Prehistoric to Roman

The abbreviated guide to Medicine

through time. Whilst this doesnt
have everything, the rest is in the
packs YOU created

Prehistoric, Egyptian, Greek, Roman

Prehistoric

Egyptian

Greek

Roman (43AD
Roman
conquest of
Britain)
3000BC

2000BC

1000BC

Year 0

500AD

What did the Greeks know?

How did they treat injury and
illness?
Went to the Asclepion.
Believed they would be
visited by Asclepious and his
daughters. Used clinical
observation and wrote down
remedies. Simple surgery.
Bled patients.

What did they think caused

disease?
They believed that you
became ill when your
humours were out of balance.
Also believed illness was
caused by the Gods.

Greeks

How healthy were people?

Ate well and lived in fairly
clean conditions. Women in
wealthier families were likely
to have healthy babies and
less vulnerable to infection.

Who provided health and

medical care?
Priests and doctors as well as
family members. Women
especially important.

Hippocrates
What did he discover?
Developed the ideas of the
Four Humours. Believed in
observing patients and
recording the details. Also
wrote books and set out the
Hippocratic oath.

How did he share his

discoveries?
Wrote his ideas down in
books which are known as
the Hippocratic collection.
First detailed list of symptoms
and treatment.

Hippocrates

Why is he important?
Because of his work he is
seen as the father of
medicine.
Many of his ideas continued
by the Romans into the
Middle Ages

What treatment did he

recommend?
He recommended that people
look for natural treatments
rather than going to the Gods
for help. His treatments were
not intrusive; he
recommended giving the
body time to heal itself

Four Humours and four elements

Black
bile

Yellow
Bile

Earth

Four Humours

Blood

Fire

Elements

Phlegm

Wind

Water

What did the Romans know?

How did they treat injury and
illness?
The looked for practical cures
rather than super natural
ones, using home remedies.
Simple operations and
advised exercise.

What did they think caused

disease?
Some believed in Gods
(worship of Asclepius
continued from the Greeks)
where as others believed in
the four humours and the
body becoming unbalanced.

Romans

How healthy were people?

Similar to the Greeks. There
was a big focus on health due
to the need to have a strong
army

Who provided health and

medical care?
Trained doctors who visited
people at home, priest and
fathers (in wealthy families)
provided the medical care.
Roman hospitals existed only
in forts. However medical
care not compulsory, anyone
could call themselves a
doctor.

Galen
How did he share his
discoveries?
Through public
demonstrations and writing.
He wrote 60 books combining
Greek and Roman ideas.
Became basis of medical
teaching for 1500 years.

What did he discover?

He proved it was the brain
and not the heart that
controlled the body. He was a
great showman and
demonstrated this through a
public dissection of a live pig.
However, he got some things
wrong as he had to dissect
animals rather than humans.
Theory opposites.

Galen

Why is he important?
His ideas became the
basis of medical teaching
for 1500 years. His beliefs
about the body being
created by One God
fitted with the Christian
religion and as they later
controlled medical
education they promoted
this belief

What treatment did he

recommend?
He recommended
purging/bleeding far more
than Hippocrates and using
opposites in order to restore
the balance of the humours.
He recommended a greater
focus on dissection to
understand the human body

The Four Humours

Element

Qualities

Water

Season

Humour

Illness/
Symptom

Cold and moist Winter

Phlegm

Sneezing/cold

Air

Hot and moist

Spring

Blood

Dysentery/
nose bleeds

Fire

Hot and dry

Summer

Yellow bile

Fevers/
vomiting/
yellow skin

Earth

Cold and dry

Autumn

Black bile

Dry skin /
vomiting

What was the Romans big idea?

PUBLIC
HEALTH
1.) Access to clean water for all; aqueducts, public
fountains, wealthy home had water plumbed directly in
2.) Removal of waste; public toilets, sewer systems
3.) Access to washing; very cheap public bath houses

Middle Ages to Renaissance

500AD

1750AD

Middle Ages
The Middle Ages also known as the
medieval period through to Renaissance.
One period of stagnation in many
respects followed by one of
experimentation and change.

Timeline
Prehistoric

Egyptian
Greek
Roman

Middle Ages
Renaissance

3000BC

2000BC

1000BC

Year 0

500AD

1000AD

1400AD

1750AD

Middle Ages
With the collapse of
Rome, Western
Europe splits into
smaller countries
and tribes.

The countries
were often at
war with each
other.

Travel
became
more
dangerous.

Phase 1 = Chaos

Education
and
development
of technology
disrupted.

The Romans leave

Rulers spent money

on defences and
armies rather than
public health and
medicine.

War
disrupted
trade.
Training of
doctors
abandoned with
Galens books
lost or hidden
for safety.

Christian church
was the only strong
centralised part of
the Roman Empire
to survive.

Each village had a

church with a priest
who told people how
to behave.

Many of the Roman

public health works
were destroyed or
abandoned by
people in the MA

Phase 2 = Power of
the Church grows

Middle Ages
Monasteries
controlled education.
Priests and monks
were often the only
ones who learned to
read.

The Church

The only libraries

were in monasteries
and sometimes
banned books.
The Church taught that
there were supernatural
causes of everything and
that God or the Devil
controlled their lives.

The Pope and the bishops

were afraid new ideas would
challenge the power of the
church so discouraged
challenging Galen.

After 1000
After 1300

Middle Ages
Church became
richer.

Harvests Improve
and trade increases.

Change

Scholars travelled
more freely plus
more money around.

Phase 3 = Things
start to change

Church had set up

universities where
doctors could be
trained.

Armies took trained

doctors to war
where they gained
experience.

Rulers were
attempting to clean
up towns and
merchants and
scholars travelled.

Black Death
Major impact.
Caused by fleas on rats.
But what did they believe caused the
Black Death?

Causes of illness
God and the Devil
were seen as the
main causes of
disease.

Desperate
explanations were
blamed. Ridiculous
fashions or unlucky
signs

People believed that

the alignment of the
planets affected
health along with
bad air.

Cause of
illness in
Middle Ages
People blamed
miasma (bad smells)
for causing disease.

People blamed
minorities such as
the Jews for
spreading diseases.
Still followed the
ideas of Galen and
believed in the four
humours.

Diagnosis using
urine charts and
Zodiac man

Treatment
Nobody with a contagious
disease, pregnancy/infant,
or intolerable people to
be admitted

Bleeding
and purging
patients.
Balancing
the humours

People would beat

themselves and ask
for Gods forgiveness
(Flagellants)
Use the theory of
opposites developed
by Galen.

Only the old and

infirm were given
treatment at
most hospitals
Nursing care in
hospitals was
provided by
nuns. Treatment
usually consisted
of prayer, rest
and simple food,
although home
remedies were
also used

Treatment

Some specialist
hospitals opened
to care for leper
colonies or
pregnant women

Caesarean births
and other simple
surgeries.

Women would care

for the family.
Sharing of remedies.

Training
No training for women as not allowed to attend universities.
Church was suspicious of Wise Women.
Dissection of humans limited to one a year done by the teachers
assistant, not the student; they could only observe
Galens ideas accepted not challenged. New ideas were
discouraged
Astrology became a big focus but most of all religion
Diagnoses was through urine charts, bleeding charts and the
zodiac man
Church did build universities which meant some education was
taking place
Some Doctors learnt their trade on the battlefield

Public Health
Roman public health collapsed.
Waste was thrown into the streets and rivers. People collected
drinking water from storage pits right next to cess pits.
Open sewers.
Towards the end of the period measures were introduced to
clean up towns but they were largely ineffective
Rakers to clean the streets but there were too few
Public latrines but there were never enough toilets
Laws to punish throwing waste and officials to enforce the laws there
were never enough officials and they regularly overlooked crimes

Renaissance

Change

Result

After the black death survivors earned

more

Many people had spare time and

money and spent some of this on
education

Wealth and education triggered

Renaissance

Educated people likened themselves to

the Greeks and Romans (seen as
intelligent) and saw people from the
Middle Ages as ignorant

Made new translations of Galen

New versions of Greek and Roman

ideas available

 Vesalius

Two key people

Training from
the1500s 1700s

Jenner

Magic Bullets

Training

Women

Public health Main events

Discovering DNA Crick and Watson