Ancient Roman Times: Medical and Surgical Tools By: Luis Hernandez

Aesculapius: God of Medicine His symbol was a snake. Son of Apollo. Most Roman ships were sent to grab the god an when they were sailing across the Nile river, a snake boarded the ship. It was believed that the snake represented Aesculapius and when the Romans left back to Rome they were heading across the Tiber and the snake got off the ship and went to the Tiber island. After this event, the island was considered as a medical center because of the way the island was positioned outside the city like a quarantine. The island itself was given a ship in remembrance of the island and the event that occurred.

Greatest Roman Doctor: Galen The greatest doctor of Rome was considered Galen, who was actually a Greek, who worked in amphitheaters looking after the gladiators. Before Galen, diseases were regarded as a divine punishment. He was brought into Rome to work at the Colosseum and made himself a great person that later was brought on to be a medic to Marcus’s Aurelius’s son Commodus. He influenced medicine for almost 1500 years after his death because of his belief in extensive writing and clinical observation. His belief for the study of medicine as comprehending God’s work brought good works for him to put his work in a good light with the Christians of the Middle Ages.

Roman Surgery Roman Surgery was very fascinating. They had a set of 40 surgical instruments that were found in Pompeii. Many of the instruments were double-ended in order for the surgeon to make it easier and faster to switch to another. Time was a big issue when coming into surgery due to the fact of having weak anesthetics and drugs so the patient was likely to bleed out very quickly. The instruments that were used in Roman times are very similar to the tools being used for today’s surgeons. Some surgical operations would go as far as to remove bits of the skull and replacing them with metal plates or modify the shape of your eyelids for cosmetic purposes.

Citations http://www.mariamilani.com/ancient_rome/Ancient_Roman_Medicine.htm http://www.crystalinks.com/romemedicine.html http://www.ancient.eu/Roman_Medicine/