Roman Medicine

[Pertinax]

Sanity rating :drunk:

 

im glad you think im sane.

Do you think you could recommend a source on traditional or 'alternative' remedies such as the ones you have described, either an Internet site or book (cheapish). I find that Googling it turns up unrelated or brief sites.

 

Go to my Blog entry and scroll down to the "Herbalism Ancient and Modern " entry , there is a select bibilography. Note that I strongly recommend understanding the chemical matrix of the plant , too few persons extracting the active principles to produce "modern chemical medicines" seem to understand the plant as a dynamic resource in harmony/conflict with animals.The Pagan attitude of respect to the animus of growing things should not be ignored , it is crucial to ethnobotany.

You will be very surprised to find how many "modern " drugs are isolated and synthesised plant materials , and how many are straight survivals from antiquity.If you have had a pre-med prior to surgery, Titus Pullo and yourself, have both had Henbane.

Notice please that I also suggest Ibn Sinna (Avicenna) the Moslem scholar who saved (and commented upon) many ancient Greek texts as an essential read.

 

ps I think we should hop over to the "medicine thread" with these last posts.

[Aurelianus]

Thanks! ive been meaning to do something about my knowledge in ancient medicine for years, but never got around to it. It's something I often want to refer to in my writing, and also the more practical side of me likes little bits of knowledge like that. My memory hates me for it though . So much to know so little time to learn it in. *sighs*

[Gaius Octavius]

What did the Ancients use for poisonous snake bites?

Was urine used as an antiseptic?

[Pertinax]

What did the Ancients use for poisonous snake bites?

Was urine used as an antiseptic?

Urine has always been used as a battlefield antiseptic - if no regular acetum /lavender water was available (in Roman context), and it can be so used today. Hypericum perforatum (the Wort of St John ) is of course for the bitte of Adderse Blackke-here is a variant :

 

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...=si&img=545

 

and the original:

 

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...=si&img=149

[Gaius Octavius]

It's no wonder that Dr. Van Helsing failed in curbing the good Count Dracula's efforts. These herbs were not on his menu! Your assistance will be invaluable in the near future.

 

[Pertinax]

It's no wonder that Dr. Van Helsing failed in curbing the good Count Dracula's efforts. These herbs were not on his menu! Your assistance will be invaluable in the near future.

 

I hope you do not intend to emulate the assasination scene in Gladiator ? (Snakes on a Triclinium)

[CiceroD]

Im wondering,

 

In either Roman Medicinedoes it mention whether or not doctors proscribed prayers as well as medicine?

 

I saw this in the 1970's I Claudius miniseries starring Derek Jacobi

I dont know if this is accurate or not.

 

good show though

[Pertinax]

Im wondering,

 

In either Roman Medicinedoes it mention whether or not doctors proscribed prayers as well as medicine?

 

I saw this in the 1970's I Claudius miniseries starring Derek Jacobi

I dont know if this is accurate or not.

 

good show though

 

Quite definitely, the offering of prayers ,sacrifices and "incubation" (sleeping in the precinct of a deity in the hope of receiving healing and cleansing) would be part of the process. Midwives chanted soothing verses to assuage the pains of labour. The offering of devotional items as sympathetic magic at shrines occured also eg: devotional items at Aqua Sullis.

[Pertinax]

A splendid book review by The Augusta (Livia-First Lady of Imperial Rome) leads me to ask that Most Noble Lady if she might make some trivial items available , namely the toothpaste and cough mixture recipes of the First Lady (if the ingredients are extant)? Any remarks regarding the safety of these items will of course be ignored with Patrician disdain.

[Lost_Warrior]

Roman toothpaste? Was there such a thing?

 

If so, what sort of toothbrush did they use? Or something else? A piece of cloth tied to a stick?

[Pertinax]

Now that is a very interesting question: if you remember my review of Cruse's book on medicine , I noted that finds of Roman teeth indicated greater physical wear overall (in view of the denser, fibrous diet) but less carious and decayed teeth (no sugar save honey). I myself have been given a gift of twigs from the "toothbrush tree" (Neem) by Bengali friends , and these fibrous but (relativly) soft twigs are clean tasting and give sufficient abrasion to keep the teeth clean.

 

http://www.neem-products.com/neem-twig.html

 

Now, I have no indication in any text as regards toothbrushes, indeed a brush is not strictly required -reasonable friction with a finger would suffice, but I am intrigued and will delve !

 

and Ive shifted these posts from poison to medicine.

[Gaius Octavius]

From The Augusta's review of the Livia book.

 

"She was a keen viniculturist and horticulturist; she was obsessive about health, longevity and alternative medicine. He even quotes recipes attributed to Livia: one, that she seems to have cribbed from her sister-in-law Octavia, for toothpaste; and one of her own: a proven remedy against inflammation of the throat and chest in winter."

[Pertinax]

Here is an extract from a pm sent to me by The Augusta , and I would like to thank her for taking the time to put this together. I have annotated the ingredients briefly, and can see a definite logic in the formula.As you will notice , my main stumbling block is the inclusion of the rendered ash of swallows (which seems to be more of a sympathetic magicality ).

 

(The recipes were 'published' by Marcellus Empiricus in Theodosius' time and were still held to

be efficacious)

Remedy for inflammation of the throat, coughs etc: (Pertinaxid comment in brackets)

 

2 denarii of each of the following:

costus (a species of ginger, not a Roman favourite due to its fiery taste)

opium (probably the sticky residue of the bulb, often chewed for severe tothache)

anis (a species of cinnamon, strongly anti-microbial)

aromatic rush (very likely to by a cardiac glycoside)

red cassia (probably a sub species of cinnamon, known as "bastard cinnamon" from the camphor

laurel, camphor being a specific for phlegm)

1 denarius of coriander (destroys E.coli bacteria)

1 victoriatus of amomum (black cardommon)

1 denarius of split alum (not the modern alum, rather a sulphate normally used in dyeing, the

sulphur content would act as a purge)

5 grains the size of chickpeas from the centre of an oak apple (expectorant/purge)

2 denarii of saffron (strongly anti-microbial, and now recognised as anti tumerous)

1 victoriatus of saffron residue

1 victoriatus of myrrh (one of the best specifics for the destruction of colonising bacteria in

the gums and throat)

4 denarii of Greek birthwort (named such as being a muscle relaxant)

3 denarii of cinnamon

5 denarii of the ash of baked chicks of wild swallows (hmmmm)

1 victoriatus of a grain of nard (spikenard, used in this era for wounds (like Yarrow)).

 

All these ingredients, thoroughly ground up, are mixed with skimmed Attic honey. When there is

a need to renew the medicine, a sufficient amount of the same honey is added and in that medium

it is inserted into the jaws.

 

Livia always had this ready on hand, stored in a glass vessel, for it is amazingly effective

against quinsy and inflammation of the throat

 

 

[A secondary comment is that , at this time, many of the ingredients would have been extraordinarily expensive, but this does not detract from the fact that if this is the Empresses' own work she was a very skilled and knowledgable plantswoman.]

 

The Augusta continues:-

 

Alas, the actual ingredients for her toothpaste are not given in the book, but there is another

of her 'cures' for nervous tension:

 

Salve for chills, tiredness and nervous pain and tension, which when applied in winter prevents

 

any part of the limbs from being chilled. Livia Augusta used this:

 

1 sextarius of marjoram

1 sextarius of rosemary

1 lb of fenugreek

1 congium of Falernian wine

5 lbs of Venafrian oil (any sources here please, I know Horace mentions this commodity? I strongly suspect a salicylate plant (such as willow or wintergreen) as a pain reliever)

 

Apart from the oil one should steep all the ingredients in the wine for three days, then on the

fourth day mix in the oil and cook the medicine on a moderate coal, until the wine vanishes,

and the next stage is to strain through two layers of linen and to add a half-pound of Pontic

wax while the oil is warm. The medicine is stored in a clay or tin vessel. It is effective when

rubbed gently into all the limbs.

 

[i would want to be in charge of mixing the first formula , if I were taking it myself, as although the individual ingredients are logicallly excellent-a mistake could be "unpleasant"].

 

Thank you again Augusta.

[Gaius Octavius]

Pertinaxid! Another one Dr. Johnson missed. :notworthy: I have added it to mine.

 

Will there be any Pertinaxid comments on MY recipe for that Dutch bread?

 

[Pertinax]

Pertinaxid! Another one Dr. Johnson missed. :notworthy: I have added it to mine.

 

Will there be any Pertinaxid comments on MY recipe for that Dutch bread?

 

You are not forgotten GO ( could you ever be?), I hope to have the information for you later tomorrow. I anticipate pertinaxid maxims.

 

Augusta : am I correct in considering a victoriatus as 3/4 denarius?