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Army Medical Practices
#1
Ave Civitas,

Doing research for my novel, I ran across an interesting and informative article on Accute pain management in the Roman army.
http://www.apicareonline.com/acute-pain-...oman-army/ ]

ABSTRACT

Ancient warfare involved hostilities between, among or within city-states, clans, tribes, chieftaincies, ethnic groups, empires, or with other organized collectives, by means of armed force. Periodic warfare is universal in time and place. Its causes are many and complex, but unquestionably involve microcosmic and macrocosmic factors. Organized violence causes pain, suffering and death among combatants. The Romans forged a medical system that surpassed the medical systems of most of the enemies that the Romans fought. The Roman military staff employed rapid medical treatment of wounds on the battlefield and at field hospitals, including analgesics to increase the speed of recovery. This treatment acted as a force multiplier to give an advantage in war. The alleviation of pain through the use of analgesics was a major factor in allowing minimally and moderately wounded soldiers to return to the battlefield as soon as possible.
Key words: analgesic, immediate medical care, combat medicine.

Editor, “APICARE”

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Tom
AKA Tom Chelmowski

Historiae Eruditere (if that is proper Latin)
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#2
Has anyone done a study to determine whether their mixture of opium and henbane seeds was an efficacious topical anesthetic?
Author: Bronze Age Military Equipment, Pen & Sword Books
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#3
Dan,

Not that I know of.
AKA Tom Chelmowski

Historiae Eruditere (if that is proper Latin)
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#4
(09-25-2018, 01:54 PM)Lothia Wrote: Doing research for my novel, I ran across an interesting and informative article on Accute pain management in the Roman army: [ http://www.apicareonline.com/acute-pain-...oman-army/ ]

This is a curious article. Having done a little research into Roman army medicine in the past, I was intrigued to see where all these new details had come from. So I followed up some of the references.

For example, the section on "Wound Care at Battlefield" is supposedly based on Dioscorides, De Medica Materia 4.63-64.3; 4.75.4. Not a source normally cited by Roman military writers. And I can see why. In these sections, Dioscorides describes various poppy seeds (ch. 63-64) and how mandragora/mandrake can promote sleep if used as a suppository (ch. 76.4 -- ch. 75 doesn't have a 4, so I'm guessing this is a misprint).

The section on "Non-Pharmacological Treatments" is supposedly based on Martialis, Medicinae 52,24 (not sure how to check this -- the standard Teubner edition is divided into 1.1-26, 2.1-28, and 3.1-38); Dioscorides, De Medica Materia 1.98-105 (all about resin and bitumen, unless it's Wellmann's renumbered version, in which case it's a lengthy sequence of plants that can be used for all sorts of stuff, including masking the smell of sweat); 4.9-11 (plants that are used for dysentery, menstrual discharge, inflammation, and hernias); 2.49-50 (rabies and afterbirth, unless it's Wellmann's renumbered version, in which case it's chicken soup and eggs); 2.27 (snake poisoining, or in Wellmann's edition, brine baths); and Galen, De Methodo Medendi 7.6 = Kühn pp. 475-494 (20 pages of Greek that I didn't fancy translating).

These are fascinating sources for evidence of folk cures, but I'm not sure what they tell us about the Roman army. And I would have expected better targeted citations, which are all a bit vague.
posted by Duncan B Campbell
https://ninth-legion.blogspot.com/
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#5
Not knowledgable in ancient medicine (my primary source is The Healing Hand, by Majno. So, when I read this article, I didn't question the validity of the information.
Thanks for your response.
AKA Tom Chelmowski

Historiae Eruditere (if that is proper Latin)
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