ANCIENT
ALEXANDRIAN AND
ROMAN MEDICINE
Jonathon Erlen, Ph.D.
University of Pittsburgh
• Before we discuss the
Hellenistic medical world, we
need to define what we mean
by the Hellenistic period, which
is 1 of the most intriguing, yet
confusing eras in world history.
Unfortunately we hit a major
roadblock in our examinations of
the work of these 2 great
Alexandrian medical figures
because we have none of their
original writings. All we have
are the commentaries about
their work by Galen of Pergamon
who lived in the 2nd century AD
and other later medical
compilers.
After perhaps this one century
of scientific research freedom,
outside forces such as
religions factors were to create
barriers to medical research
and education that in some
cases lasted into the 19th
century in the United States.
In Alexandria, Ptolemy Physcon,
during the 2nd century B.C.E., for
unspecified reasons, decided to
severely limit the academic freedom
which had existed under his
predecessors at the museon. He
ordered the execution of a number of
scholars for no apparent reason, and
dispersed many more researchers to
various points throughout the
Mediterranean world.
The remaining medical
scholars formed 2 bitterly
opposing factions of medical
thought, with 1 upholding the
anatomical doctrines of
Herophilus, while the other
staunchly supported the
precepts of Empedocles and
the 4 elements.
What emerged from the
Hellenistic and Alexandrian
medical endeavors were 4
competing schools of
medical philosophy, all of
which were transmitted, to
some degree, to ancient
Rome.
Dogmatists
Empiricists
Methodists
Pneumatists
PNEUMA
Dogmatists
Empiricists
Methodists
Pneumatists
Long before this time;
however, ancient
Romans had
developed their own,
very different pattern
of health care.
Common Roman
Diseases
Malaria
Anthrax
Typhus Fever
Dogmatists
Empiricists
Methodists
Pneumatists
The first Greek doctor to
supposedly arrive in
Rome was Archagathus
of Sparta in 219 B.C.E.,
though there certainly
were others who
preceded him.
Over the following
centuries Greek iatroi
from the various
parts of the
Hellenistic world
arrived in Rome in
ever increasing
numbers.
At first many of these
philosophically
trained iatroi came as
slaves, as Rome
solidified its military
hold over the Near
East.
As Greek medical
concepts became more
popular, especially
among members of the
upper class; however, we
find efforts in the Empire
period to actively attract
Greek doctors to Rome.
Roman emperors granted
Greek physicians willing
to come to Rome:
high status of Roman
citizenship
freedom from military service
no taxation of their incomes
It was in their practicality
and their greatness in
large-scale organization
that the Romans made
their major contributions
to medicine and public
health.
This point is well
illustrated by the massive
public works projects
during the Roman
Empire, undertaken to
assure an adequate water
supply and acceptable
public sanitation.
Roman technical and hygienic
public health achievements clearly
surpassed any purely medical
advances made in this period, and
this fact can at least be partially
attributed to the Roman belief that
it was far more important to
maintain one's good health than to
depend on medicine’s ability to
cure disease.
Medicine=Trade
Hippocratic Corpus