As with the arts, the Romans looked to the Greeks for ideas about science and technology. The Greeks were particularly strong in mathematics and the philosophy of science, and the Romans excelled in using science and engineering principles in practical ways.
One science that directly affected everyday life was medicine. The best doctors in Rome were Greek slaves or freedmen, and the most important medical works were written in Greek and then translated into Latin. Doctors and surgeons were important for the military, and some wealthy people hired their own personal doctors. Some women also served as doctors-one of the few professional jobs they could hold. Other women were midwives, who helped pregnant women give birth.
Greek doctors tried to use true science to find the cause and cure of illness. Romans mixed both scientific ideas and religious beliefs in their medicine, with most of the true science coming from the Greeks.
One of the greatest Greek doctors of during the Roman Empire was Galen (129-c. 200). He dissected animals to study how their bodies worked. Galen also did some dissection of dead humans, and some of his first medical experience came at the gladiatorial games, where he treated injured fighters. Later he served as the personal doctor of Marcus Aurelius. In light of today’s medical knowledge, Galen’s ideas were not always correct, but he influenced Western medicine for more than 1,000 years. For example, Galen argued that four bodily fluids shaped both health and personality, and that a doctor should try to balance these fluids-an idea doctors followed for centuries.
Some Roman medical practices and tools are not much different from ones used today. According to Peter James and Nick Thorpe, authors of Ancient Inventions, “Some of the instruments used by Roman doctors were of such superb quality that any modern surgeon would be proud to own them.” For example, the Romans, like modern doctors, used special knives called scalpels to perform surgery. To amputate diseased limbs, they used heavy bone-cutting saws. At Pompeii archaeologists found forceps-tools used to hold or grasp delicate tissues-that were as precise as modern ones.
Roman doctors performed operations on the eyes to remove cataracts. At times, surgeons also drilled into patients’ skulls, trying to cure headaches or other problems. If a patient lost a limb, doctors sometimes gave him or her an artificial one. A skeleton buried in Capua, Italy, had a fake leg made out of wood and bronze, and the patient probably also
Becoming a Doctor
Unlike today, Roman doctors did not have to attend special schools or prove their skills in any way before going into business. Most learned their art by watching other doctors. Martial complained about this practice in his Epigrams. Martial wrote (as quoted in Jo-Ann Shelton's As the Romans Did) that the doctor Symmachus "brought 100 medical students with [him]. One hundred ice-cold hands poked and jabbed me. I didn't have a fever, Sym-machus, when I called you—but I do now."
Wore a separate wooden foot at the bottom. To help reduce a patient’s pain, Roman doctors used a variety of plant-based drugs, such as opium, henbane, and mandrake.
Go Figure
Scientists and engineers need math skills. The Romans borrowed their mathematics from the Greeks, and as in medicine, some of the best mathematicians in the Roman Empire were Greek or wrote in Greek. These include Ptolemy (c. 90-c. 168), who was also an astronomer. He was famous for a book that claimed—wrongly, as it later turned out—that the sun and planets revolved around the Earth.
For their numerals, Romans used letters from their alphabet: I=1, V=5, X=10, L=50, C=100, D=500
The numeral for 1,000 was originally C followed by I and a backward C, but later Latin scholars replaced this with the letter M. Numerals could be repeated up to three times to represent larger numbers: II, for example, is 2, and XXX is 30. A smaller numeral placed before a larger one meant the smaller amount was subtracted from the larger: IV, for example, is 4, and XC is 90.
Today, the Western world uses Arabic numerals, not Roman ones. In some instances, however, the Roman numerals are still used, such as to number sections or chapters in a book or distinguish among rulers with the same name. They are also sometimes used on coins, on the cornerstones of buildings and other places where people want to give the impression of grandeur and permanence.
World History
