THE MEDICI OF THEROMAN ARMED FORCES

R. W. Davies

of the most important groups of men in the Roman army was the medicalThey had various titles but by far the most common was tnedicus, the

ion of whidr with med.icina is obvious. There are various references into the med.ici and a large number of epigraphic examples occur, but the

is by no means clear and has caused scholars considerable difficulty inion. It was not until the time of the Principatel that a proper medical

vas organised, and a collection of the epigraphic and other eyidence isdivided up into the various types of unit, in an appendix,.is epigraphic evidence for medici in all brandres of the Roman forces in

and in the provinces, as well as the fleets, Four medici are attested in twocohortes vigilum in A. D. 2103. It is therefore rather surprising to find

in a dedication set up in A. D, 198 or 799 by the members of the hospitalat Lambaesis the medici are not mentioned. The stafi attested are: two

incs ztaletudinarii.; pequari, sometimes called, pecaarii; a librarius; andtes capsarioruma.It is interesting to note that all the troops had an equalial interest, except for the discentes, whose amount is only half that of

L mrades; this might be taken rc mean tht they were paid at a difierentfrom rhe others, or possibly that they could not be expected to have the samees the others, while they were sdll undergoing their training and had not

qualified. Epigraphically there are considerably more medici attested rhane other medical staff put together. Perhaps it is safest to ssume that

irucription was set up by the medici and capsarii and any other members

F,c c evidence of the Republic see O, Jacob, 'Le service de saat dans les armes romaines',A'f:c;qui Classique 2, 1933,313-29. For the Later Roman Empire cf. Ammianus, XVI 6,2:fut qtidam ex medico scstariontm. ber of the inscription or literary reference given in the appendix will be cited in aces and not the source. For other lists of rzelici, by no means exhaustive aad at times-asr-rte, see F{. Gummerus,'Der Arztestand im rmisdren Reidre nadr den Insd-rriften',t-r Scientiarum Fennica, Commentationes lfumanarum Litterarum, III. 6 (1932).

- A.

Gan; La Medicina Militare nella Leggenda e nella Storia (1929\ 124 . -

\f. Liebenam,lt.l-I 1668,

- . Passerini, Dizionario epigraco di antidrit romane IV (1950) 608, number

-" - J. Marquardt, Rmisdre Staatsverwaltung (second edition) II (1884) 554-7. - J.eclcwgh,'Roman Medicine and the Legionsr a Reconsideration', Medical Hisrory, 12,|' 258, n. 27.

- G. Vebster, The Roman Impeia,I }urlLy (1969) 248-254.

,16.l-trI 2553 + AE 1906, 9 : ILS 2438 * addenda.

R. V. Davies

of the medical stafi6, and this has not been discovered; it might be thatreceiYed different rate of pay.Vegetius in his 'Epitome of Military Matters. quotes as one of the respoun-h1o the praefectas castroram:,Fle was responsible for the sick soldiers andmediri, by whom they were looked after, and also the expenses involved-.another passage he discusses the hygiene, sanitation, arrd ,nedi"irre employcdRoman camps and twice menrions tned;ci| . An important literary source blst of immwnes quoted in the Digest; the source cited is the first vol'Military Matters' of Tarruntenus paternus, the one-time praetorian prefecgmay also have been rhe source for Vegetiuss. An immunis was a soldierbecause of the special tasks he performed, was not available for the normalto day duties in his unit and was relieved from fatigues; he did not receivcextr^ pay for his responsibilities but got the same standard rate as aPaternus quotes in the lirst part of the list optio valetadinarii mediciregaJds the opti,o-in targe of the hospital, the medici, and the dressers as a gpin the. same_ field. The optio valetud.inarii and, the ca7tsarii (so called fromcap,sa in whidt the bandages were kept) are clearly periormini specific taskg ito be presumed thar the term ,nedici w^s similarly intended jesc.ibe a sppost and is not generalisation for the medical sta{f. It is not known omeant by qui degris prdesto sunt, not why a vague phrase should be accordcdthem, why their tedrnical ranh or ranks ,." ,rt merrtiorred, nor wy thry rseparated from the rest of the medical staf. They are perhaps to be regardcdattendants, who would look after the sidr troops, as opposej $ the nedici,lwould give them medical attention and careo. In the Royal Navy they wiII Lequivalent of the ratings medical assistant and medical tedrnician respectivdy-There are other difficulties that arise in connection with paternus,s listcontains only a fraction of the known immunes; presumably he was dravi

and later and separately qui aegris prdesto sr.nt and, also veterinarii. He

his memory rather than quoting a writren source. 5o-" ut l""rt of the menas imrnunes can be shown from the evidence of Vegetius and epigraphy m Ibeen not immanes but principaleslo. A principalis *,

" -"., *ho, b..aus. ofextra responsibiliries, received exl- pay, either twice the basic rate (dupli

or one and a half times (sesqaiplicarius), as.{.e11 as not doing fatigues. Tte

5 Number 59 shows rhat the medici in the fleet (classis |isencnsis\ had. a collezhtm of &For^othe_r medical staf, see CIL XIII 6778, sphsiaius; /le. tititts, ii,' vfi 2*t2618,b,25, mars rs j ^ote

52 beIow, oe terinarius.o Vegetius, Epitoma Rei Militaris II 10.? Ibid. III 2- Vesetius'" r1*.

-.-

L--- L-"7lbid, III ., Vegrtiuys.source may have been A. Cornelius Celsus, who wrote oo rn&maners nd medrcrne, it he is to be identied with the Cornelius Celsus cired by Vegetbr in his list of. sourcer; cf, euintitian, )(II i1,24. Other p""ft-.".*r' *. the.-tq

^ Augustus, Trajan, and Hadrian, and the praetorian prefect Trr.n,"rr" p"*""".I Dig., L 6,7; see previous note,

0 Liebenam. op. cit. (note 2), Xrankenwrter; F. Lammert, RE Suppl. lV 1094. Al.erriras they ftmediatety precede four types of librails, they mi!t be concemed vi rf,p:ll:jl

--*1":d in the running-oiihe fiospital; t.. i tit;"",- i"i i-o.pit l, .o c^

1or expenses, not-e 6 and AE 193j, 120; a rcrj(la) is associated with number 25..^ 1or expenses, note 6 and AE 193j, 120; a rcrj(rd) is ssocited with number 25..u r.oJ qrscussron ot the probjem, see G, R. Vatsoll,s study in: M. G. Jarrett and B. DotccBritain and Rome (1966) 45-55.

The Medici of the Roma Armed Forces 85

aanple, as second in command of his century and its acting commander'its officer (the centurion) fall ill or be absent, was a principalis, The optio

i is presumably a supernumerary optio of the same standing as anb in a century, who had been put in drarge of the hospitallr. Valerius Rufus,

, is listed in a vexillation of legio XI Claadia in A. D. 155 t the end of aof principales and immediately b efore the irnmunes penatoresTz. The medici

' ships of the fleet are always attested as being d,upLic ariirs.is suggests that there may have been more than one type of rnedicas withsrme dtle but with difierent ranks. More detailed examination contrms this

and shows that one m.edicus is to be equated with a medical officer of highand the other with a medical orderly of low rank; it is presumably the

whidr is to be identited with the immunis rnentioned by TrruntenusIt is possible to distinguish the medical officer from the orderly in

ins ways. Domaszewski showed that in the case of the Italian units they heldqrial position; they were associated on inscriptions with officers and senior

. In two cases a man is referred to s rnedicus castrensis or medicusthat is, the doctor in drarge of the camp of the unit, Bononius Gordus

or XIII urbana at Lugdunumls, and Quintus Marcius Artemidorus ofqrites singuLares Augusti at Rome16. In the case of the provincial units the

has at times a Greek name. As normally a Greek would not be enlisted inion or an auxiliary ala or cohott, he must clearly be a Greek-speaking

ited doctor'?. In this category belong Tiberius Claudius Hymnus ofb XXI Rapaxts, Titus Flavius Onesiphorus of kgio III Aagwstatg, Marcus

ius Hegetor of cobors XXXII Voluntarioramzo and Lucius Fabius Anthimus&rc IV Vindelicorwrnzoo. It is possible that the Greek doctor may have been

Roman citizenship, if he did not lready possess it, on joining his unit"., where the dedicator sets up his dedication in Greek, he is to bewith the doctor, as for example, Aufidius Clemens oI legio XXII

brzna2z and Asclepiades of kgio II Traiana in A' D. 146'3 and probablyother instances2a. Another way of identifying the doctor is when the

.|dct supernumerary optio will have been the ogtio fabricae, DiA., L 6,7, CIL III 8202.lE is preferable to supposing .ht .he opt;ones labricae and. valetadinarii were totally dif-kr rrps of NCO from the tactical ones of the same name.

37.| -rq

op. cit. (note 9). Numbers 59-65..N- ra Domaszewski, Die Rangordnung des rmisdren Heeles (1908) 15, 26. - P' K Bailtie -tatds, The Vigiles of Imperial Rome (19261 72,73,78.

7.t8.

rdditioo to the following four notes see also notes 16, 23, 24, 25, 26,1A,31, 33,34, 36,39,d17.

23-25.5.{.

hber 52.t& Caesar gave Roman citizenship to all practising doctors at Rorne, SuetoDius, JuI.,42,1..ll bers of a legion had to possess Roman citizenship.

20.38.39, 68, ar'd 70-

rnedicts dedicates to the god of healing, Aesculapius, or rhe goddess of Ihealth, Hygieia,'who is at times identified with the Roman Salus; ofo.

R. \ . Davies

dedication to the deiries is associated with a wish for the health of r-

made. Marcus Rubrius Zosimus, a Greek but whose home was Ostia, was

Ttrus Marcus Aurelius -ocomas at Bindrester in the third century dedicatodaltar 'to Aesculapius and Salus for the good health of the ala Vettontm.,

zewski interpreted him as a doctor on the exercise-groundro. Sometimesdoctor is reyealed by the special circumstances under whidr the dedicatim

unit251 Sextus Titius Alexander, ntedicus of cobors V praetoria, dedicatedin A. D. 82 'to Aesculapius and the good health of his fellow-soldiers.;Iulianus dedicated in A. D. 198 at Osterburken ,for the good health ofIII Aquitanorum', of whidr unit he was the med,ica|; Tiberius Martiussis, the med.icus of legio II Adiutrix at Aquincum, dedicated to Aesculapius LA. D. 147281' Marcius Marcellus, a med,icas probably of the same legio,to Aesculapius and Hygieia under the supervision of an eoocd,tus, and

of cohors IV Aquitanoram, whidr was stationed at Obernburg in Uppermany; he set up an altar to Apollo, the god of healing, Aesculapius, Sals,Fortuna, for the good health of the commanding officer of his unit; as hefulfilling his vow, presumably he had nursed the prdelectras through aillnessso. Marcus Ulpius Ffonoratus, a decurion of the eqnites singalaresset up an altar in fullment of a vov 'to Aesculapius and Hygieia for the Ihealth of himself, his family, and of Lucius Iulius Helix, medicus, wlndiligently and devotedly looked after me'sl. It is unfortunate tht it ispossible to read, tny of the letter addressed to Priscus, a med.icas t the lesif ortress at Vindonissas2.The calibre of the medical officers must have been very high. pedaniusdes, for example, was n army doctor who uavelled extensively in rtre dof Claudius and Nero; his work Materia Med.ica was referred to withrespect by Galen, the greatest medical aurhoriry of the Romansst. Galeo alrrmentions a remedy for headadre devised by Antigonus ,who was a distingui#doctor in camp'3!, and also refers to clinical observations of military doors aa German war35. Marcus Ulpius Telesporus (1) was medicns first of the dld Inbnd, in Upper Germany, then of the ala III Astr4rum in Mauretania Tingit"ne, te

r5 Number 45: lAescltlapio letf Salati fpro saht)te alae Vetftoxrm-20 Number 3: lsclepio et saluti commilitonam.,7 Number 56: lprol salute cob III Aq.2e Number 30. Cf. also number 67.2e Number 29. Domaszewski, op, cit. (note 14), 45. professor E. Birley suggests to me tlac CIL reading should be emended to stb c(ur)a(gente) p. Vat(io) praesiit(e) eook(aarl- f-

other doctors possibly connected with the trainiag of recruits, seebelow, notes 77-g0_80 Number 55, Numbers 26 and,27 similarly show doctors of Greek origin a long *ay tr

their home.e1 Nurnber 17: Aesculapio.et Hlgke.,. pro salute u.a srort4mqq.e et L. I*li Helicis qri o-

mei diligenter egit secundum deos.sz Number 40. Gesellsdraft Pro Vindonissa ,1947148 (1948) 32.s3 Number 69.ea Number 71, For another military doctor mentioned by Galen see number 66.15 Number 76. See also nore 90-

-.\-i

The Medici of the Roman rmed Forces

rcurning to ciYilian Practice s medical officer of health at Ferentium rnt Marcis Valerius Longinus' medicus of kgio VII Claud'ia, was awatded'rery membership of the iown council of Drobeta in Upper Moesia; he mayhare devoted sime time to the municipal health servicesT' It is only to be

I tlat Roman military doctors would be used to assist local or nativeions- if there was no civilian doctor in the vicinity of the fortts' Calli-l the medicus of the ala I tllpia contariorum cirtium Romanorutn wasof considerable talents and wrote a history of the Parthian Var ofEII Or ConsrqeraDle LarsrlLs 4 ruolvr/

rs \terus3o. It is worth noting that a doctor of his ability was attadred to anilliaria, a unit superior to all other auxiliary ones in its training, organr

prsonnel, and commanderao.ire r",rer"l clear examples of the low-ranking medical orderly' Titus

Numeriusal and Marcus Sabinianius Quietusa', the former of kgio XXIIia. the latter in a vexillation of legio I Mineruia, are each described as

med.icas. The addition of miles shows quite clearly that both men were rnnnks and were not officers' In several cases the inscription gives the numberycars that the soldier had been serving in the army;

^s,the -stipendid ate

f, *r-.lly given in the case of other ranks, Titus Aelius Martialiso' ofII Dard.inorum and Caius Nundinius Opterviusaa, presumably of legio

,tlittix, re to be equated with the medical orderlies' An tnknown medi'cusW XV Apollinaris is associated in an inscription with a- century of thed .od h" too will have been an orderlyas. A medical spatula was found in

LraA-Utoa. t Caerleon with 7 Cu----anili inscribed in punctuate lettering;this belonged to a medical ordedy whose nme was -anilius, in a

r ol legio II Augustaa$.is alsJ evidenc! to show that there were specialists, in addition to the

r: who were the equivalent of general practioners. So far they are attestedin the fourth Praeiorian cohort, but these specialists must hve existed inunits too. Caius Terentius Symphorus was a med'icus cbirurgts or sur-. Tiberius Claudius Iulianus was ^ med'icas

clini'cus, ot a doctor whoded patients who were sick in their beds in the hospitalas; it is to be assumedahe-, do"tors, unlike Iulianus, will have dealt with the sick parades' Other

46. Telesporus is Professor Birley's suggested emendation of the name'nber 36.-t

-Jl."t of6cers and stafi of the armed forces continue to do even today in the more parts of the world.&r 47.

fftily, lAl"" and cohortes milliariae', Corolla Memoriae Eridr Swoboda Dedicta (1966)Itl-- Vetetius, Epitoma Rei Militaris, I 5; II 6; II 12.lbber 2l; he is associated on the inscription with another zriler'

34. For revised date and spelling, see Epigr. Studien 5 (1968) 1848.32. But cf. A. M6csy, Bevlkerung von Pannonien (1959) 251'

hber 44.nf.t +2. Ardr. Camb., 95, :-9ka, l27 Mr. G. C. Boon kindly informs me that the object is

of a pair of forceps.hber 2.ibb.t l. For interpretation of clinias, see C. T. Lewis and C Short, Latin Dictionary{ftc) s- v.; Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, 1900 fi., s. v.

R. rV. Davies

sdrolars prefer to interpret the,nedicus clinicas as a sPecialist in internaland complaints; if this is so, it shows that there must have been severaltypes of specialist attadred to the Roman military forces{o. Althoughas yet no epigraphic example of a military tnedicus ocularias, there rsevidence to show that the Roman army did have oculists, sudr as Axius ofclassis Britannicaso. Such experts were not confined to the care of

also attested in the provinces: Lucius Crassicus62, for example, was aleter;nd,riut and his inscription depicts various quadrupeds; it is known rbserved in a century and he will have been one of the leter;ndrii i-n tbc Erimmunes quoted by Tarruntenus Paternus, There are a dozen epiexamples o1 pecuaits or pequait4s in a legion, seYeral of whom have ctional title of tnilesis. llowever, one man, Ioctanus, who is the only examglcclosely associated with a legion, has the rank medicas pequariu#.'Itrr,distinction may probably be drawn as before in the case of humans: thereskilled and qualified veterinary surgeon, and under him the other rank assiworked. The peqnar;

^re ^ttested among the sta{f of the hospital at Lambad

the close of the second century. Caius Aufidius55' who is described asol cobors I Thebaeorum eqaitata, presamably belongs to the same genrlThe difierent titles show that these veterinary surgeons and their assistants'might at times be ordinary soldiers detailed to look after animalss, willspecialised in the care of different beasts. It may be suggested that thelooked after the horses ol the ala or cohors equitata a;nd, of the l2o eqteszis, while the veterinarii looked after the various beasts of burden ardpequarii after the cattle on the pmtd of the unit. Hyginus places the leterirrnext ro the valetad.inarium in the teld camp, and it is found in this posfuic, ithe legionary fortress at Bonn and possibly elsewheres?.Epigraphy reveals that there was another grouP of nedici with thetitle ordinarius. Five are known: two in difierent legions, a thirdcertainly nother legionry, and one each in an auxiliary cohort and a

Quartiussr was the ,ned.icas zteterinari*s of the first Praetorian cohort, eJability and value to the rmy s a veterinary surgeon can be gauged frnlact that he was still attached to the Guard at the age of eighty-five- Tbcy

ae Lammert, op, cit. (note 9), citing Khn. U, E. Paoli, Rome, Its People, Life, aad(1963) 215.

50 Liebenam, op. cit. (note 2). R. Cagnat, L'Arme romaine d'Afrique et l'occupationde l'Afrique sous les empereurs (second edition, 1913) 169' Number 66 and note 83.

u Number 5.5! Number 67. Passerini, op. cit. (note 2),609, uumber 69, also cites CIL III 11215

CIG 1953, but there is no evidence that these are military.53 CIL III 10428; XIII 8287: AE 1896,97. For the others, see Passerini, op. cit', 609' r*

70. See also above, note 4.5a Number 72.rs Number 50.56 I cite the evidence in detail in 'The Supply of Animals to the Roman Army and the R.c

Systern,' Llomus, 28, 1969,429 fr.r? H. von Petrikovits, Das rmisdre Rheinland, Ardrologisdre Forsdrungen seit 19't5 (!i

45 {. Hyginus, De Munitione Castrorum, 4.

TJ

The Medici of the Roman Armed Forces

: Clearly these five individuals wished to draw some distinction betweenand the other medici, b:ut what it was is not known, and modern

irrterpret ordinarizs in various ways. Th. Mommsen suggested thatrile meant that the man was serving in the ranksso; this interpretation has

89

that it meant an other rank orderly, has already been mentioned;c second he cites G. L. Cheesman for the meaning of a fully-qualified

in contrast to the elementary skills of the orderly; although Cheesmanat a case for there being two difierent types of medicus, Passerini has

him, for Cheesman stated quite clearly that he believed theserved in the ranks. Professor H. A. Sanders was of the opinion that

-4X ordinarius was of a higher standing than the medicus, probably hadrt of a centurion, and was in command of an ordo or centuri'a63. 'lhere iseidence to suggest that the medicus ordinarius held a tactical command,

Glliam has shown that Sander's views and reasoning are suspect. F. FI.oo has stated that the medici ordinaii were the stafl surgeons of the

and auxiliary units, who were freedmen or foreigners, so called toauish them from the tnedici of the other brandres of the armed forces, who

'man citizensGa. All the evidence is against this: the five attested mediciii all possessed Roman citizenship and were of Roman origins; many of

-dXi ra his category of Roman are in fact of Greek origin; the fivefall into both his categories. Conversely, J. Marquardt believed that thedmr called himself ord.inarius to distinguish himself from the freedmendese assistantses. Once more the evidence will not support and in fact

this view. L. C. Purser believed that the medicus ord'i'narius was

1g,33,35,49, and 5z; see below, notes 70-74. c.IL III 6532 is too fragmentary forhor whether it referred.to a medias orld.inar(ius).

Eer.4, 1879,239-40 : Gesammelte Sdrriften VIII (1913) 376, ut significetur eum destipendia facere et, ut olim dicebant, in ordine merere.rki, op. cit. (note 14), 45. - G. L. Cheesman, The Auxilia of the Roman Imperial

1 own by Professor J. F. Gilliamu'. A. Passerini cites two views of the14, of ordinarius but does not commit himself to eitheru2; the first, that of

- -,--: -, ^) -

4 (l91\ $aa. - Raillie - Reynolds, op. cit. (note 14)' 72' - \1. Haberling, 'Die rmisdrenErrzte,' Verfentlidrungen aus dem Gebiete des Militr-Sanittswesens 42, 1910' 25,2-

- L A. Ridrmond, 'The Roman Army Medical Service,' University of Durham Medical

followed by A. von Domaszewski and many later sdrolarsuo, and would& medicus ordinarius a medical orderly. The main objection to this is

sdinzus used by itself in a military contest is a synonym for a centurion,ir iact is at times used to describe the word centaio, as has been convin-

Jone, 1952, 2. - Scarborough, loc. cit. (note 2),258. - Ifebster, op. cit. (note 2),251. -Bonner Jahrb. 139, 1934, 63.d,ii and, Ordinati of the Roman Army,' Tr$act. American Phil. Assoc' 71, 1940,

oote 2 for Passerini, note 60 for Cheesman.l8O4 in the Midrigan Collection,' Classical Srudies in Honor of John C. Rolfe

255-43, espedally 278.o t[e History of Military Medicine (1922), cited by C. Singer in C. Bailey (ed.)'

Lqxy oI Rome (1923) 292-3..i- (nore 2), 556.

R. V. Davies

so called because he served in a nt4rnerus in conrrast with those in athe evidence totally disproves this theory. Similarly, G. p. Carratelli's vierthe medicus ordinarias served in the auxiliary units and fleet in contrasr bmedici. legionum, is disproved by the evidence6?. Dr. E. Sander has propoced rralternative explanations: ordinarius is to mean either drtt the rnedii s servd,/,,centaria or that he had the rank of a centurionos, The former may be discnone of the milites medici ever has this title; if there were some sirryordinarii in every legion, there .would be far more examples of them atte*cd;is doubtful if so many would be needed in addition to all the other med.icalthe interpretation of the Latin is harsh. The second translation would bckeeping with rhe interprettion of ordi.narius demonsrrated by Gilli".-conneclion with centurio. If the Mommsen interpretation is accepted, as itbeen by mann this means that in a military context ordinarius has the direopposite meanings of commissioned and non-commissioned. Gilliam citeslate literary evidence to show that ord.inarius can have the meaning in rmilitary context of'ordinary', in the sense of,other ranks.. Unfomrnatein is much later than the epigraphic evidence and is never concerned with .medicus..Gil[am, while agreeing with the general view of Mommsen, suggslthat ord'inarias was added to distinguish him from a civilian doctore. This seqrunlikely; all five instances occur il contexts whidr are beyond doubt military,and there is no apparent reason why the individual should have felt any Jto make a contrast with his civilian counrerparr.It is worth while examining ea of the inscriptions to see what further inform*tion they may provide, In the case of Aemilius Deciminus of bgio I Adibat Adiaum?o and Ulpius Lucilianus, probably ol legio III ltaliia, at ltqburg?1, little can be deduced. Titus llavius processus, medicus bordiA,dedicated in h(onorem) d.(omas) d(ivinae) genio capsarioram n(ameri) Divitia-sjzz at Niederbieber in the period A. D. 244/97r.It is hard to reconcile ;v/ith the traditional interpretation, whereby the med.icas ord.inariu.r is an oa.rank orderly and of the same standing as thc capsar;i, as in paternus's lisr dimmunes; here there is only one medicus, when several would have baexpected in a. nttTnerus to mtc the plurality of the dressers; the .whole tone ofthe inscription, especially whereby processus dedicated in honour of the ImperirlFamily and the genius of the capsari.i, suggests that he is superior to thrAnicius Ingenuus of cobors I Tungrorurn milliaria, died at Housesteads at 6eage of rwenty-five, but even so he could have been old enough to have quali6cdas a doctor; the military surgeon Symphorus died at the age of twenry-eigha,and Longinus, who was honoured by the town council of Drobeta, diJ t

tt Cited in rf. Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Anriquities, vol. I, (f890) tt!-He appears to have mistranslated Mommsen.

67 Cited in G. Giannelli (ed.), The !florld of Ancienr Rome, (1962), 148.08

'Zur Rangorfnung des rmisdren Heeres,. }{jsto:iia. S,195i,89J7.o Op. cit. (note 61), 147.zo Number 19.zl Number 35.12 Number 52.

The Medici of the Roman Arfted Forces

dy age of twenty-three?s. The other extreme is reached in the case oflepirius Arlianrrs o1 legio III Aagastd,, who died at Lambaesis aged g5rE monrhs fifteen days?4. It is inconceivable that an other rank medicalveld have been retained in the army at sudr an old age or even have

r3te$s that these people were in fact difierent from the other med,ici, as-

have intended rhe addition of ordinarias to show. Explanarions maylrtd- None of the tve has a Greek name or bachground, but each doesr be superior to an other rank medical ord"dyl Cillir-,s epigraphicows that ordinarius means 'having the rarrk of a centurion.l i, ir"y U.at these five individuals were qualified doctors having t tedrnicalrd status of a centurion, but not, oi course, the tactical cimmand; eachI prsumably have the pay and. privileges of "

c"rrturiorr. ii" *"diro,ir will have served under the Greek, better_qualified, medical officer.rr tbar the latrer, if in a civilian practice, could ao.

"rrrr.d substantiallvl: centurion; in view of their qualities and abilities, they must have hadsratus, perhaps equivalent to an_ Equestrian officer7i. if both types of

ofi6cer were merely artached to theii unit, as opposed ,o b.ing ,"ruing; is would explain why they are never atr;;d in the laierculi otiEative records kept in the tabularium of the unit. There are parallelsndern armed forces, where doctors, padres, and. various ,..lroi"ui ."p"rt,fu starus but not a tactical command. In the British army, for e""ple,ngi*ered doctor is commissioned as a caprain in the Royal rmy MedicalL

* }o{a] Navy a qualified doctor is given offic". statu, ", "

,,rrg"on-

in the Naval Medical Branch. In both "rms

of the forces the doctortort service commission for five years, during *hi.h ti-e h" -ay opt fo.r r-ith a regular commission to the p"r-"i.n, list, which will entail

-. Alternative explanations lor the med.icus ord,inarius may be offered.Lrs has its mor-e usual literary meaning of ,ordinary., then the termEn rhat these five men were ordinary or non_spe;i;lisr doctors in: o_the various medical specialists, srl.h as the surgeo-n and consultant in

aJments. This $/ould make him the equivalent in civilian life of "Irrcdorer. A third explanation may also b" o{fered. There is some legalq vhi suggests that the Roman forces, like modern ones, may hiue

e docmr the opportunity of holding a short service .o--irrion, "fa.,E T@ld return to civilian practice; such a doctor vould not be the sameblding a regular commission, who would be an 'ordinary. o, ;."g.rt"r.

so late in life.

fueL

,ll- Cf above, notes 47 and 32.

trl from Egypt_ may possibly throw light on the position of the doctor??.Jooo1*-a dated to 3rd Seprember, A. D. 1,17, and conta jns six receiptsca of the six slgz iferi in tu:r, of the centuries of cohors I Lasitanorum;

'to_- ogestion to Professor Birlev.rira from rhe prospectuses of tire two services.

92 R. \[. Davies

they are made out to Longinus Tituleius for the depositd of Asian recnhad been assigned to eadr century. In the trst receipt he is described as [Tr,rou1icg icr[gQ] (xarovrriplqr). The signit'er states that he is in cof Tituleius. If the reading of the editors is corect, this means thatTituleius was an

^rmy doctor with the rank of centurion. Tlewhether Longinus Tituleius and the centurion of the first cohon, 1ialdthe same person. If the two are identical, this means that the docutactical command at the same time as his medical post, for whi& crcevidence and little probability. If there are in fact two officials, there iambiguity in the document, but perhaps more to the modern reader tiarRoman?8. Recruits to the Roman army were given a stifi medical p'ru'ribefore they became fully qualified soldiers, and were also frequentlyduring their probationary period of several months, when anyone notthe necessary standards would be disdrargedtn. In such circumstances adoctor would be ideal on the journey from Asia to Egypt. A copy of arecording that Tryphon, who was trying to enlist in the army, wasbecause of defective eyesight, contains the phrase at the end, 'the qariwas held at Alexandria' three times; it is not impossible that the originalment was signed by three separate medical officers8o. It is consequendy {more regrettable that the reading in the list of receipts is not beerIn a recent study of the document Professor Gilliam has thrown doubt creading; he believes that Tituleius was the centurion of the first cenorycentwio princeps of the cohort; he suggest that the signifer in facr wrreferring to the centurion of his own centurysl. The question is still open-The picture of the various med,ici is interesting. In the fleet they artcalled med.ici duplicarii and often give the name of the ship; presumablywas one orderly to eadr vessel, who saw to the medical needs of his ovnAs yet no other medical sta{f are attested on board, but presumably eawill have had its own medical officer and subordinates at the shore base,the med.icus ocularius Axius, whose eye-salve is mentioned by Galef-rned.icus in any of the other brandres of the armed forces is ever aurdbeing duplicarius; possibly the medici were of different standards in thetypes of units, and if the med,icas of a ship had to cary out his duties by

re P. Gen. lat. I, verso, 5 X-XI, shovrs two men vrith the sarne tr;a nomind not mcttf Lsame legionary century but listed side by side. For another case of two of6ccs 1-Laving the same names in the one inscription, see J. F. Gilliam in Am. Journ- PhToL 71.359-75, especially 373, on AE 1955, 238. It should be noted that in the present papyrtcenturions are referred to by one name onln and consequently the possible ambigoiynot have been noticed.

?0 R. \f. Devies, 'Joining the Roman Army,' Bonner Jahrb., 169, 1969, 208 fr. Note in pdVegetius, Epitoma Rei Militaris, I, 8.

80 P. Oxy. 39.e|An Egyptian Cohort in A. D. 117,' Boner Historia-Augusta-Colloquium, 1964 65

91-7, especially 92, * 5.ez'lhe collegium of number 59 is best interpreted as referring to one for all the ndici 4

fleet, rather than one for ead-r vessel. \wo medici (numbers 60 and 61) had died -b

had served only ve years and this is indicative of other ranks; see above, notes 43 dIn the smaller ships of the Royal Navy there is often no medical of6cer but only a radag-

er Number 66. Cf. RE II 2633; RE Ml.

!

The Medici of the Roman Armed Forces

vell haye been given extfl pay, whereas in the land forces a medicalin ea& unit would have the assistance of several colleagues at lest' and

rey have been merely an irnmanis. The Greek highly-qualified medicalras of a very high standing, and there is some evidence to show that they

certain privileges. Cxaca.lla rn/rote to one, Numisius, medicus legionisAdiutricis , then stationed at Aquincumsa :

srate that you arc the med.icas of legio II Adiatrix, you will not be compelled tore civil liturgies, for as long as you have been absent on state business. llowever,

ryw have ceased to be absent [ol state business], after the end of the exemption onkis, if you are in the category applicable to the benefits granted to medici, yort

'is it is clear that doctor attached to a military unit was absent rcicausa and his privileges included exempti on ftom munera cioilia, b.ut.

.omdcally for as long as he was with the army; whenever he returnedpractice, he would retain various rights only if he was engaged in a

fo rype of employment. Some passges in the Digest quoting from the worksinus give further information. The trst deals with the people who may

tcstitutio because of their absence on state business, among whom arencdici:doctors, since the occupation on whidr they are engaged, both is of public

ead ought not to cause them injury, are able to invoke the remedy of restoration.'nd, quoting the rulings of various second century emperors, states thati enployed by the municipalities were free from various liturgies andnot be compelled to undergo military service against their wishessu. This

aidence suggests that these highly-trained men may have been engaged byrnny on short service commissions. Many of them vrill have relished the

of a lucratively paid post, whidr also entailed various privileges, wouldtem wide experience in different conditions in various parts of the Empire,grovide them with a well-equipped hospital and all the ancillary staff. This

will have been extremely useful to them, when they returned topractice; it caq be no mere coincidence that the careers of some of the

medici, sudt as Dioscurides, Telesporus, and Callimorphus, belong to this. It is unfortunate that there is no evidence to shovr the relationshipthis doctor and the rned,icus ordinarius, and the two are never attested inunit at the same time. The latter, as has already been suggested, probaly

e regular commission and spent his whole career in the army, and was thus adoctor in comparison vith the others.

lctrs sent in the third century by two brothers, Marcus and Serenus, whodctors, to their parents reveal interesting details about the military medical

In the first Marcus writessT:

31.r 633,2.L 68.lc-- Georg., nl, \ 1-7 ard. 17-19. The editors (G. Zereteli and P. Jernstedt) and also

II,)

Iil&en (Ardriv fr Papyrusforsdrung und verwandte Gbiete, 10,259) dated the letters

R. V. Davies

'Marcus to Antonia, -Sarapion, and Cassiaos, my parents, many greetings. I E

obeisance for you in the preseace of the gods sharing ihe temple. For o one caq Boby river to make-obei"ance, because of ihe battl" hi hai taken pi""" l"rr"-Anoteritae with the soldiers, Fifteen soldiers of the singalares have'died, apan ftheleglonaries, evocali, the vounded, and those su{fering frim battle-fatigue..He is clearly being kept busy looking after rhe Roman casualties. A littlein the letter he requests:'And as in every letter I write to you to shake the dust oIT my medical books, sh:tcof and remove thern from the window, where I jeft them on my eparture..This suggests that he is a doctor on a shoft seryice commission. He hadbrought all his medical text-books with him to Alexandria, as he intendedreturn home to a civilian practice, when his commission expired; he wouldable to use the military books in the oaletadinariurn, The second letter is wriby Serenus to his mother Antonia, although it is clear that intervening copondence has been lost. Serenus regrets that he has not been able to cmecomfort his morher on her bereavement, but both he and his brother hadrushed off their feet88:'You will do_well, thereforg mother, on receiving our lerter, to come ro us immediatdy-You realise that my brother Marcus is gready concerned with the sid< and th" surgcri_You know that it is-not easy

_to leave th" paiierrtr, who are not few in number, anj dispensary, in case there should be grumbling abour us, and this under sudr a comn:.At any rate, Marcus has told you in_ a lette; abour my occupation, for I am in govco_ment service and for this leason am busy, For some few dayi it was not possible-for

-to sit down or send him to you.'

As Serenus is assisting Marcus, he must harre become attadred ro the miliarrrservice and not the municipal one of Alexandria. He presumably had s;mib,l'accepted a short service commission.A modern leading study on medicine throughout the ages has pronounced a ver;rlow view of the medical service of the Romn armed forces. Its authors demn the Romans for the absence of any elastic sdreme for the ranking of tcmedical officers; the totl subordination of the medical to the combatant -off,cer5indifference to theoretical science and failure to add to medical knowle.tgand giving the medical stafi a low starus on a par with clerks. Much of this viJis improbable if not incorrect. celsus notes that an observant militarv do.*could learn far more from the study and retment of a wounded soldier abc-the internal organs rhan the vast majority of civilian doctorseo. Vegetius sar:rthat it was the consranr duty of all officers to see rht the sicJ< iroops *ae

to the beginning of the third century. C. H. Robercs, 'An Army Doctor in Alexandri+.Aus Antike und Orient, Festsrift Vilhelm Sdrubarr (1950), 2ll15, suggests a d*e dcircumstances ol A. D. 270, although I canno! agree *iit

"tf l;, "oo"l*ioo.. I os/e rhe r#rence to Professor E. G. Turner.88 P. Ross.

- Georg., III2,6-15.

80 C. Singer and F,, A. Underwood, A Short H,istory_of Medicine (second edirior, 1962), 56.00 Celsus, De Medicina, pr. 43. Cf note 7. The unknown *"a;ii .i ii"i ZO (see abovq c35) are. reproved- by Galen for not dissecting the corpses of Germans to advance their orranatomical knowledge. On the other hand, it is quite pissible that the Roman doctors ver! rbusy looking after Roman casualdes to conduct pst-m'ortems.

CohorsIL\12532 : ILS 2093 (Rome)(Ieodiqs Iulianus

cliaicus coh IIII pr.tE t945, 62 (Messina)&rtirrs Symphorus

ir coh IIII praetCIL t'I 20 : ILS 2092 (Rome) r Alexander

o Vpr

CohorsCL XIII 1833 : ILS 2126 (Lugdu-tu,hin

96

Cohors9. CIL VI 1059 (Rome)-.

Aurelius llegumenusmedic coh II vig10. CIL VI 1059 (Rome)-.

Claudius Thamyrasmedic coh II vig11. CIL VI 1058 .. lLS 2157 (Rome)Q. Fabius Polluxmediciie cohors V vigilum12. CIL VI 1059 (Rome)-.

Flavius Panmen-medic coh II vig

Equires17. CIL VI 19 : ILS 2194 (Rome)L. Iulius Helixmediciie equites singulares Augusti

19. CIL III 4279 (Adiaum)-.

Aemilius Deciminusmedicus otdinarius leg I Adi20. IGRR I 1361 (Pselcis)-.

Aufidius ClemensozpE e.yr Bn'21. CIL III 14347,5 (Aquincum)T. Aurelius Numeriusmiliti medico leg XXII Pr p f22. CILY 4367 (Brixia)L, Caelius Arrianusmedico legionis II Italic23. CIL XIII 5208 (Vindonissa)Ti. Claudius Hymnusmedicus leg XXI24. CIL YIII2872 (Larnbaesis)T. Flavius Italusmed leg III Aug25. CIL YIII 287 4 (Lambaesis)T. Flavius Onesiphorusmed leg III Aug26. CIL III 3583 (Aquincum)

R. V. Davies

vigilum13. CIL VI 1058 : ILS 2157 (Ro)C. Iulius fermesmediciie cohors V vigilum14. CIL VI 1058 : ILS 2157Sex. Lutatius Ecarpusmediciie cohors V vigilum15. CIL VI 1058 : ILS 2152 (Roc)C. Runnius Hilarismediciie cohots V vigilum16. CIL VI 1059 (Rome)-.

----Aphroditusmedic coh II vig

singulares augusti1,8. CILVI31172 : ILS 2193a (RorlQ. Marcius Artemidorusmedicus castrorumie equites singulares Augusti

LegioC. Iulius Filetiomedicuspresumably legio ll Adiutrix27. AE 1923,14 (Carthage)-.

Marcius Callinicusmedi[c] leg II Adi28. CIL YIII 29 5 1 (Lambaesis)-.

Marcius Claudianusmedico leg III Au[g]29. CIL III 3413 (Aquincum)-.

Marcius Marcellusmedpresumably legio II Adiutrix30, AE 1937,180 (Aquincum)Ti. Martius Castrensismed leg II A31. Cod Iust 10,53(52),1-.

Numisius-----medicum legionis secundae Adiutric32. CIL III 14349,7 (Aquincum)C, Nundinius Opterviusmed (?)presumably legio II Adiutrix (?)

iIr

ilf

13314 : ILS 2432 (Lam-

ordioario leg III ACIL XIII 7943 (Iversheim)bbiniaoius Quietus

oedicusior of legio I Minervia

CIL III 5959 (Regensburg)@rios Lucilianus

ordinariolegio III Italica

CIJ-]lll 14216,9 : ILS 71s0a@robeta)

Yalerius LonginusLs VII ClCIL III 7449 (Moesia SuPerior)

Yalerius Rufus

of legio XI ClaudiaIGRR I 1212 : CIG 4766 (Thebes)

igye F Totr ioxlod

x'IB 1028 : EE VII 979 (Biudrester)-comas

The Medici of the Roman Armed Forces

Ala

39. RIB 461 : CIL VII P' 48 (Chester)Flermogenesiarocpr"iurn"bly of l"gio XX Valeria Victrrx

40. AE 1953,246b (Vindooissa)-.

----Priscusmedico

41. CIL XIII 6700 (Mainz)-.

- - nius ValensIme]dicus leg IIII Mac42. JRS 30, L940,186-7 'no' 16(Caerleon)-.

- - aniliuspresumablY legio II Augusta43. CIL III 3532 (Aquincum)ienotusriedicfo] leg III I Ft44. CIL lll 67 47 (T raPeus)ignotusmedicuslegio XV APollinaris

97

cIL\toesis)

Aelianus

Yrttooum c R

CIL XI 3OO7 : ILS 2542 (Viterbium)llloius +c16lsPorus+d alar Indianae et tertiae Asrurum

AE 1903, 290 (Timacum)Martialis

coh II Aur Darl(IB 1618 : cIL vII 690$ds)l-i.in. lngenuuso ord coh I TungrIGBS I 1373 : CIG 5117(Diarrakah)

47, Lucian, quom' Hist' consc' 16' 2'+-25Callimorphusi,otpq tfl rv xovroqoQov t'l'r1Ei"ii"l'ne I 1239) emends to eiLl'

ie ala I UlPia..,ntariorum milliaria c R

Cohors51. CIL III 7490 (Carsum)O' Erucius Victoredico coh I

(Flouse- 52. CIL XItt 7415 (Gross-Krotzenburg)' L Fabius nthimus

med[icus coh] IIII [Vin]51. PSI 1063 (EgYPt)-.

Longinus Tituleiusio1[ ] (fuarovrriyP)cohors I Lusitanorum

98

54. CIL III 10854 : ILS 2601 (Siscia)M. Mucius Hegetormedicus coh XXXII Vol55. CII- XIII 6621 : ILS 2602 + ad-

denda (Obernburg)M. Rubrius Zosimusmedicus coh s sie cohors IIII Aquitanorum

57. CIL XIII 11979 : ILS 9182(Niederbieber)

T, Flavius Processusmedicus hordinariusnumerus Divitiensium

59. CIL X 3441 : RIB 2315*VII 1144 (Misenum)

C. Acilius Bassusmedic duplicclassis Misenensis

60. CIL XI 29 (Ravenna)Sex. Anius Romanusmedic dupl n Aegypclassis Ravennas

61. CIL VI 3910 (Rome)T. Flavius Euprepetusmedicus duplicclassis Misenensis

62. CIL X 3444 (Misenurn)M. Iulius Casullinusmed duplicclassis Misenelsis

Unit not67. CIL V 2183 (Altinum)L. Crassicusmedicus veterinarius

68. RIB 808 : CIL VII p. 85 (Mary-port)

A. Egnatius Pastorpresumably an army doctor of one of the

auxiliary cohorts attested at this fort69. P.EV 113142-.

Pedanius Dioscuridesthe introduction of his Materia Medica

reveals that he was a widely-travelledarmy docror

R. V. Davies

56. CIL XIII 11767 (Osterburke)-.

Ulpius Iulianusmedicus [c]oh s sie cohors III Aquitanorum

Numetus58. AE 1933,44 (El-Kantara)Maldrusmedicusie numerus Palmyrenorum

ClassisCIL 63. CIL X 3599 (Misenum)

L. Lollius Valensmed III Fideclassis Misenensis

64. CIL X 3443 (Misenum)C. Octavius Frontoquondam medicus duplicar ex III Tir3rclassis Misenensis

65, CIL'{3442: CIL X 2701 (Bai.c)M. Sarius Longinusmedic dupl III Cupidclassis Misenensis

66. Galen, XII 786 (Khn)Axiusol,purxo ot6ou Bperawrxo

known70. J. Lesquier, L'Arme romaine dTgSp

te d'Auguste Diocltien (1918) 49LAppendix 1, number Z; cf numbc t(Abou-Dourouah)

Alcimusiatpq

71. Galen, XII 557 (Kiihn)Antigonusv otgmorrp rlof poE orgeoawoEqui in casris exercitus insignis medicus foir7 2. C'IL XIII 7 9 65 (Blankenheim)Ioctanusmedico peq

The Medici of the Roman Armcd Forces 99

D- l-4eorg., III 1 (Egypt)

t- Iy' 206a (Egypt)

L l-4eorg., iil 2 (Egypt)

76. Galen, XIII 604 (Khn)rgnouo[ tcr rv feppavwv lepov iatpoi,medici bello Germanico

77. Plin., N. H. XXV 20 (Germany)ignotimedici