First Aid in the Roman Army

[M. Caecilius]

Thanks, Nathan.

I'll have to see whether I can get hold of that book. BAR Series are hard to come by in my experience, outside of a library - and none of the ones in my area (National Library of Luxembourg; University of Trier) seem to have this book, or Prioreschi's work.

I'll browse Dionysius and Polybius. They certainly sounds interesting, especially since this would concern the Republican era, when Greek-style medicine was largely frowned upon: the Elder Cato, quoted by Pliny [NH.29.7.14] believed it was all a conspiracy so the Greeks could kill them, though not everyone may have shared that particular opinion. The first Greek surgeon in Rome, Archagatus, had started out well before his reputation became that of a butcher (carnifex), also in Pliny as part of the same diatribe against the medical profession. It probably did not help that Archagatus arrived in 219 B.C. just in time for the Second Punic and First Macedonian Wars. Then again, no need to study at the Library of Alexandria to know about bandages, and I doubt even Cato would have found them too novel for his taste.