Roman Medicine: 6 Ways People Stayed Healthy In Ancient Rome

"Baths, wine and sex corrupt our bodies, but baths, wine and sex make life worth living". This inscription – from the tomb of a Roman merchant of Ephesus, Tiberius Claudius Secundus – indicates that, like us, the Romans sought a sensible balance between an enjoyable existence and a healthy one.

Dr Nick Summerton shares six tips from ancient Rome for living a healthy life. They're known for their roads, military strategy and inventing the book – but what advice might our Roman forebears issue on the subject of staying healthy? Dr Nick Summerton shares six Roman medicine practices.

The second-century physician Galen emphasised that it was a person's responsibility to take care of their bodies, writing that people must "take it upon [them]selves to preserve health" by following a particular lifestyle (or `hygiene`)......Continue Reading...

By: Nick Summerton

Source: Roman Medicine: 6 Ways People Stayed Healthy In Ancient Rome | HistoryExtra

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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. Greek symbols and gods greatly influenced ancient Roman medicine. The caduceus, a staff wrapped with two snakes, was originally associated with Hermes, the Greek god of commerce.

This symbol later became associated with the Roman god Mercury. Later, in the 7th century, the caduceus became associated with health and medicine due to its association with the Azoth, the alchemical "universal solvent". Cato the Elder 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 (head of the family) 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.