Going to the doctor’s office is never
something one looks forward to.
For most, me included, it gets the heart
rate and stress levels up to step into a building that’s full of ‘sick people’.
Sitting around in a waiting room with a group
of scared, nervous, fidgety folks, is enough to drive you mad, and the sight of
a white coat and stethoscope makes one want to run screaming from the building.
It was probably the same for our ancient
Greek and Roman ancestors. Most civilians would have been loath to visit with a
physician. It might not have been someone you wanted around, in case they
looked at you and thought your colour was a little off.
‘Oh dear. That cough doesn’t sound good, my
dear Septimius!’
Not so for the soldiers in the field.
I’m not an expert in ancient medical
history, but I do know that the level of injury on an ancient battlefield would
have been staggering. The sight or sound of your unit’s medicus would have been something sent from the gods themselves.
Imagine a clash of armies – thousands of
men wielding swords, spears and daggers at close quarters. Then lob some
volleys of arrows into the chaos. Perhaps a charge of heavy cavalry? How about
heavy artillery bolts or boulders slamming into massed ranks of men?
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| Forceps |
It would have been one big, bloody, savage
mess.
Apart from the usual cuts, slashes, and
puncture wounds, the warriors would have suffered shattered bones, fractured
skulls, lost limbs, severed arteries, sword, spear and arrow shafts that pushed
through armour on into organs.
If you weren’t dead right away, you most
likely would have been a short time later.
This is where the ancient field medic could
have made the difference for an army. He would have been going through numerous
patients in a short period of time. He would have had to decide who was a lost
cause, who could no longer fight, and who could be patched up before being sent
back out onto the field of slaughter.
The medicus
of a Roman legion was an unsung hero whose skill was a product of accumulated
centuries of knowledge, study, and experience.
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| Asklepios and Igeia |
Many of the physicians in the Roman Empire
were Greek, and that’s because Greece was where western medicine was born.
Indeed, the ancient Greeks had patron gods of health and healing in the form of
Asklepios, Igeia, and sometimes Apollo.
The greatest medical school of the ancient
world was in fact on the Aegean island of Cos, where students came from all
over the Mediterranean world to learn at the great Asklepion. Hippocrates
himself, the 5th century B.C. ‘father of medicine’, was from Cos and
said to be a descendant of the god Asklepios himself.
When it comes to Roman medicine, much of it
is owed to what discoveries and theories the Greeks had developed before, but
with a definite Roman twist.
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| Hippocrates |
The fusion of Greek and Roman medicine in
the Empire consisted of two parts: the scientific, and the religious/magical.
The more scientific thinking behind ancient
medical practices is a legacy owed to the Greeks, who separated scientific
learning from religion. The religious aspects of medicine in the Roman Empire were
a Roman introduction.
Because of this fusion of ideas and
beliefs, you could sometimes end up with an odd assortment of treatments being
prescribed.
‘To alleviate your hypertension over your
new business venture, you should take three drops of this tincture before you
sleep. You should also sacrifice a white goat to Janus as soon as possible.’
Many Roman deities had some form of healing
power so it depended on one’s patron gods, and the nature of the problem, as to
which god would receive prayers or votive offerings over another. Amulets and
other magical incantations would have been employed as well.
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| Ancient surgical instruments |
Romans had a god for everything, and
soldiers were especially superstitious.
Greek medical thought rejected the idea of
divine intervention, opting more for practicallity in the treatment of wounds,
and injuries; cleaning and bandaging wounds would have been more logical than
putting another talisman about the neck.
All the gods were to be honoured, but in
the Greek physician’s mind they had much better things to look after than the
stab wound a man received in a Suburan tavern brawl.
For the battlefield medicus, things must have been much simpler than for the physician
who was trying to diagnose mysterious ailments. They were faced mostly with
physical wounds and employed all manner of surgical instruments such as probes,
hooks, forceps, needles and scalpels.
Removing a barbed arrowhead from a
warrior’s thigh must have required a little digging.
Of course, in the Roman world, there was no
anaesthetic, so successful surgeons would have had to have been not only
dexterous and accurate, but also very fast and strong. Luckily, sedatives such
as opium and henbane would have helped.
When it came to the treatment of wounds, a
medicus would have used wine, vinegar, pitch, and turpentine as antiseptics.
However, infection and gangrene would have meant amputation. The latter was
probably terrifyingly frequent for soldiers, many of whom would end up begging
on the streets of Rome.
It is interesting to note that medicine was
one of the few professions that were open to women in the Roman Empire. Female
doctors, or medicae, would also have
been mainly of Greek origin, and either working with male doctors, or as
midwives specializing in childbirth and women’s diseases and disorders. When it
came to the army however, most doctors would have been male.
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| Shears |
Army surgeons played a key role in
spreading and improving Roman medical practice, especially in the treatment of
wounds and other injuries. They also helped to gather new treatments from all
over the Empire, and disseminated medical knowledge wherever the Legions
marched. Many of the herbs and drugs that were used in the Empire were acquired
by medics who were on campaign in foreign lands.
Early on, physicians did not enjoy high
status. There was no standardized training and many were Greek slaves or
freedmen. This did begin to improve
however when in 46 B.C. Julius Caesar granted citizenship to all those doctors
who were working in the city of Rome.
This last point really hits home when it
has become common knowledge that foreign doctors who come to our own countries
today find themselves driving taxis or buses because they are not allowed to
practice.
Modern governments, take your cue from
Caesar!
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| Galen of Pergamon |
One of the most famous physicians of the
Roman Empire is Galen of Pergamon (A.D. 129-c.199). Galen was a Greek physician
and writer who was educated at the sanctuary of Asklepios at Pergamon in Asia
Minor.
After working in various cities around the
Empire, Galen returned to his home town to become the doctor at the local ludus, or gladiatorial school. He grew
tired of that work and moved to Rome in A.D. 162 where he gained a reputation
among the elite. He subsequently became the personal physician of the Emperors
Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, and for a short time, Septimius Severus.
Galen’s work and writings provided the
basis of medical teaching and practice on into the seventeenth century. No
doubt many an army medicus referred
to Galen’s work at one point or another.
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| Ancient surgical instruments |
I’ve but barely scratched the vast surface
of this topic.
For some, there is this assumption that
ancient medicine was somehow false, crude and barbaric. The truth is that
modern western medicine owes much to the Greeks and Romans, civilian and
military, who travelled the Empire caring for their troops and gathering what
knowledge and knowhow they could.
The fusion of science, religious practice,
and magic provides for a fascinating mix. In truth, medical practices in
medieval Europe might have been more barbaric that their ancient predecessors.
Thank you for reading, and may Asklepios,
Igeia and Apollo grant you good health!
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| 12th century medieval fresco of Galen and Hippocrates talking |
