Ancient Roman medicine was advanced in some ways, and well, barbaric in other ways. Although the ancient Romans did not have the level of knowledge that we have about infectious diseases today, they did understand that there were germs and that these germs could contaminate and spread to others. For its time, the ancient Romans had a very effective sewage system that provided the public with access to clean water. In many ways, having access to uncontaminated water prevented a lot of diseases caused by poor hygiene in Ancient Rome.

The ancient Romans were constantly at war, so physicians were always needed to heal any wounded soldiers. In fact, there are some written accounts of what some of the physicians did to cure the wounded. It seems that amputations were sometimes performed, without very much concern for antiseptics or analgesics. Some of the excavations of the surgical tools (photo below) used in Ancient Rome are simply frightening. For instance, the surgical saw used to cut through bone makes one cringe just thinking about it.

There is evidence that the ancient Romans performed brain “surgery”. Several ancient Roman skulls have been unearthed with holes in the cranial area. Scholars believe that these holes were created by trephination; which is a process where holes are made in the brain to relieve pressure in the skull. The ancient Romans believed that trephination would cure epilepsy, migraines and mental/mood disorders. Here is a reenactment of what might have happened in an ancient Roman style brain surgery : (But I have to warn you that it’s pretty gruesome)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewz9GNOou64