Archaeological remains as a source of evidence for Roman Medicine
Patty Baker (Canterbury, University of Kent)
Medicina Antiqua: University College London
Abstract
In order to understand Roman medicine most scholars rely on ancient medical texts to understand the Roman views about the functions of the body, the etiology of diseases, surgical procedures and perceptions of health. Yet, archaeological remains of medical instruments and buildings identified as hospitals also shed light onto past medical practices. In this paper, I will provide general information about what has been said by scholars on the archaeology of medical tools and valetudinaria (hospitals) with comparisons to ancient medical texts. Archaeologists tend to limit themselves to relying on these texts to describe the functions of medical tools and identification of hospitals; yet, by using different archaeological methods of interpretation it is possible to know more about these objects and structures. In regards to medical tools one can learn about other functions they may have served and what people thought about them.
It will also be demonstrated that there may be an over or misinterpretation of buildings identified as hospitals in the Roman army that are based on early twentieth century archaeological methods of interpretation and expectations of what a hospital should be. This paper is a brief overview of four previous works that explore these questions in more detail. The paper is laid out to first provide a preliminary background to the types of medical tools that survive and what is said about them in the ancient medical texts. Following this is a brief discussion of their other functions and meanings. Once the material culture is explained, a discussion of the arguments for and against the identification of Roman hospitals will be presented.
Patty Baker (Canterbury, University of Kent)
Medicina Antiqua: University College London
Abstract
In order to understand Roman medicine most scholars rely on ancient medical texts to understand the Roman views about the functions of the body, the etiology of diseases, surgical procedures and perceptions of health. Yet, archaeological remains of medical instruments and buildings identified as hospitals also shed light onto past medical practices. In this paper, I will provide general information about what has been said by scholars on the archaeology of medical tools and valetudinaria (hospitals) with comparisons to ancient medical texts. Archaeologists tend to limit themselves to relying on these texts to describe the functions of medical tools and identification of hospitals; yet, by using different archaeological methods of interpretation it is possible to know more about these objects and structures. In regards to medical tools one can learn about other functions they may have served and what people thought about them.
It will also be demonstrated that there may be an over or misinterpretation of buildings identified as hospitals in the Roman army that are based on early twentieth century archaeological methods of interpretation and expectations of what a hospital should be. This paper is a brief overview of four previous works that explore these questions in more detail. The paper is laid out to first provide a preliminary background to the types of medical tools that survive and what is said about them in the ancient medical texts. Following this is a brief discussion of their other functions and meanings. Once the material culture is explained, a discussion of the arguments for and against the identification of Roman hospitals will be presented.
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