Roman Military Medicine Essay

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Roman Military Medicine

The Roman army is the representation of the empire’s strength, responsible for the creation, conquests, and glory of the ancient Roman Empire. It is no secret the might of the roman army came from the superior training, experience, and equipment of its individual soldiers. There were many brilliant and no so brilliant generals that owe their success and accomplishments to their battle hardened armies, but the unsung heroes are the advanced medical practices and innovations that allowed the soldiers to recover from their wounds and return to the fight. Roman military medicine was vastly superior to their enemies and is largely responsible for making sure the Roman army efficiently recovered from their wounds and returned to their duties on the battlefield.
Medical personnel in the Roman army became a crucial part of the fighting forces. Under Emperor Augustus the army comprised of about 24 to 27 legions. Each legion contained 10 cohorts with 480 men in each cohort. There were 10-12 physicians place in each legion with about 800 total physicians in the army. The medical staff fell under the support section of the legion. Somewhere between 27 B.C. and A.D. 476 Roman military medicine was at its peak. During the reign of Emperor Augustus the very first Roman Medical Corps was created. The incorporation of the medical unit into the legions gives the army the advantage at the structural level and the creation of the separate medical corps is an early reflection on the medical units in contemporary military units.
Many of the medical practices and innovations did not originate from Rome itself however the Romans can be accredited with being the first army to use field hospitals during their campaigns. Befor...

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Civilizations crumbled, armies defeated and populations were enslaved at the hand of the mighty Roman army backed by the most superior medical care in the ancient world. The bloody campaigns have caused countless flesh wounds and From the innovation of having a military field hospital close to the front lines, the application of the triage to maintain medical efficiency, to the surgical procedures on the battlefield, the Roman empire had a distinct advantage over their enemies. They could take better care of their wounded more quickly and efficiently and return them to the will of the empire. In fact a Roman soldier serving in the legions lived five times longer than that of the average civilian. The famous and powerful Roman army was able to achieve their conquests thanks to advanced medical practices that can be seen well beyond to modern times.

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