Romans Flashcards
What Public Health structures were created by the Romans?
Sewers, Aqueducts, Public Baths, Public Toilets
What were aqueducts for?
To supply fresh clean water to cities
What would slaves do for bathers at public baths?
Rub oil onto their backs and scrape dirt off with strigils
How did the Romans try to keep healthy?
They maintained strict personal hygeine by visiting the baths which were cheap enough so everyone could afford to go. They also believed in having a healthy lifestyle to prevent illness.
What did the Romans build cities away from?
Marshy areas because they knew that the stagnant water would cause diseases. They thought that the water was full of swamp monsters.
What was an important factor in the development of medicine?
War as it allowed the Romans to conquer new countries like Greece which allowed them to gain all of the Greeks medical knowledge. They were also able to practice and develop new medical techniques due to the high number of casualties from fighting.
How did surgery develop due to surgeons?
Army surgeons got hands-on experience of dealing with a wide range of injuries
What was used to relieve pain?
Opium was used by Roman doctors in surgery.
Why did the Romans need to develop Public Health systems?
Because the population of their cities became so large it was the only way to stop disease from spreading quickly.
How did the Army help to spread Public Health structures?
Because the Roman government needed to keep its soldiers healthy so they built Sewers, Aqueducts, Baths and Toilets in the main army bases around the empire. The soldiers who built them would then build them for the local population as well.
Who was Galen?
Galen was a Greek doctor who travelled across the Roman Empire in order to expand his knowledge further. He spent time at a gladiator school to increase his knowledge of the anatomy and after writing his own books eventually became personal doctor to the Roman Emperor
What did Galen discover?
Galen proved that the brain controlled speech. He did this through his pig experiment, this was significant because he did it publically in order to prove it to as many people at once as possible. He also wrote books where he described the human anatomy.
Which theory did he adapt?
Galen adapted the theory of the Four Humours. He went further and developed the theory of opposites proposing that in order to cure people whose humours were out of balance you needed to use the opposite element to cure them. For example if someone had too much Phlegm (which they believed was caused by the cold) Galen would propose to treat them with something hot like making them eat a pepper.
What were the problems with Galens theories?
Galen made numerous mistakes when it came to the human anatomy, for example he believed that the human jaw bone was made up of two pieces. This was because human dissection was illegal so other than a handful of bodies he was able to dissect after breaking into graves he had to dissect animals.
What treatments did the Romans have?
They had simple surgeries and amputations. They would also use herbal remedies and the Theory of Opposites to cure people of illnesses.
