Healthcare in the Roman Empire

I was rewatching a fascinating program on Galen the other night on the History Channel that included a model of a Roman hospital or Valetudinarium. It used the inner courtyard flooded with sunlight for the operating theater. It had consulting rooms, a kitchen for food preparation, an area where instruments were sterilized in forge-like structures all surprisingly similar to a modern health care facility.

I found a detailed description of the valetudinarium at the archaeological site of Novae.

In addition I found a site about Byzantine medicine.


I also found this interesting quiz about Roman health care:

http://www.educationforum.co.uk/rome.htm