Public Health during the Roman Empire

Question 1

What facilities did the Romans have in place during their reign?

Answer 1

1. Aqueducts
2. Water pipes and public fountains
3. Public toilets
4. Sewers
5. Public baths

Question 2

What did the aqueducts do?

Answer 2

• Carried water from springs to towns and cities

- Ensured the water was safe to drink and was not dirty

Question 3

What did the water pipes and public fountains do?

Answer 3

• Provided water for drinking and washing
• However, supplies to houses were cut off during droughts to save water
• Water pipes were made of lead- lead poisoning

Question 4

What did the public toilets do?

Answer 4

• Seated around 20 people in one room
• Often flushed by water from public baths and drained into sewers
• Sponges on sticks were provided instead of toilet paper

Question 5

What did the sewers do?

Answer 5

Carried waste away from houses, latrines and baths to nearby rivers
- However when there wasn’t enough rain, waste built up, spreading disease instead of stopping it.

Question 6

Why did the Romans have a good system of public health?

Answer 6

1. They recognised the link between dirt and the spread of disease
2. The government realised that a healthy population would prevent epidemics so they funded facilities for the cities

Question 7

Why was public health considered essential in the Roman times?

Answer 7

1. They had a very dense population so they had to ensure everyone was clean and healthy to prevent epidemics.
2. They needed a healthy, clean army for war so they provided a good and effective public health system.

Question 8

What happened when a Roman would visit the baths?

Answer 8

1. They went to the yard to exercise.
2. They would then undress.
3. They would then have all their hair plucked from their bodies.
4. They would move onto the steam room.
5. A slave would then oil them and scrape off dirt and sweat with a strigil.
6. They would then go to the hot water pots
7. Then the plunge pool/cold pool
8. They would then go to a warm room and get dressed

Question 9

What are the advantages of the public baths?

Answer 9

+ The baths were a pleasant place to visit
+ They were cheap so encourage whole population to keep clean
+ This would lead to better public health

Question 10

What was the disadvantage of the public baths?

Answer 10

• They only changed the water once a week

Question 11

Why did public health decline after the Romans left England?

Answer 11

• The government did not care for their people so the public baths ad other facilities fell into disrepair
• The Church were very influential and did not like the idea of mixed bathing so they banned it.