Exhibition notes for A Day in Pompeii - Museum Victoria

http://museumvictoria.com.au/Pompeii
Exhibition Notes
MEDICINE
Thoroughly modern medicine
The wealthier citizens of Pompeii had access to surprisingly sophisticated medical care.
In fact, the Romans had begun learning about medicine centuries earlier, around the end
of the third century BC, when the first Greek doctor came to Rome.
At first, the ‘practice’ of medicine was just that: methods were based on trial and error,
and anyone could call himself a doctor. Many medical practitioners were slaves, and as
a result the profession did not enjoy a high reputation. However, these experimental
doctors’ methods improved over the years, as successful treatments were noted and
passed on. Roman doctors began to study the works of Hippocrates (the Greek
physician known as the ‘father of medicine’) and by the time of Augustus the Romans
were writing their own medical texts.
Roman doctors used a great variety of medicinal plants, including morphine extracted
from opium poppies to take away pain. They made prostheses to replace lost limbs, set
broken bones and performed many kinds of surgery. One popular procedure was
trephination – drilling holes in the patient’s skull to relieve pressure. Even cosmetic
surgery was performed for the wealthy.
Roman surgical instruments were strikingly similar to modern ones, and used for many
of the same purposes: steel or bronze scalpels to make incisions, blunt hooks as probes
for dissection, sharp hooks to lift pieces of tissue, forceps to extract small pieces of
bone, and bone saws for the heavy work of performing amputations. These pioneering
surgeons also used catheters to remove blockages in the urinary tract and bleeding cups
to remove blood in an attempt to rid the body of disease. An impressive set of 40
surgical instruments was found in the aptly named House of the Surgeon at Pompeii.
Although hygiene was improperly understood in Roman times, the extensive aqueduct
systems delivered fresh water to millions and helped prevent water-borne diseases, as
did the sophisticated toilet and sewerage systems which carried wastes away from
densely populated areas. (Ironically, the lead pipes which carried the water posed their
own health threat, a fact which was known to the Romans.) They may have had no cure
for lead poisoning, but they were clearly aware that good food and exercise were
important in maintaining a healthy body. In fact, the Roman medical system was so
advanced that it remained unsurpassed until the ninteenth century, and the snake (the
symbol of Aesculapius, the Greek god of medicine) is associated with the medical
profession to this day.
RELIGION
Cult following: the importance of the gods in daily life
The Pompeians worshipped many gods, primarily Graeco-Roman deities such as Jupiter
(the Greek Zeus), Juno (Hera), Minerva (Athena) and Apollo. The oldest temple in
Pompeii, which dates to the sixth century BC, may have been a temple of Minerva. A
temple of Apollo stands next to the Forum and a temple of Jupiter at its north end, both
built in the second century BC. In about 80 BC, a temple of Venus was built on high
ground in the southwest corner of the city overlooking the sea, from which mythology
tells us the goddess was born.
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