
Heated
changing
room
Tepidarium
(Warm room)
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Remains of the Roman baths at Bath
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The Romans recognized the
dangers to health of sewage in
crowded cities and built communal
public toilets in all towns.
Efficient drainage systems
carried away sewage and waste
water from the public baths.
The Romans also dealt with
refuse collection and fire
prevention and did not allow the
dead to be buried in the town.
What would have been the effects of these public
health systems?
Do these measures mean that the Romans knew
about the causes of disease?
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Roman doctors
Anyone could practise as a doctor without training or any
regulation.
Like the Greeks, however, many doctors were keen to find
out more and trained by working for experienced doctors
and/or by reading the Hippocratic Collection of books.
Others travelled to Alexandria, which had become the
capital of the medical world. Here, libraries built by the
Greeks contained medical books and writings from Greece,
China, Egypt and India. Doctors flocked to Alexandria to
share ideas and to gain new medical knowledge. It was also
the only place where they were allowed to dissect a human
body, which was vital to any student wanting to learn about
anatomy (the different parts of the body) and physiology (how
the body worked). Religion banned dissection elsewhere.
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Galen
Rome’s most
famous doctor,
who benefited
from visiting
Alexandria, was
Galen.
CV
Name:
Galen
Born:
AD 129 in Greece
Occupation:
Doctor
Education:
Medical student from age 16.
Studied at the medical
school in Alexandria.
Career:
Surgeon at gladiators’
school; Doctor to the Roman
Emperor from AD 162;
Teacher of doctors.
Copy Galen’s CV into your exercise book.
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Galen’s four methods
Observation Galen
encouraged doctors to use
Hippocrates’s ideas of
observing patients and
recording their symptoms.
Their findings, with those of
other doctors, could then be
used to make a reliable
diagnosis.
Dissection Galen dissected
human bodies in Alexandria but in
Rome he was only allowed to
dissect animals. He told doctors
to dissect humans if possible as
he proved animals’ anatomy is
different. He believed, however,
that apes were the same as
humans, which caused him to
make some mistakes.
The Four Humours Galen followed
Hippocrates’s theory, but also had his
own Theory of Opposites. He believed
that an imbalance in humours should
be treated with an opposite, e.g. a cold
should be treated with hot peppers.
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Writing Galen wrote
over 60 medical
books. His ideas and
methods were used
for more than 1,500
years.
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Why was Galen so important?
He was one of the first doctors to rely solely on his
observations of his patients’ symptoms.
His insistence on dissection led to improved knowledge
of anatomy. He discovered that the brain, not the heart,
controlled speech, and that veins and arteries carried
blood around the body.
His books, which combined knowledge from Greece,
Alexandria and Rome, were used by doctors for
hundreds of years to come. While it was later proved
that Galen was wrong in many things, he gave doctors a
framework to work to, especially the idea of observation.
Galen claimed that the parts of the human body fitted
together so well that it must have been designed like
that. Later, the medieval church accepted Galen’s ideas
because they fitted in with the idea of God’s creation.
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The problem with Galen
The main reason that Galen is so important
in the history of medicine, however, is that
his methods and ideas were followed for
some 1,500 years. Throughout this time
Galen’s theories remained unquestioned.
Why was doctors’ acceptance of Galen’s ideas
damaging to the progress of medicine?
What were Galen’s four methods?
Observation, Dissection, the Four Humours and
Writing.
Using these as headings, write one or two
sentences to explain each one.
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Religious beliefs
Though many doctors took up Galen’s ideas and followed
his methods, ordinary people still fell back on the gods for
help with cures. Often this was their first step in treating
disease.
They relied heavily on Salus, the Roman
goddess of health, but when this failed they
would turn to the Greek god, Asclepius.
Using these topics: public health, Galen, and religious
beliefs, discuss the advances made in medicine and
health during the Roman era.
Imagine you are a British slave in a Roman villa just
after the Roman invasion of Britain. Compare the
Roman lifestyle, health, hygiene and medical care with
what you are used to.
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