This well-researched video attempts to dive into the ancient Roman thought process of healing and medicine. By analyzing four different cases, each of different time periods, complexities, and social classes, we hope to present a vivid image of how the Romans approached healing. From low level dentists to personal physicians of emperors, and from superstitious treatments to the most scientific, the Romans did all they could to heal the ones they loved... Regardless of their efforts, however, the countless illnesses and their treatments always played a huge role in shaping the social, economic, and political spheres of ancient Rome!
Primary sources:
Aret. CD 2. 5. VII.
Cass. Dio. 53. 30. 1. - 53. 30. 3., 54. 3. ff.
Celsus, De Medicina 4. 15. 3, 5. 28. 127 - 5. 28. 128, 7. 12. 369 - 7. 12. 373.
Plin. Nat. 25. 16, 28. 49, 29. 2, 29. 6. - 29. 8.
Suet. Aug. 81. 1.
Secondary sources:
A Display of Surgical Instruments from Antiquity, Historical Collections at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, 2007.
https://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/romansurgical/
Al Hamdani, Muwaffak, and Marian Wenzel. “The Worm in the Tooth.” Folklore, 77, First Edition (1966): 60–64. Accessed March 15, 2024, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1258921.
Baker, R. "Medical Ethics, History Of." Third Edition. Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics (Second Edition), (2012): 61-69.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780123739322001526?via%3Dihub
Becker, M. J. “Dentistry in Ancient Rome: Direct Evidence for Extractions at the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Roman Forum.” International Journal of Anthropology, (2014) 29(4), 209-226.
https://digitalcommons.wcupa.edu/anthrosoc_facpub/29/
Calder Loth. ”The Corinthian of the Temple of Castor and Pollux: An Order for Special Occasions.” classicist.org. Institute for Classical Architecture and Art, 14 January 2014.
https://www.classicist.org/articles/the-corinthian-of-the-temple-of-castor-and-pollux-an-order-for-special-occasions/
Gerabek WE. “The tooth-worm: historical aspects of a popular medical belief.” Clinical Oral Investigations, (1999): 3(1):1-6. Gregory, Andrew D. “Magic, Curses, and Healing.” In A Companion to Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Greece and Rome, First Edition. 418-432 Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2016.
Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, Second Edition. Harry, Peck, (New York, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1898, s.v. ”medicina”.
Jackson, Ralph. “Urban healers in the Roman empire.”Transactions of the Medical Society of London.” 125:97-116. 2008-2009.
Jocks, Ianto Thorvald. “Scribonius Largus’ Compounding of Drugs (Compositiones Medicamentorum): Introduction, Translation, and Medico-Historical Comments. Thesis, Glasgow Theses Service, 2014. 23-24.
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