Ancient Roman Flashcards
What did the Ancient Romans notice that made people become ill? (Natural)
-They noticed that bad smells, unclean drinking water, sewage, swamps and dirt made people become ill.
What did the Ancient Romans build in order to remove waste?
-Public baths, toilets and sewers.
Why did ideas about public health spread so much and quickly in the Ancient Roman era?
-Ideas about public health spread around their huge empire.
How many medical books did Claudius Galen write?
-He wrote over 60 medical books.
Who came up with the theory of opposites based on Hippocrates’ Four Humours?
-Galen.
What did Galen do?
- He was a great physician. Like Hippocrates, he believed that illness was caused by imbalances of the four humours. Just as Hippocrates did, he told doctors to observe patients carefully and record symptoms.
- He developed the idea of opposite humours for counter-balancing the body’s humours.
- He discovered that the brain, not the heart, controls the speech.
- He found that arteries, as well as veins, carry blood through the body. Proved the animals anatomy is different from humans.
What were the limitations of Galen’s work?
- Galen made mistakes because he had to use only animals.
- He said there were holes in the septum of the heart which would let blood pass from right to the left side.
- He believed that the blood was consumed, rather than circulated.
What were beliefs about causes of diseases and the treatments of diseases in the Ancient Roman era?
- Romans were not as interested as the Greeks in developing theories about the causes of disease.
- Doctors recommended more exercise, changes in diet or prescribed herbal medicines as opposites.
- Doctors were too expensive for most people.
- The head of the family was expected to look after their household.
- They would use herbal remedies and common sense methods.
What was surgery like in the Ancient Roman era?
- The most common surgical treatment was bleeding.
- Internal operations were still rare because they were too risky.
- There were amputations; trephining was used to relieve pain in the head.
