Further reading
Antiqua Medicina [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] : This site collects materials assembled for a print display on ancient medicine created for Historical Collections in the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library.
The Hippocratic Oath: A translation of the Hippocratic Oath from the National Library of Medicine.
The Conversation, ‘Hippocrates didn’t write the oath, so why is he the father of medicine?’: Helen King explains why historians of medicine no longer attribute the Hippocratic Oath to the historical Hippocrates.
Perseus quick start guide: If you would like more guidance using Perseus, check out this quick start guide.
Livius: This offers other English translations of ancient Greek and Latin texts.
Project Gutenberg: This offers ebooks of free-to-use publications.
Inscriptions and papyri: These English translations of some inscriptions and papyri illustrate the history of the Hellenistic World and Roman Republic.
Celsus: Here you can find the full text of Celsus.
Cicero, Tusculan Disputations: Here you can find an older translation of the full text.
Royce Morris, ‘The economy of Oxyrhynchus in the first century’: Here you can find more on the context of Tryphon.
Anatomical votive reliefs as evidence for specialisation at healing sanctuaries in the ancient Mediterranean world: Find out more about votives in this article by Steven Oberhelman.
Vindolanda Tablets Online: Oxford University host an online edition of the Vindolanda Tablets.
Vindolanda Tablets Online II: Oxford University’s sister site for exploring the Vindolanda Tablets.
How did Gallo-Roman physicians treat their patients? A look into the earliest pharmacopoeias of France: In this article, Danielle Gourevitch writes about medicine in Gaul in particular.
The Pozzino Tablets: In this article, Laurence Totelin tries to interpret the Pozzino Tablets.
Votive body parts: The Roman city of Wroxeter had a temple dedicated to a god with the power to cure the eye diseases that were common in Roman times.
Make-up, another thing the Romans did for us: This Telegraph article describes the findings from the first analysis of a rare Roman skin cream.
A 2,000-year old secret is out: The University of Bristol recreated the 2,000-year-old Roman cosmetic cream using modern technology.
Not Philip II of Macedon: This article published in Archaeology in 2000 discusses the skeleton incorrectly thought to be Philip II of Macedon.
Reconstructing Seianti - Learning from human remains: Seianti’s skeleton: On facial reconstruction, an Etruscan example, shows the basic principles. This is one of four videos about Seianti.
Researchers have just reconstructed a 2,300-year-old Egyptian Mummy’s face: This article describes how Australian researchers have constructed the face of an ancient Egyptian mummy, using a 3D printer to create a replica skull and forensic sculpting techniques to bring it to life.
The science and art of the facial reconstruction process: This video demonstrates the process of facial reconstruction completed by museum specialist Gay Malin.
Monty Python, Life of Brian: The 1979 film, Life of Brian, includes a scene in which Brian is selling snacks in a Roman arena: the first 27 seconds of this clip summarise the sorts of foods we often associate with the Roman elite.
The Shield of Minerva: The ‘Shield of Minerva’ was described by Suetonius in his life of the emperor Vitellius.
Barbara Levick and Doreen Innes, ‘Luxurious dentifrice in Rome’, Omnibus 1989: This short article explores dental problems in the ancient world and Roman methods of cleaning the teeth.
[Hippocrates] on regimen in acute diseases: Here you can find the full text.
Sally Grainger, ‘Master-chef or glutton? The mystery of Apicius’, Omnibus 1999: In this article, Sally Grainger discusses the identity of the author behind the De re coquinaria recipe book.
Women’s idealised bodies have changed dramatically over time - but are standards becoming more unattainable?: This article discusses how the ideal shape of women’s bodies has changed over time.
Houses of Pompeii: Houses in Pompeii are identified by their ‘region’. II.4.10 refers to Region II. Simply scroll down the homepage to find out more about the house of Julia Felix.
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinorum: This collection of classical Latin inscriptions gives an insight into the history and everyday life of ancient Rome.
Prices in ancient Rome: Find out more about ancient Roman currency.
Ancient DNA: written in bone: This article further describes the Lant Street Teenager.
Alimentarium: Ettore Rossi’s collection of feeding bottles.
Sponge on a stick: This blog post looks at the Greek writings that mention a ‘sponge on a stick’.
Roman game pieces really old toilet paper: This article discusses the Roman artifacts now thought to have been used as a form of toilet paper.
Roman version of toilet paper believed to be found: This video describes the stone artifacts used as a form of toilet paper.
The birth of comedy: Find out more about Aristophanes’ plays and his humour in this free resource on OpenLearn.
Virginia Campbell, ‘No shit’: Virginia Campbell has written a blog post on evidence for Roman city authorities banning the disposal of waste in certain locations.
Draining Herculaneum: A discussion of the sewers of Herculaneum.
Latrines, sewers show varied ancient Roman diet: Archaeologists have picked through latrines and sewers to find clues to the varied diets of the citizens of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
750 sacks of human excrement recovered from Herculaneum: Excavations at Herculaneum have revealed layers of excrement that give us clues about the diet and health of the inhabitants there.
UK government guidance: Sewage sludge on farmland: code of practice.
Roman baths at Carnuntum: Public baths originally covering around 1500 square metres have been reconstructed at the Austrian site of Carnuntum.
Piers Mitchell, ‘Why the Romans weren’t quite as clean as you might have thought’, The Conversation: Piers Mitchell discusses the impact of Roman sanitation technology upon health.
Mark Bradley, ‘Roman sewers and the politics of cleanliness’, Omnibus, 2006: This article discusses one of the highlights of ancient Rome, the Cloaca Maxima (or Great Sewer).
Helen King, ‘Faecal transplants: not the first prescription of medicinal poo’: Helen King discusses the use of faecal transplants to treat antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Helen King, ‘Poisons and love potions’: On knowledge of dosage in the ancient world.
Horse love pills: In this blog post from the site The Recipes Project, Laurence Totelin discusses remedies used in veterinary medicine to encourage horses to breed.
Pliny: Mares impregnated by the wind: The full translated chapter from Pliny’s The Natural History
Plutarch’s advice to the bride and groom: Loeb’s translation of Plutarch’s essay Coniugalia Praecepta.
Donald Macleod, ‘Ancient Greeks balls it up’, The Guardian, 17 March 2005: In this article Macleod discusses soms research in testicles in ancient Greece.
Jeremy Laurance, ‘It’s a boy! The science of gender selection’, The Independent, 23 April 2008: Laurance discusses theories surrounding gender selection.
Caroline Lawrence, ‘Historical detectives and social networking’: On positions for birth in the ancient world.
Representations of the foetus in the womb: Here you can find out more about Figure 5.
Galen, On Prognosis, 8: a full English translation of Galen’s On Prognosis.
Jennifer Evans, ‘What about fathers?’: Evidence from nineteenth-century Ulster.
Laurence Totelin, ‘Playing the bear’: In this blog post Laurence describes an attempted visit to the temple of Artemis at Brauron.
Hysteria in virgins: You can read the whole of the ancient Greek text in translation.
Why does the art of ancient Greece still shape our world? If you are in the UK, you could watch Treasures of Ancient Greece, BBC Four, ‘Capturing beauty’
Pompeii: portents of disaster: This article discusses the signs of impending disaster at Pompeii and asks why no one picked up on them.
Written in bone: looking for Londoners: This video from the Museum of Londoners explains how they undertook the first multidisciplinary study of the inhabitants of a Roman city anywhere in the Empire.
The geniuses who invented prosthetic limbs: This article examines inventors who pushed forward the development of prosthetic technology.
Emma-Jayne Graham, ‘Votive efficacy’: In this article, Emma-Jayne Graham asks whether ancient anatomical votives really worked.
Owen Jarus, ‘Fighting champ was recruiter for ancient Roman army’: This article discusses the novel method that the ancient Roman city of Oinoanda used to recruit soldiers.
Medicina Antiqua: The Medicina Antiqua Essays are short, authoritative, up-to-date treatments of specific topics in Greco-Roman medicine and medical thought.
Alison E. Cooley and M.G.L. Cooley (2014) Pompeii and Herculaneum: A Sourcebook, 2nd edn, London, Routledge: This book allows readers to form a rich and diverse picture of urban life in the Bay of Naples.
Wilhelmina Feemster Jashemski and Frederick G. Meyer (eds) (2002) The Natural History of Pompeii, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press: This book explores the natural history of Pompeii by bringing together the work of many scientific experts to give a thorough picture of the flora, fauna and landscapes of the ancient sites.