History Revision - Ancient Rome

Romans ideas

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Roman medicine before the Greeks

  • the Romans had a powerful and organised government.
  • the lifestyle of the ancient Romans help with the development of medicine.
  • the strength of the roman empire depended on its army.
  • roman citizen and the conquered people were taxed
  • the Romans were tolerant of other religions and it was towards the end of the empire that Christianity spread.
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Roman medicine

  • the Romans had similar religious beliefs to the Greeks and adopted Asclepius as their god of healing
  • the Romans took many ideas from the Greeks - but at the same time looked down on the Greeks as being too interest in ideas. Romans believed they were more practical.
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Romans ideas on public health and preventing disea

  • they made sewers to stop unwanted sewage coming on roads and causing disease.
  • they had ideas to keep the army healthy by the sitting of camps. Purity of water, temperature, exercise and medicine.
  • have enough exercise before a meal.
  • the white bit of the egg can heal wounds, the yolk off the egg boiled hard with vinegar and roasted with pepper will stop diahorrea. Also nits can be removed by dog fat.
  • if a man suffers with weakness then he should go to the local bath and sta wrapped up then sweat for a while in tepidarium
  • they say if the spring runs free then look at the body of the people before they start to pipe the water, then it means that the water is good.
  • it isn't very hygienic to sit on toilets
  • you shouldnt go near marshes as they give birth to insects with sting which fly in swarms and should be avoided
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Ways the government tried to keep the soldiers hea

  • a good variety of instruments
  • high beds in square rooms
  • made opium
  • different wards
  • big hospitals so that germs don't spread easily
  • surgeons have strict laws to go by and have to young and fearful.
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Key Words

Aqueduct - a bridge taking water across a valley

Empire - when one country takes over and rules another country

Epidemic disease - a wide spread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time

Preventative medicine - trying to prevent diseases before they start, rather than having to deal with them after they affect the population

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How did changes in society affect medicine and pub

  • doctors continued to be trained according to galens ideas, because they fitted with the establishing Christian teachings
  • christianity dominated society there was a strong belief that suffering in this life was temporary; heaven was the aim
  • the church controlled society and resisted new ideas. It controlled medical training, but also preserved medical knowledge.
  • christianity stressed the importance of caring for the sick but caring rather than treating so, for example prayer was more a priority that seeking medical developments.
  • traditional cures and remedies continued to be very important. Magic as well as herbal treatments including charms and prayers
  • there was lots of fighting but no central organisation of armies and no organised medical treatment for soldiers
  • much of the knowledge of the romans and Greeks thinkers and writes were lost
  • government become very weak. Roman public health systems collapsed and there wasn't the many or power to replace them.
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Comments

Miss E

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This is a really useful resource for revising health and medicine and includes a key word section you could build on.

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