guy Posted December 18, 2010 Report Share Posted December 18, 2010 (edited) Here's my favorite quote by Celsus on medicine. It deals with the qualifications of surgeons in a world without safe and consistantly effective anaesthetics, analgesics, or sedation.: Now a surgeon should be youthful or at any rate nearer youth than age; with a strong and steady hand which never trembles, and ready to use the left hand as well as the right; with vision sharp and clear, and spirit undaunted; filled with pity, so that he wishes to cure his patient, yet is not moved by his cries, to go too fast, or cut less than is necessary; but he does everything just as if the cries of pain cause him no emotion. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Celsus/7*.html Great picture http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?app=gallery&module=images§ion=viewimage&img=3070 It is hard to imagine the agony and terror that patients face while undergoing surgery in the Ancient world. Ouch. guy also known as gaius (Source: Wikipedia): 1st Century A.D. fresco from Pompeii (now in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale (Naples)), showing Iapyx removing an arrowhead from the leg of Aenas, with Aenas's son Iulus Ascanius crying beside his father. At left, Aeneas' mother, the goddess Venus (the Greek Aphrodite). Edited December 18, 2010 by guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guy Posted December 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2010 This video best best captures the brutality of Ancient surgery. (The is taken from the trepanation scene in HBO's Rome): Also, the above quote was by Aulus Cornelius Celsus (25 BCE to AD 50), who probably was not a physician. The quote is from De Medicina, the only surviving part from a much larger encyclopedia of general knowledge that included diverse topics such as law, rhetoric, agriculture, and the military arts. (Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aulus_Cornelius_Celsus) guy also known as gaius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noricum Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 Very interesting - thanks for posting this I'm an RN and also worked as a midwife for many years so this topic really sparked my interest - so off I went and Googled some good links One thing stands out - some of the surgical instruments used today are pretty much to the same design as those used in ancient times - for example, we use probes and curettes at the general practice where I work just like those pictured in links to Roman surgical instruments I'm really on a discovery trip here - so glad I found this website! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostOfClayton Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 Very interesting - thanks for posting this I'm an RN and also worked as a midwife for many years so this topic really sparked my interest - so off I went and Googled some good links One thing stands out - some of the surgical instruments used today are pretty much to the same design as those used in ancient times - for example, we use probes and curettes at the general practice where I work just like those pictured in links to Roman surgical instruments I'm really on a discovery trip here - so glad I found this website! I'd be really interested to know more about similarities between Roman and modern surgical tools and techniques. Do let us know if you find more interesting information, Noricum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.