PREVENIREA ŞI CONTROLUL EPIDEMIILOR ÎN ARMATA ROMANĂ
PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF EPIDEMICS IN THE ROMAN ARMY

PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF EPIDEMICS IN THE ROMAN ARMY

Summary/Abstract: One of the sources of the Roman army’s effectiveness was the selection of the physically and mentally sane soldiers (actually the word designating the main battle unit “Legion” comes from the Latin word “Leggere” meaning “to choose” to select”).During military service, these standards were maintained by the hygienic practices, isolation and careful treatment of the wounded/infected soldiers. Although the Roman army took over a great deal from the Oriental/Hellenistic armies in terms of combat medicine and treatment of wounds/diseases, the use of medical corpsmen, field hospitals, triage of wounded/sick military personnel and a basic understanding of the epidemiology were strictly Roman “inventions”.The Roman field medics and auxiliary medical personnel unterstood the use of sanitation, and the importance rapid medical care, as well as the direct relation between timing of diagnosis and the quality of medical services The goal was to reduce the loss of military manpower caused by injuries or/and injuries as one of the main methods of succes in warfare.The aim of this paper is to present briefly the main historical sources concerning the prevention and treatment of epidemics and, based on these, a few medical practices used in the Roman era.

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