First Aid in the Roman Army

[M. Caecilius]

Thanks for the reply. I haven't had time (obviously, given the gap between these posts) to watch the clip, but will definitely do so.

Galen certainly contributed a lot of things - including the idea that one should boil one's instruments between patients, though Hippocrates also does this. Galen was indeed from Pergamon, before he moved to Rome (and left it for the plague).

I've been going through a few books. One issue of the Xantener Berichte (No.16) deals with the effects of weapons (including war wounds), Health in Antiquity (Ed. H. King) has got some interesting articles, so does S. de Caroli (ed), Ars Medica: I Ferri del Mestiere. I've also got an article by R. Jackson and S. La Niece, 'A Set of Roman Medical Instruments from Italy' (Britannia 17 (1986): 119-167, available on Jstor, as well as a number of other works for which I haven't got the references handy. I believe a lot of work has been done with epigraphy as well.

I would not advise using the history channel as a source of information. Period.

Why not? I've got no experience with it (we don't get it here). I assume it's too sensationalist?