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Medical Care in the Roman Army During the High Empire

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Medical Care in the Roman Army During the High Empire chapter 10 Medical Care in the Roman Army during the High Empire Ido Israelowich A range of evidential sources indicate that medical care was habitually pro- vided in the various units of the Roman imperial army.* However, while there is no doubt that medical care was on offer within the Roman army, that it was provided by physicians who were also soldiers, and that it was supervised and managed by military commanders, its extent, raison d’être, formation, and impact on civic medicine are not beyond dispute.1 This chapter will evaluate the scope of medical care available to Roman soldiers during the High Empire and assess its impact on Roman healthcare in general, and upon popular med- icine in particular. The essay’s starting point will be an evaluation of the evi- dence in support of the existence of a ‘medical corps’, and its reach within the military setting. I will then move on to consider its responsibilities, and reconsider the influence of the Roman medical corps on wider society. Finally, to conclude, I will ask whether a ‘grand design’ lay behind the medical corps’ foundation by the Roman imperial government. Evidence for Medical Care in the Roman Army There is a wealth of evidence to support the assertion that medical care was available throughout the Roman army. To begin, official titles of military per- sonnel, together with material remains, confirm that soldiers received the ser- vices of doctors. Inscriptions commemorated army doctors bearing the titles * I would like to thank Professor W.V. Harris for inviting me to the Popular Medicine confer- ence in 2014. I am also grateful to the Israeli Science Foundation for generously funding the research leading to this article. 1 Jackson 1988, ch. 4, and Nutton 2013, ch. 12, discuss the impact of the Roman conquest and its army on the evolution of surgery. Wilmanns 1995 is an excellent study on the personnel of the Roman army, as are Davies 1969, 1970, 1972, 1989. Baker 2002 and 2004 provides a fascinating exploration of the archaeological aspects of the military’s valetudinaria. © trustees of columbia university in the city of new york, ���6 | doi ��.��63/97890043�6040_0�� 216 Israelowich of medicus alae,2 medicus castrensis/castrorum,3 medicus chirurgus,4 medi- cus clinicus,5 medicus cohortis, medicus duplicarius, medicus legionis, medicus ordinarius, and other variants.6 These inscriptions originate from Britain in the west to Syria in the east, from Germany in the north, to Egypt and North Africa in the south— hence they reveal the presence of army doctors throughout the Empire. They refer to physicians who served in the army and took the soldiers’ oath.7 They indicate a relatively high level of specification amongst army doc- tors in terms of the medical profession itself (e.g. medicus chirurgus and medi- cus clinicus); also in terms of jurisdiction (e.g. medicus alae, medicus cohortis, and medicus legionis) and in terms of military status (e.g. medicus duplicarius, medicus ordinarius).8 In addition, inscriptions allude to the officers who were in charge of the administration of medical care within the army units, such as the optio convalescentium and the optio valetudinarii.9 Remains of military hospitals have been recorded in Isca Silurum, Hod Hill, Valekenburg, Vetera, Haltern, Novaesium, Aequae Mattiacorum, Vindonissa, Ehngen- Risstissen, Oberstimm, Quintana, Locica, Carnuntum, Ulcisia Castra, Stojnik am Kosmaj- Gebirge, Novae, and Beroea. Inscriptions referring to medical personnel were found in many other military sites, and Juliane Wilmanns has traced evidence for medical personnel in sixty-seven Roman army sites.10 In addition to titular indication of medical personnel, archaeologists have found medical instruments in many of the legionary and auxiliary camps, such as surgical tools and boxes of materia medica.11 These instruments resemble each other throughout the Roman Empire. Moreover, medical authors such as Celsus and Galen, and pharmacological treatises such as those of Scribonius 2 Ephemeris Epigraphica VII no. 979 = RIB 1028 = Wilmanns no. 33; CIL XI 3007 = ILS 2542. 3 CIL VI 31172 = ILS 2193a; CIL VI 19 = ILS 2194. 4 AE 1945 no. 62. 5 CIL VI 2532 = ILS 2093. 6 Cf. Davies 1969, 1970, 1972; Nutton 1970; Wilmanns 1987, 1995. 7 A physician took the military oath, thus becoming a miles, even miles principalis or miles immunis (Dig. 50.6.7). Their service counted as stipendia and was bound to military law, cf. Nutton 1971, 262. The second-century jurist Tarruntenus Paternus includes physicians and other specialists with the immunes, which means that they were exempt from certain soldierly duties in return for other services, CJ 12.35.6; Dig. 4.6.33. 8 For the question of rank amongst medics in the Roman Army see Gilliam 1940, Sander 1959, Davies 1969, Wilmanns 1995, 75. 9 CIL VI 1057; CIL X 3478 = ILS 2858; CIL VI 175; CIL VI 31145; CIL IX 1617 = ILS 2117; CIL XIII 8011; AE 1937 no. 181; CIL VIII 2563 = ILS 2437. 10 Wilmanns 1995, 306–307. 11 Jackson 1988, ch. 4..
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