Physicians are generally held in high esteem today, but first-century Romans were skeptical, even dismissive, of doctors, many of whom treated ailments they didn’t understand. Poets particularly ridiculed surgeons for being greedy, for taking sexual advantage of patients, and above all for their incompetence.
In his “Natural History,” Pliny the Elder, the admiral and scholar who died in AD 79 while trying to rescue villagers fleeing from the rubble of Mount Vesuvius, tried to speak out against the medical profession. “Doctors gain experience at our risk and conduct their experiments through our deaths,” he wrote.
Medical remedies have improved since then—no more pounded snails, salt-cured weasel meat, or ashes from cremated dogs’ heads—but surgical instruments have changed surprisingly little. Scalpels, needles, tweezers, probes, hooks, chisels, and drills are as much a part of the standard medical tool kit today as they were then.
Archaeologists in Hungary recently unearthed a rare set of such instruments. The items were found in a necropolis near Jászberény, some 56 kilometers from Budapest, in two wooden chests and included forceps, to remove teeth; a curette, for mixing, measuring, and applying medication; and three copper alloy scalpels fitted with detachable steel blades and silver inlays. Next to them were the remains of a man presumed to be a Roman citizen.
The site, undisturbed for 2,000 years, also produced a mortar that was probably used to grind medicinal herbs. Most unusual were a bone crowbar, to set fractures back into place, and the handle of what appears to have been a drill, to trepan the skull and extract an impacted weapon from the bone.
Suitable for performing complex operations, the instrumentation offers a glimpse into 1st-century Roman medical practices and how far doctors may have traveled to provide care.
“In ancient times, these were comparatively sophisticated tools made from the finest materials,” said Tivadar Vida, director of the Eötvös Loránd University Institute of Archeology, or ELTE, in Budapest and leader of the excavation.
“How could such a well-equipped person die so far from Rome?” mused Leventu Samu, an ELTE member on the excavation team. “Was he there to heal a local figure or perhaps he was accompanying a military action by the Roman legions?”
Similar kits have been found throughout most of the empire; the largest and most varied was discovered in 1989 in the ruins of a 3rd century physician’s house in Rimini, Italy. But the new find is described as one of the largest known collections of first-century Roman medical instruments.
Most of the Roman physicians were Greek, or at least Greek-speaking. Many were freedmen or even slaves, which may explain their low social position.
The man buried in the necropolis was 50 or 60 years old when he died; It’s not clear if he really was a doctor, investigators said, but he probably wasn’t local.
“Back then, studying medicine was only possible in a large urban center of the empire,” Samu said.
“Ancient medical writers, like Galen, advised that doctors travel to learn about diseases that were common in certain areas,” said Patty Baker, former director of archeology and classics at the University of Kent in England.
Aspiring surgeons were encouraged to apprentice to renowned physicians, study in great libraries, and listen to lectures as far away as Athens and Alexandria. To gain first-hand experience treating combat wounds, they frequently interned in the Army and at gladiatorial schools.
“There were no regulatory boards or formal requirements to enter the profession,” said Lawrence Bliquez, an archaeologist emeritus at the University of Washington in Seattle. “Anyone could call themselves a doctor.” If his methods were successful, he would attract more patients; if not, he was looking for another career.
Surgery was often the last resort. “There was no knowledge about sterilization or germ theory,” Baker said. “It was likely that the patients died of asepsis and shock.”
By: FRANZ LIDZ
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6797883, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-07-10 21:10:07
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