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HOW DO WE KNOW ABOUT MEDICINE
AND HEALTH IN ROMAN KENT?
  The Romans were far more advanced in their understanding and treatment of ill health than the people who lived in Kent before the invasion of Emperor Claudius in 43AD.
 

Kent was one of the most densely populated areas in the country and there were several large Roman towns and ports.

The very wealthy people in Roman Kent would have been able to consult doctors in towns like Rochester, Canterbury and London. These doctors would have been trained in the Greek methods of observing and recording the symptoms of the patient. The doctors would have had to deal with an increasing number of infectious diseases for which they would have had a number of natural remedies and treatments, but their understanding of the causes of disease was very limited. They knew nothing about microscopic germs and explained illness through the theory of the four humours.

The theory of the four humours was based on a belief that there were four elements that were linked to the seasons. These elements were treated with their opposites. For example, if you had a temperature in the summer you were treated by being made cold. The careful observation of patients tended to confirm that this was the cause of disease.

The Romans were able to perform surgery but they faced the three major problems that would not be solved until the twentieth century. They could not ease the terrible pain, they were unable to stop infection and they could not control bleeding. This meant that they could only perform a limited number of operations.
 
Source 1 Celsus a Roman writer described an amputation in his encyclopaedia De Medicina
" When the gangrene has developed... the limb... must be amputated. But even that involves great risk; for patients often die during the operation... It does not matter, however, whether the remedy is safe enough, since it is the only one. Therefore between the sound and the diseased part, the flesh is cut through with a scalpel down to the bone, but this must not be done actually over the joint, and it is better that some of the sound part be cut away than that any of the diseased part be left behind... the bone is then to be cut through with a small saw."
 

One of the most important discoveries made by the Roman doctors was the effect of dirt and sewage. It became clear that Roman towns that were clean, and where people bathed regularly had fewer health problems than those that were dirty and where there was no fresh water supply. The development of public health systems was one of the major reasons for the higher life expectancy of the people of Kent in Roman times.
 

Activities
Use this page along with the next page to complete the following tasks.

1. In groups of three decide who will be a wealthy Roman, a shop keeper and a poor person. What public health facilities would be available to you in Canterbury?
2. Write a short piece explaining why public health was so important in raising the life expectancy of the people of Kent.