Roman Medicine Flashcards
The Romans believed in Gods, how did this affect their views towards medicine?
They viewed diseases as punishments or curses from the gods, they built temples to ask their gods to cure them.
How did bad air affect the Romans?
Romans believed they caused diseases so built settlements away from swamps- people believed this till the Renaissance.
Where did the Romans get their idea from medicine from?
The Greeks e.g Hippocrates and the idea of the 4 humours
What 5 things did the Romans create to improve public health?
.Public toilets .Water pipes .Public fountains .public baths .Aqueducts
Who was Galen?
Doctor to the Roman emperor,
Followed Hippocrates work such as clinical observation and the 4 humours, Dissected animals and wrote books on it which were studied up until the renaissance.
What was the theory of the 4 humours?
The body is made up of 4 humours:
Blood, Phlegm, Black bile and yellow bile, an imbalance in the humours caused illness. So to cure the imbalance you had to purge by bleeding, throwing up or emptying bowels.
What impact did the collapse of the Roman Empire have?
Public health systems built by Romans were destroyed.
Libraries full of medical books were dismantled.
Invading tribes had no interest in education or the works of Galen as they couldn’t read.
War was now the most important, money spent on Armies not education and medicine.
Who was the Roman god of healing?
Asclepius
