Nick Summerton - Greco-Roman Medicine and What It Can Teach Us Today

Greco-Roman Medicine and What It Can Teach Us Today

Nick Summerton

First published in Great Britain in 2021

by Pen & Sword Archaeology

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire - Philadelphia

Copyright Nick Summerton, 2021

ISBN 978 1 52675 287 1

eISBN 978 1 52675 288 8

The right of Nick Summerton to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and

Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Gymnasium scene mosaic, Villa Romana del Casale, Sicily Simon Dawkins

The boat-shaped prow, including staff and serpent relief, at the Aesculapian site on Tiber Island

Altar from Chester dedicated by the Greek physician Hermogenes Chester Museum

Altar from Chester dedicated by the Greek physician Antiochus Chester Museum

Wall-painting from Pompeii showed wounded Aeneas having an arrowhead removed Wikimedia Commons public domain

Tombstone of Ancinus Ingenuus, medicus ordinarius, from Housesteads

An inscribed bronze spatula from Caerleon belonging to Manilianus

A writing tablet from Vindolanda reporting the strength of the First Cohort of Tungrians The Vindolanda Trust

A pair of votive sheet-gold eyes unearthed at Wroxeter The Trustees of the British Museum, Lord Barnard and Raby Estate

An inscription of a medicus ocularis, found in Rome

A collyrium stamp from Kenchester The Trustees of the British Museum

A collyrium stamp from Wroxeter

Marble tombstone of an Athenian physician, Jason The Trustees of the British Museum

Votive forearm from Lydney ( Photograph: Dr G Hart ) Rupert Bathurst, Lord Bledisloe (Lydney Park Estate)

The modern fountain at the end of the Dorchester aqueduct

The Lincoln aqueduct pipeline ( Photograph: Michael Jones )

A view of the Dorchester aqueduct

Cross-section of the Dorchester aqueduct ( Drawing: Bill Putnam )

Remains of the latrine at Housesteads

The tepidarium at Chedworth villa

The hot spring water at Bath

The hospital at Housesteads

The drain leading from the latrine at Housesteads hospital

Roman lead piping at the Great Bath in Bath

Tin pyxide from Pozzino containing ancient medication ( Photograph: Emanuela Appetiti )

Philo collyrium in the centre of a Petri dish, with a circular bacteria kill zone around the collyrium

The dream room (abaton) at Epidaurus

Entrance to the Temple of Nodens at Lydney

A probable dream room (abaton) within the Temple of Nodens at Lydney

The bathhouse at Lydney

Bronze statuette of a dog, from Lydney (reproduction)

The theatre at Epidaurus

The prospect from the healing sanctuary at Corinth

The partially reconstructed propylaea at Epidaurus

Reconstructed basic medical kit: forceps, needles (bone and brass), scalpels, probes and skin hooks

The use of fibulae for skin closure JF Ratcliffe

Uvula forceps ( staphylagra ) from Caerwent ( Photograph: Newport Museum )

Brass surgical forceps from Littleborough ( Drawing: Sin Summerton )

Reproduction cataract needle

Reproduction cupping vessels

Reconstructed eye box with view of central compartment

Cup-shaped depression on underside of reconstructed eye box

In developing this book, I am indebted to many individuals stretching back over thirty years. However, I should like to express my particular thanks to Dr Ralph Jackson who has never lost patience with my many questions, providing me with a wealth of information and contacts in addition to facilitating my access to the collections at the British Museum. I am also very grateful to Heather Williams and Yuen Ting Baker at Pen & Sword Books for their support and encouragement in bringing this project to fruition.

Others have generously provided me with illustrations, resources and guidance. Many of these individuals are mentioned both in the preface and elsewhere within the text. However, I should especially like to thank Lord Bledisloe for permitting me access to the site at Lydney on several occasions, as well as to Martin Jones and Sally Pointer for all their superb work on the Roman reconstructions.

Above all, I must express my enormous gratitude to my parents, Barry and June, my wife, Ailie, and my three daughters, Katrina, Sin and Emily, for accompanying me on my numerous forays in search of the Greco-Roman world. Katrina also helped me to design the front cover alongside Jon Wilkinson.

Some elements of this book started life as a short work for Shire Publications entitled Medicine and Health Care in Roman Britain . In the conclusion I wrote that:

it would be wrong for us to dismiss the Roman approach to health care and to assume that we have got it entirely right today. Nowadays, many patients who consult their general practitioner are suffering from symptoms that are often due to the stresses and strains of modern life. Over-investigation of such somatic symptoms as fatigue, dizziness or headaches can cause considerable harm. Suggesting that such patients spend a quiet week resting, bathing and taking occasional brisk walks with the dogs in a place such as a Lydney [a Romano-British healing sanctuary] would, perhaps, be of greater benefit.

This final paragraph really marked the start of a long journey leading to the present book. In addition to seeking to better understand the Roman approach to health care, I wanted to consider what it can still teach us today. Also, although I have retained some of my earlier focus on Roman Britain, there has been a significant expansion to consider, in greater detail, the consequences of being part of the wider Roman Empire.

Over the last fourteen years I have had the privilege to meet or to correspond with several experts who have been enormously generous with their time and advice in specific areas. John Wilkins explained how he had adapted Galens ideas on hygiene for todays world. Adrian Harrison was instrumental in my initial forays into reconstructing some ancient eye remedies. Bryn Waters encouraged a greater focus on the locations and the activities at ancient healing sites in the UK and elsewhere. Melinda Letts kindly supplied me with access to her fantastic work on Rufus of Ephesus including a translation of Quaestiones medicinales. Onora ONeill helped me to look afresh at our current medical regulatory systems and to re-examine the writings of Scribonius Largus, and John Ratcliffes work on Celsus and ancient surgery provided significant new insights.