Roman Public Health

1. Roman Medicine & Public
Health
Prevention better than the cure -
Roman ideas on medicine

2. What we will learn today:
How they developed ideas from the
Greeks.
Roman ideas on what caused illness.
The nature of empirical observation.
The development of Roman Public
Health.

3. The Impact of Greek Medicine
The impact the Greeks made on Rome
can be seen in several ways.
One is the use of an Asclepion in Rome
to combat the plague that broke out in
the city in 293 BC.
The second is the use of Greek doctors
– look at this table.

4. Social and Ethnic status of Roman
Doctors from 1
st
to 3
rd
century AD
80353442Total
742331Foreign (Non
citizens)
985455Slaves
93158170Freedmen
63118186Citizens
% GreekGreekTotal

5. Why such a heavy
reliance on the Greeks?
This was due to the low social standing
doctors had in Roman society.
When did this change?
When Julius Caesar made a decree
giving doctors citizenship and the
doctors who treated the rich could also
become rich themselves.

6. Copy this table
80353442Total
742331Foreign (Non
citizens)
985455Slaves
93158170Freedmen
63118186Citizens
% GreekGreekTotal

7. Now let us look at public
health

8. Prevention better than the cure.
To the Romans this can
be said to be their main
idea about public health.
A key example is their
attempts to stop the
spread of disease and
death that surrounded
the swamps in Rome.

9. Observation
The Romans observed that the people
who lived near the swamps tended to
get ill and die.
We now know this disease is called
Malaria - they did not know this.
They tried to gain an understanding as
to an effective way to deal with the
illness.

10. Febris
Febris was a minor
Roman goddess for
fever - a symptom
of the disease.
A temple was built
where the disease
was and prayers
were said but no
reduction in illness
was observed.

11. Task
Write the subtitle Roman Public Health
Answer this question; What do the
actions of the Romans tell you about
their belief in medicine?

12. Empirical Observation
The next step the
Romans took was to
drain the swamp -
this in effect shows
the Romans had
developed a system
of EMPIRICAL
OBSERVATION

13. EMPIRICAL OBSERVATION
Did they know what caused the
illnesses?
Did they realise that the swamp was in
some way connected to the problem?
So, remove the swamp, remove the
problem - this is empirical observation.
Acting on what they know rather than
waiting to find out all the information.

14. So what did they think caused
disease?
Bad air
Bad water
Bad smells
Swamps or marshland
Being dirty
Living near sewerage
In essence they had no clue but acted on
what they saw.

15. Task
Write down a definition for EMPIRICAL
OBSERVATION.
Use the Roman’s problem as an
example.

16. Roman Public Health -
Aqueducts

17. Roman Public Health - Baths

18. Roman Public Health - Toilets

19. Task
Using the notes in front of you, create a
booklet on Roman Public Health using
the

20. Final Task
Quick Quiz
This is designed to see what you have
found out about Roman Public Health.