Medicine and Health Care Roman Britain, 2007, 56 p., ill. -

The people of Roman Britain almost certainly suffered from many of the illnesses that are still encountered by general practitioners today. However, in considering medicine in Roman Britain it is crucial not to be blinkered by modern views and values. Illnesses that are nowadays thought to warrant being treated by a doctor may in different times have been very effectively dealt with by other healers. Viewed from a twenty-first-century perspective, it is easy to dismiss or denigrate some aspects of Roman medicine and yet to overstate others. How can we be confident that a bronze instrument was actually a surgical tool? Are aqueducts, drains and bath-houses really a reflection of Roman concern for the public health? Should we so easily dismiss dream therapy and other apparently bizarre treatments as being ineffective in the context of Roman -Britain? In this book Dr Nicholas Summerton has assembled and critically examines the archaeological, epigraphic and literary evidence for health care in Roman Britain, set in the context of the Roman Empire. The book covers individual medical care, public health and the relationship between religion and medicine.