By Leah Dalton and A.J Davis

This article is about the science of Ancient Rome’s medicine and the history behind how they made their medicine, and why it was important to the Romans. It is also about how they treated their patients during the Ancient Roman time, what their tools were, common sources of disease and what can separate the romans from the Greeks.

Why was medicine so important to the Romans?

It was important because lots of Roman people were either slaves or gladiators so it was important for romans to keep their slaves heathy and fit so they could work better. For the roman emperor medicine was important to keep their gladiators heathy and fit so they could continue to keep the games in the coll.

Ancient Roman Medicine

Ancient roman’s had a huge input to their medicine and their own heath, even though their input was mainly concerned with public heath schemes. The romans were great believers in a heathy mind equaling a heathy body. They believed that if

you kept fit that it would help you fight off diseases.

Common Diseases

The most common source of diseases is the romans bad hygiene. Sources of bad hygiene came from sharing a public bath. The romans believed that illness had a natural cause and that bad heath could be caused bad drinking water and sewage.

What were the medicines made of?

Some gladiators eat or drank some plant ashes because when consumed they said that it fortified the body after a physical exercise and to promote better bone healing. Some medicine in ancient Rome was made of different items.

What were they worrying about?

The Mystery of the Roman Medicine

The roman people were scared that the illness would come to them which means that the romans did not really care for a cure, they mostly cared about prevention. Later on they started seeing wounds not only on other ordinary people but, on their army which, was their protection. That’s when the scientists and doctors started to worry about curing. It came up to understanding what causes the disease and then finding a cure was one of the many things that separates the Romans from the Greeks.

Did the Romans make tools, painkillers, and hospitals?

You might ask this question yourself. The answer is yes to this question. Surgeons had these tools and carried them around the battlefield. This tool kit contained arrow extractors, catheters, scalpels and forceps. Their painkillers would be taken before a surgery but, more complicated procedures they would have anesthetics. The romans had hospitals instead of the Greeks.

The Romans improved in many other things than the Greeks had tried to improve but, in medicine the Romans came out on top.

We know many things that the romans had done to improve their way of life like making concrete but, most people don`t realize their other contributions. Creating better ways in medicine and surgery was one of those many things people now a days don`t remember and now, you won`t forget.

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Nordqvist, Christian. “The History of Medicine.”- Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, 9 Aug. 2012. Web. 31 Oct. 20

“Roman Medicine,”- Ancient Rome for Kids! Karen Carr, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2014. http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/science

Surgery – also known as hand work on the human bodySurgeon- is a special kind of doctor who performs the surgeryForceps -.a handheld object that can pick up other objects Scalpel- extremely sharp blade used for cutting flesh or other things.Catheter- a thin tube extruded from medical grade materials serving a broad way of function Arrow Extractors- is a device that surgeons use to extract the arrow form the wound