Roman Medicine

Because doctors are sometimes called “leeches”

A pharmacy

 

Doctors

         Doctors didn’t receive the respect they get today. Most Romans thought they were cheats.  Many conned people out of their money. Most doctors had little training other apprenticing with another doctor. Many freed slaves became doctors. Other people who had failed at everything else also became doctors. A few tried to find effective treatments and better the reputation of the profession. Eventually they prevailed. Some doctors did anything for publicity including doing operations on street corners. Wives wanting to get rid of their husbands could pay a doctor “to put a patient out of their misery”. Medicine did get better. The military advanced in finding cures throughout the many wars of the roman empire discovered new techniques for treatment and adopted ideas of the nations they fought against hospitals were developed as a result of wars civilian doctors worked out of their home or in storefronts