The Ancient Period Flashcards

1
Q

What were the two approaches to medicine in the Ancient period?

A

Natural (Asclepius) and Supernatural (Hippocrates and Galen)

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2
Q

In the Ancient Period, what was disease believed to be caused by?

A
  • Natural - an imbalance of the four humours
  • Supernatural - the gods (Ancient Greece), God (Ancient Rome)
  • Miasma (in Ancient Rome)
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3
Q

How did beliefs about what disease was caused by change from Ancient Greece into Ancient Rome?

A
  • Supernatural - The Ancient Greek gods into the Christian God
  • Natural - Theory of Opposites added
  • Idea of miasma (bad air causing disease)
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4
Q

What are the four humours?

A
  • Blood
  • Phlegm
  • Black bile
  • Yellow bile
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5
Q

What were the home remedies available in the Ancient period?

A
  • herbal remedies - many effective, e.g honey

- medical books (if wealthy), owned by father

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6
Q

What were the supernatural treatments available in the Ancient period?

A
  • wear a charm
  • pray to household gods (Greece), or the Christian God (Rome)
  • visit the Asclepian temple (Greece), or priests (Rome)
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7
Q

Describe a visit to the Asclepian temple

A
  • exercise
  • bathe
  • sleep with red cloth over face in abaton (Asclepius’s snake meant to cure)
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8
Q

Where the natural treatments available in the Roman period?

A
  • rest
  • change in diet
  • regular exercise
  • bleed or purge to remove excess humours
  • opposites to humours, based on symptoms (Rome)
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9
Q

What were the four main things Hippocrates did?

A
  • Developed the theory of the Four Humours
  • Developed clinical observation
  • Created the ‘Hippocratic Corpus’
  • Created the ‘Hippocratic Oath’
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10
Q

What are the four steps to clinical observation?

A
  • Observe
  • Record
  • Diagnose
  • Treat
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11
Q

What was the Hippocratic Corpus?

A
  • the first detailed list of symptoms and cures

- used by doctors for many centuries

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12
Q

What is the Hippocratic Oath?

A
  • an oath taken by doctors
  • gave confidence in doctors
  • made clear doctors aren’t magicians
  • said they had to keep high standards of treatment and behaviour and had to work for the benefit of patients
  • still used today
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13
Q

How did Hippocratic doctors mainly train?

A

As apprentices to experienced doctors, but it wasn’t necessary

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14
Q

What were the three main things Galen did?

A
  • Wrote over 350 books which combined Greek ideas with his own work
  • Developed Theory of Opposites to balance humours (hot, wet, dry, cold)
  • Worked on anatomy and dissection - demonstrated nervous system and brain controls body with famous dissection of a pig
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15
Q

Why were there problems with Galen’s anatomical discoveries?

A

He only ever dissected animals because the Church did not him allow to dissect humans, as it would prevent their passing into the afterlife

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16
Q

Which emperor hired Galen?

A

Emperor Marcus Aurelius

17
Q

Who were the four main healers in the Ancient period?

A
  • Fathers (family remedies passed down)
  • Asclepius/priests - supernatural
  • Army surgeon - treatments for battle wounds
  • Trained doctors (Hippocratic) - expensive so weren’t commonly used
18
Q

Describe the training of doctors in the Ancient period (5)

A
  • Training was not compulsory - anyone could be a doctor
  • Trained by acting as apprentices to experienced doctors
  • Read the books of Hippocrates and Galen
  • Had to take the Hippocratic Oath
  • Very rare in Britain, but some doctors might have trained in Alexandria in Egypt
19
Q

Aside from public health, how else did the Romans try to keep the poor healthy?

A

By employing trained doctors to treat the poor

20
Q

Describe hospitals in the Roman period

A
  • Army hospitals in forts:
  • Four beds in each ward
  • Kitchen, baths and dispensary for making remedies
  • Surgeon and assistants
  • But no hospitals in towns, people preferred to be treated at home
21
Q

Describe where the water flowed in the Roman public health system

A
  • Fresh water from springs was taken via aqueduct for many miles to towns, where it was held in reservoirs which distributed it to the piping system
  • Fresh water was distributed from the reservoirs to public fountains, bath-houses, forts, private homes of the rich and the public latrines
  • Used water was carried away from sewers and emptied into rivers
22
Q

Why did the Romans have such a strong public health system for both the rich and the poor?

A
  • It kept the Empire and their army strong and healthy
  • They had the wealth and prosperity to afford it
  • Believed in miasma, so wanted things to not smell
23
Q

What were the six main problems with the Roman public health system?

A
  • Piping made of lead - some people developed lead poisoning
  • Water in bath-houses only changed once a week
  • Sewers depended on enough water in system to flush out. If there wasn’t enough rain, waste built up in sewers and spread disease instead of stopping it
  • Sewers emptied into rivers, which were also used to wash clothes and for washing and drinking water in smaller settlements downstream
  • Public health system only good for big cities
  • Didn’t lead to progress - no legacy
24
Q

Roman public health: describe public fountains

A
  • provided water for drinking and washing
  • most people got their water from fountains, street pumps and rain barrels because weren’t rich enough to have water piped to their house
25
Q

Roman public health: describe bath-houses

A
  • places for washing, exercise, talk and business
  • even small towns had a bath-house
  • only charged quadrans, the smallest denomination of Roman money
  • in a large town such as Lincoln, 5000 people used the baths every week
26
Q

Roman public health: describe forts

A
  • had their own bath-house, water supply and latrines

- many also had hospitals for soldiers

27
Q

Roman public health: describe the water supply to private home of the rich

A
  • supplied with water, but still had to be carried upstairs in buckets by slaves
  • if there was a drought, the supply to houses was cut off to save water
28
Q

Roman public health: describe public latrines

A
  • often flushed by water from public baths and drained into sewers
  • often seated 20 people in one room
  • 144 in Rome