The Roman Army Page



The Roman Army Page

... in the Roman army were as much depending on personal relations as on merit, men

serving in the governor's guard could look forward to better army careers. ...

Description: General description of the armed forces of the early empire and links to related sites of interest.

Category: Society > History > By Time Period > Ancient > Rome > Military

members.~S_van_Dorst/legio.html - 58k - Cached - Similar pages

[This is the material I looked in first.]

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Antiqua Medicina: From Homer to Vesalius

... An on-line exhibition prepared in conjunction with the Colloquium "Antiqua Medicina:

Aspects in Ancient Medicine" held in McLeod Hall, at the Health System of ...

hsc.virginia.edu/hs-library/historical/ antiqua/anthome.html - 5k - Cached - Similar pages

[This has an abundance of simple information on medical procedures and technologies.]

|ANTIQUA MEDICINA |[pic] |From Homer to Vesalius |

An on-line exhibition prepared in conjunction with the Colloquium "Antiqua Medicina: Aspects in Ancient Medicine" held in McLeod Hall, at the Health System of the University of Virginia on February 27, 1997.

|Homer to Hippocrates |The doctor in Roman Society |

|Hippocrates |Ancient Gynecology |

|Medicine in Mythology and Literature |Sanitation Engineering |

|The Hippocratic Corpus |Galen |

|Alexandrian Medicine |Military Medicos |

|Healer Cults and Sanctuaries |Vesalius the Humanist |

|Medical Iconography |Byzantine Medicine |

|Women in Medicine |Surgery and Surgical Instruments |

|Etruscan and Roman Medicine |Case Studies |

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Ancient Rome, Sophisticated Doctors

... But how good was Roman medicine? Ancient Roman medicine was, surprisingly,

incredibly similar to that of the late nineteenth century. ...

medicine&war/ancientrome.htm - 15k - Cached - Similar pages

[good pictures, simple and short text.]

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ROMAN MEDICINE

Roman Medicine, Mores. This staff belonged to Aesculapius, the Roman god of healing.

Many contemporary medical organizations use this staff as a symbol. ...

dl.latin1/mores/medicine/ - 3k - Cached - Similar pages

[Very simplistic style and form, short (usually only one page) but has good bits of information that students can use and run with.]

|Roman Medicine |[pic] |

|««This staff belonged to Aesculapius, the Roman god of healing. Many contemporary medical organizations use this staff |

|as a symbol. |

| |

|[pic] |

|Table of Contents |

|History of Roman Medicine |

|Doctors In Ancient Rome |

|Surgery In Ancient Rome |

|Drugs And Medication |

|Diseases In Rome |

| |

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Ancient Rome - Medicine

ANCIENT ROMAN MEDICINE. Ancient Roman medicine was a combination of

phsycial techniques using various tools - and holsitc medicine ...

romemedicine.html - 10k - Cached - Similar pages

[Good pictures but limited to cutting tools.]

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Greek and Roman Medicine, Science, Mathematics and Industry

... These pages are devoted to medicine, biology, chemistry, physics, engineering ... Ancient

Navigation and Shipbuilding in the Greek and Roman World; Ancient ...

users.~tanker/science.htm - 4k - Cached - Similar pages

Catiline's Hard Sciences Page

[pic]

These pages are devoted to medicine, biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, mathematics, industry, etc.

[pic]

• Archimedes

o Archimedes

o Archimedia

o Bibliographia Archimedeana gone 4/8/01

• Ancient Metallurgy Research Group

• Ancient Navigation and Shipbuilding in the Greek and Roman World

• Ancient Technology gone 48/01

• Antiqua Medicina

• Catapults in Greek and Roman Antiquity

• Earliest Uses of Various Mathematical Symbols

• L'evolution des langues de la communaute scientifique

• Greek and Roman Science and Technology

• Greek Astronomy

• Greek Mathematics and Its Modern Heirs

• Greek Science

• History of Mathematics

• Mathematicians Born Before 1000 AD

• Medicina Antiqua

• Ptolemy's Geography

• Roman Ceramics

• Roman Medical Instruments

• Roman Ships gone 4/8/01

• Spice Pages

• A Taste of the Ancient World

• University Chemistry I: Greek Theory and Roman Practice

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RomanII.htm

... MEDICINE/SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY: Ancient Medicine/Medicina Antiqua : Good

resource for information on Greek and Roman medicine. Etruscan ...

~weid/RomanII.htm - 71k - Cached - Similar pages

[very large site]

THE ANCIENT ROMAN WORLD

So many sites.... so little time.

[pic]THIS SYMBOL DENOTES A PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENT.

|Arts |General Information on Ancient Rome |

|Architecture |History |

|Barbarians |Literature |

|Cybertours |Masada Rebellion |

|Daily Life |Medicine/Science/Technology |

|Early Christianity |Military Affairs |

|Emperors/Rulers |Pompeii |

|Entertainment |Punic Wars |

|Fall of Rome |Slavery and Spartacus |

|Games |Women |

General Information:

    EAWC: WWW Sites Relating to Ancient Rome : Use this site to help you gain more in-depth information on the Ancient world.

 ROME PROJECT: A SPECIAL PLACE :  Students of the Dalton School, from elementary through high school, created this excellent site on the Roman world. In one sense, it is vast - covering  intensely literature, military, archaeology, political, philosophy, drama, religion,

               maps, and much more..

 The BBC Roman History Homepage :  Contains information on who the Romans were, the city of Rome, Roman Republic, Roman Empire, Emperors, Senators, Roman technology, and more.

 Roman Forum - Exploring an Ancient Marketplace :  Lovely place, tour, subject essays, great  for students.

Roman Sites - A catalog of 1252 sites on Roman antiquity.

 

 Jay's History and Technology Back Pages :  "A site created especially for those who would rather play with the cool stuff from history instead of reading about boring politics."  A FANTASTIC SITE TO BEGIN YOUR QUEST.

NM's Creative Impulse.Rome - A great source on various aspects of ancient Rome.

Ancient Sites: Links to Roman Sites

 Rome through the Pax Romana

Photographs of Rome

 

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Links: Roman Special Technologies

... Medicina Antiqua An extensive, scholarly site devoted to the study of ancient medicine.

Bibliographies, on-line resources, hypertexts, and links. Roman Medical ...

unc.edu/courses/rometech/ public/links/links_spec.html - 10k - Cached - Similar pages

[ More results from unc.edu ]

[This site links some of the previously listed sites.]

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The Ancient World Web: Science/Medicine

... to Vesalius An on-line exhibition prepared in conjunction with the Colloquium "Antiqua

Medicina: Aspects in Ancient Medicine". There's a strong Greco-Roman ...

ancient/Science/Medicine/ - 15k - Cached - Similar pages

[Use this to get to “The Asclepion” page or site.]

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Site designed by Mark Hayes and Ethan Watrall ; maintained by Nancy Demand ( demand@indiana.edu )

Last updated: 19 May 2000

URL:

Comments: demand@indiana.edu

Copyright 1997, The Trustees of Indiana University

The History of Ancient Medicine

Some links to useful materials

Professor N.H. Demand

e-mail: demand@indiana.edu

[pic]

Notice: This material is the copyrighted property of the author and should not be reproduced without the author's permission.

[pic]

This site offers materials in the history of ancient medicine, from its beginnings in Mesopotamia through the Hippocratics, with an addendum on Roman midwives.. The approach is to understand medicine within its cultural context rather than to judge it in terms of modern biomedicine - to investigate different conceptions of the illness and healing and how the various cultures constructed illnesses.

The view of the history of ancient medicine in this site involves the application of an anthropological model of a health care system (Arthur Kleinman). It concerns evidence not only about professional caregivers, but also about the concepts of illness of ordinary lay people and their everyday efforts to deal with it, including the god Asclepius and his healing temples. Some of the texts offer a view behind the traditional screen of privacy of the household to find out about the care that women gave to other women in the home and family. While attempts at retrodiagnosis will be considered, basically the site looks at the way in which culture "constructed" the experience of illness so as to create culturally specific conditions that have no biomedical counterpart (such as the Greek Disease of Maidens, or the Egyptian problem of a build-up of .ukedu, or excrement, and the consequent need for purging treatments)

This site was developed for a course dealing with Egypt, Mesopotamia, China and India and was framed in terms of Guido Majno's book, The Healing Hand: Man and Wound in the Ancient World, Cambridge: Harvard Press, 1975, but with other sources of information to round out the picture. For the sections on Greek and Roman medicine, it makes use of texts from the period, notably the Hippocratic writings, many of which can be found in G.E.R.Lloyd, Hippocratic Medicine

 

 PART ONE: THE ANTHROLOGICAL APPROACH

o Introduction to the study of ancient medicine: The evidence

PART TWO: MEDICINE IN OTHER ANCIENT CULTURES

o Medicine in Mesopotamia 

o Medicine in Egypt

o Medicine in China: :

PART THREE: PREHIPPOCRATIC AND HIPPOCRATIC MEDICINE

o Medicine in Homer

o Rational Models: Ionian philosophy and rhetoric 

o Hippocrates: Hippocratic, Oath,

o Empiricism and the rejection of philosophy 

▪ Hippocrates, Ancient Medicine,

▪ Epidemics I and III

o Hippocratic treatments: surgery 

▪ Fractures (Loeb, v. xx, in S.R.) 

o Treatment: Internal medicine 

▪ Hippocrates, Regimen in Acute Diseases

▪ Ancient drugs

o Preventative medicine and the environment 

▪ Hippocrates, Air, Water, Places,

▪ Hippocrates, Regimen in Health 

o Women and reproduction

▪ : Hippocrates, *Seed and Nature of Child 

▪ The ancient midwife -- evidence from Rome: Soranus 

o For other texts, see Lefkowitz and Fant, Woman's Life in Greece and Rome,

o The problem of malaria

▪ E.. Borza, "Some Observations on Malaria," 

o Retrospective diagnosis: Sickness and Societ: Thucydides and the plague

o Alternative medicine: Hippocratic doctors, Quacks, and temple medicine

▪ Hippocrates, Sacred Disease 

▪ The wandering womb and the Illness of Maidens

▪ Mabel Lang, Cure and Cult 

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Roman Medicine

... MEDICINE Ancient Roman medicine was a combination of phsycial techniques using various

tools - and holsitc medicine using rituals and religious belief systems. ...

legvi.legiovi/id30.html - 24k - Cached - Similar pages

[This has primarily only text but the pictures of the legionary dress are good.]

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The Amazing Ancient World - Book ACT I - PART IV - BRIDGES

... Medicina Antiqua::Ancient Medicine Excellent resource for study of Greco-Roman medicine

and medical thought from Mycenaean times until fall of Roman Empire. ...

bridges.html - 36k - Cached - Similar pages

[Very large site for all topics, mistresses, wives, etc.—anecdotal information included—makes it more “human”.]

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History of Western Biomedicine

... Ministry of Culture (GR); Medicine in Ancient Greece, and about Greek & Roman

Surgical Instruments - The Asclepion/U. of Indiana (US); About Aesculapius [G ...

mic.ki.se/West.html - 67k - 21 Jul 2002 - Cached - Similar pages

[This is primarily on actual information on tools, Asclepius, etc.]

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Nutriceuticals is a term coined by the popular press as a new way of looking at health maintenance for many people.  In ancient times, plants were assigned curative powers based on shape or color; the concept that later became know as the doctrine of signatures in the Helenistic medical tradition.

Phytotherapy, or phytomedicine, has been a part of both eastern and western medical traditions since the King of Sumaria ordered a summary of current knowledge (about 250 medicinal plants) to be assembled in approximately 2000 BC.  Combining Arab and Greco-Roman herbology, over 2000 plants were thought to have medicinal properties in the ancient world.  The Chinese began using ginseng at least 3000 years ago, and Native Americans were using willow bark tea to reduce fever about the time most of the "civilized world" was under Roman rule.  Every civilization that has recorded its progress produced a body of knowledge addressing the use of medicinal plants (pharmacognacy).  Though displaced to some degree by the rise of "modern medicine," herbalists and herbal preparations have continued to be part of folk and Oriental medical practice.  The recent rise in popularity of these materials in American and European societies may reflect a growing discontent with established medical practice, or perhaps an interest in more "natural " modes of healthcare.  This is especially true among the elderly.1 (Table 1)

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SOME BACKGROUND ON PLANTS AND MEDICINE

... was documented on a tablet by 2250 BC Mention of medicinal plants ... medicines were

Hippocrates and Theophrastus (Greeks), Galen and Dioscorides (Roman ...

botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/ economicbotany/Plantmedicine/ - 5k - Cached - Similar pages

[This has historical names of people who were prominent in development of this.]

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General information for me

MEDICINAL PLANTS

Many of our current drugs were originally derived from plants and fungi. Use of plants for medicinal purposes undoubtedly involved trial and error and since communication between societies was unlimited until relatively recently, very little knowledge was brought in from outside. Egyptians left records of 700 formulas for medicinal purposes (3500 ybp).

Greek Golden Age

Hippocrates - father of medicine, rational approach to treatment, 300-400 medicinal plants

Aristotle - compiled list of medicinal plants

Theophrastus - Aristotle's star pupil, father of Botany

Dioscorides - largest and most complete work until 14th century - De Materia Medica. Standard reference work for doctors and pharmacists. Codex Juliana is an elaborate copy of De Materia Medica that was made for a Roman emperor's daughter around 500 A.D. This book is now in Vienna. Modern reproductions of this book were available recently.

Very little else done in the West until theRenaissance, people in Dark Ages and Middle Ages felt that they could not do anything that was as good as the work of the Greeks so they were reluctant to try to improve on Classical works.

Renaissance

Paracelsus - Presented idea that God had provided signs in plants as to their proper use - Walnuts for brain disorders, Hepatica (liver leaf) for liver ailments, etc. Idea was obviously wrong but he at least tried something new. Something happened to Western attitudes during the Renaissance, they had enough confidence to do original work and challenge the work of the Ancients.

The 17th and 18th Century saw the development of hypothesis testing in medicine which replaced the wild speculation and rumors that were common. Anesthesia was introduced in the 19th century by a dentist in a small town in Georgia who used volatile chemicals (I believe chloroform) to throw parties with his friends. He realized that these chemicals could be used to control pain. The 20th century has seen an explosion of development of new procedures and drugs, many to deal with health problems caused by bad habits and improper diets.

Many modern medicines are derived from fungi (antibiotics, especially) and these will not be discussed here.

Green Plant Products

Oils and gums - purgatives, carriers, emulsifiers

Volatile oils and resins - antiseptics

Steroids and Alkaloids - often occur as glycosides (sugar molecule(s) attached). The glycoside is often the active form

Steroids

Steroid backbone Testosterone

Steroids occur in many unrelated plants, probably as feeding deterrents. An interesting example of the ability of insects to take advantage of plant products is the relationship between Monarch butterflies and milkweeds. The monarch lays its eggs on milkweeds and the larvae accumulate the steroids contained in these plants. These compounds make the butterflies poisonous to predators throughout their lives.

Animal hormones are steroids. Since the steroid "backbone" is complex and therefore difficult to manufacture synthetically, plants are used as sources of precursors.

Dioscorea - Yams - produce saponins (diosgenin) which are extracted from tubers. These compounds are similar to human sex hormones. Used in birth control pills, fertility drugs, female hormones, cortisone and hydrocortisone.

Diosgenin

Digitalis purpurea - Digitoxin- affects heart muscle by changing rhythmn of beat so that systolic contraction is lengthened, referred to as a cardiac glycoside.

Alkaloids

Alkaloids are N-containing compounds which are found in a wide array of plants. They are produced by a number of biochemical pathways, a number of them are produced from amino acids.

Quinine - Cinchona officinalis (Rubiaceae) is used to treat malaria. It was synthesized in 1944 but strains of Plasmodium, the sporozoan which causes malaria, have developed resistance to the synthetic quinine. However, natural quinine is still effective so interest in the plants has been renewed. Quinidine is another product of this plant which is used to control heart problems. Gin and tonic.

Ephedrine - Ephedra sinica (Gymnosperm), used as a decongestant

Cocaine - Erythroxylum coca - S.A. Andes, used as calmative and local anesthetic. A synthetic form called Novocain is similar and has replaced cocaine as a local anesthetic.

Opium - Papaver somniferum (Papaveraceae), one of oldest pain-relieving drugs, native to Eastern Europe and W. Asia. Opium latex is harvested by scoring capsule, allowing it to dry and then collecting dried resin, this process can be repeated many times. There are 26 alkaloids known to occur in Opium latex, most important ones are morphine, codeine, and papaverine.

Morphine - most abundant, potent pain killer, addictive. Heroin is synthesized from morphine.

Codeine - less potent than morphine, non-habit forming, used in prescription and non-prescription pain killers.

Papaverine - used to control internal spasms

Tropane alkaloids - Most are obtained from Atropa belladona (Solanaceae). Belladonna means beautiful lady, drops from an extract of this plant expand pupils, resulting in a wide-eyed, innocent look. The major compounds are atropine and scopalamine, which are used to control smooth muscle spasms - cardiac medicines, pupil dilators, stomach and bladder cramps

Veratrum viride (Liliaceae) produces a number of alkaloids used to treat heart disease, alkaloids are extracted from roots.

Resperine - Rauvolfia serpentina - snakeroot, alkaloids are used in treating hypertension, mental illness, compound is extracted from roots.

Vinblastine and leurocristine - Catharanthus roseus - used for some forms of leukemia, Hodgkin's disease.

Podophyllum peltatum - Mayapple - alkaloids used for treatment of lymphocytic leukemia.

Other compounds

Chaulmoogra oil - Hydnocarpus - treatment of leprosy

Salacin - Salix alba - aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is derivative of salicin.

Psyllium - Plantago - a colloidal mucliage used for constipation and diarrhea.

Aloe gel - Aloe barbadensis - aloe gel is used in shampoos, lotions, burn remedies.

Ipecac syrup - Cephaelis ipecacuanha - induces vomiting

Chymopapain - Carica papaya - enzyme used for treatment of slipped disks; injected near region of disk slippage and dissolves cartilage and relieves pressure.

There is currently much investigation into new medicinal uses for plants. Herbal medicine has been practiced in China for thousands of years and is still very important. "Primitive" cultures are being investigated for their uses of plant materials. It is often difficult to distinguish authentic cures from "magic" cures.

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Classics and the Ancient World, University of Texas Press

... Jashemski, A Pompeian Herbal: Ancient and Modern Medicinal Plants. ... Jones, Boats.

Kleiner and Matheson, I Claudia II: Women in Roman Art and Society. ...

utexas.edu/utpress/subjects/classics.html - 10k - Cached - Similar pages

[ More results from utexas.edu ]

[This is primarily a site for books to be referenced, unless you can find the text of these somewhere.]

Classics and the Ancient World

Do you want to receive announcements of new titles in this subject area?

Of related interest:

Archaeoastronomy

Journal of the History of Sexuality

Oratory of Classical Greece

|[pic] |al-Andalusi |

|[pic] |Science in the Medieval World: "Book of the Categories of Nations" |

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|[pic] |Andrews |

| |Amulets of Ancient Egypt |

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| |Burn |

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| |Carradice |

| |Greek Coins |

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| |The Ages of Homer |

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| |Davis |

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| |The Empress Theodora: Partner of Justinian (read an excerpt) |

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| |excerpt) |

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A Pompeian Herbal

Ancient and Modern Medicinal Plants

By Wilhelmina Feemster Jashemski

Plant Portraits by Victoria I and Lillian Nicholson Meyer

Photographs by Stanley A. Jashemski and others

"The appeal of such a work will be wide, encompassing professionals and laymen alike. The book is the type which a visitor to Pompeii, or to Italy generally, would want to take along as a vade mecum [guidebook]."

—Robert I. Curtis, Professor of Classics, University of Georgia

When workmen excavating the ruins of Pompeii eagerly gathered the native medicinal plants growing there, Wilhelmina Jashemski discovered that this was another example of the continuity of life in the shadow of Vesuvius. Many of the plants used for herbal medicine around Pompeii today are the same ones that ancient authorities such as Pliny the Elder and Dioscorides recommended for treating the same types of disorders.

In this book, Jashemski presents an herbal of thirty-six medicinal plants, most of them known to the ancients and still employed today. She describes each plant's contemporary medicinal uses and compares them to ancient practices as recorded in literary sources. Scientific, English, and Italian names and the plant's mythological associations complete the entries, while elegant, full-page portraits depict each plant visually.

Wilhelmina Feemster Jashemski is internationally known for her work in Pompeii. She is Professor Emerita of Ancient History at the University of Maryland, College Park, and author of the monumental The Gardens of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the Villas Destroyed by Vesuvius.

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MATERIA MEDICA

... The famous book "De Materia Medica" by the military doctor Dioscorides, describing

more than six hundred vegetable, animal and mineral remedies, laid the basis ...

home..au/~bpittman/galen/materia.html - 10k - Cached - Similar pages

[Contributions of major players in Roman medicine.]

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The Works of Pedanios Dioscorides: a Rare Book Exhibit at The ...

... His fame rests upon his pharmaceutical book, best known by its Latin title of

De materia medica, which was written in Greek in about 60 AD As originally ...

members.arbexhibit/diosc96.htm - 12k - Cached - Similar pages

The Works of Pedanios Dioscorides

This month's exhibit focuses on the works of Pedanios Dioscorides, the ancient Greek writer who was the father of medical botany. Born in Anazarbus in Cilicia (modern southern Turkey), Dioscorides studied medicine under Areios at Tarsus, and served as a physician and soldier in the Roman armies in the period when Nero, Caligula, and Claudius were Emperors.

His fame rests upon his pharmaceutical book, best known by its Latin title of De materia medica, which was written in Greek in about 60 A.D. As originally formulated, the work was divided into five books. The first book dealt with aromatic plants, oils, ointments, trees and shrubs; the second with animals, animal parts, milk and dairy products, cereals, and sharp herbs; the third with roots, juices, herbs, and seeds; the fourth with herbs and roots not previously mentioned; and the fifth with wines and minerals. These are sometimes accompanied by a sixth book which deals with poisons, and on rare occasions by a seventh and eighth book dealing with animal bites and venomous animals.

The work served as the cornerstone for western pharmaceutical and herbal writing for the next 1500 years and was early translated into Syriac, Arabic, and Persian as well as Latin exerting a profound influence on the development of medicine in the Near East as well as in Europe. Over the centuries of manuscript copying numerous scribal errors crept into the text. these were compounded by the tendency of European scholars and physicians to equate local plants with the Asian flora discussed in the original text to produce misidentification of numerous plants with sometimes disastrous results. With the dawn of the Renaissance in Europe scholars and physicians were finally able to put aside the unquestioning dictates imposed by the medieval concept of auctoritas and begin reexamining the work on several fronts. Initially scholarship focused on a comparison of different versions of the text to eliminate scrbal error. Later, however, scholars and physicians began looking at the plants themselves, sometimes journeying in the footsteps of Dioscorides to find the plants originally cited, other times making a more sedentary journey through the works of the numerous writers who had built the materia medica on Dioscorides' works with an eye to clarifying which plant was which, while yet others of a more daring bent conducted experiments with the plants on patients and recorded their observations.

While the first printed edition of Dioscorides dates from the late 1470's, the earliest edition at The Holden Arboretum is considerably later.

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The Asclepion

A companion web page to the course Ancient Medicine at the University of Indiana, this page offers pictures of ancient surgical instruments, essays, a syllabus with plenty of linked resources, and more. [English]

[Last Site Update: 30-Jan-2002 Hits: 58 Rating: 0 Votes: 0] Rate It

 

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