Roman Inventions & Tools
The Ancient Romans based their medical knowledge on that of the Greeks, enhancing it over time with their own folklore and innovations. Like other cultures, their pharmacology was based on herbalism; and while it contained a hefty dose of woo-woo, many staples of the Roman first aid kit were scientifically sound.
Legion medics employed a variety of surgical tools including scalpels, forceps, clamps, tweezers, and saws. What made this hardware slightly less terrifying was how it was treated; Roman doctors kept their own personal kits, and took pride in keeping their collection clean, up to date, and in good condition.
Bone Levers, from what Galen says, these were used for levering fractured bones into position and may have been used for levering out teeth.
Bone drills, looking like wine cork screws were used to remove diseased bone tissue from the skull and extract sizable foreign objects such as a weapon from a bone. Bone forceps were used to extract small pieces of bone that would be too difficult to remove with fingers.
Rectal Speculum, the earliest mention of the rectal speculum is to be found in the treatise of fistula by Hippocrates
Probes or curettes, the scope of the cyathiscomele in medical art is evidently, like the flat spathomele, to act occasionally as a sound, but mainly to mix, measure and to apply medicaments. Some are adopted for use as curettes.
Bone forceps, in the case of impaction of the foetal cranium, the head might be opened with a sharp instrument and the pieces of the skull removed with bone forceps. Paul Aigenita wrote that in a depressed fracture of the skull fractured bone in to removed in fragments, with the fingers if possible, if not, then with bone forceps.
Bone hooks, long thin metal instruments were used as probes and the maneuvering of small pieces of tissues more easily. Hooks were another common instrument used regularly by Greek and Roman doctors.
Scalpels, these were made of either bronze or steel and were used to make incisions. Ancient Scalpels had almost the same form and function as their modern counterparts do today. The two long steel scalpels are examples of the most ordinary type of scalpel from antiquity. Mostly used for long and deep cuts.
Vagina speculum is one of the most spectacular, if not fearsome looking medical instruments. It was used in gynecology and in childbirth.
Jewellery hammer, found at Pullborough, it was an important find, because although archaeologists often find jewellery, it is usually difficult to say where it was made. This hammer is evidence of a jewellery making industry in Sussex.
Hammer and anvil, used at Fishbourne Roman Palace to cut some of the millions of tesserae used to make mosaic floors. It is estimated that there were about 95 mosaic floors in the palace, and most of the material appears to have been processed on the site.
A tuyere is a clay nozzle used to regulate the amount of air in a smelting furnace. The furnaces were used to melt and blend metals to make alloys such as pewter or bronze.
Bowsaw, wood was a very important material for a wide range of objects, and carpenters’ tools are quite common. Unfortunately their products rarely survive. However metal fittings from doors, carts, buckets and boxes indicate the use of wood.
Specialised woodworking tools are very similar to those used today, so the types of woodworking carried out in the Roman period can be compared with modern joints.
Hones and whetstones were essential to keep iron knives and tools sharp. They would be found in homes as well as in workshops. Hones and whetstones were traded over a wide area, as some stones were much more hardwearing than others, and therefore more useful and valuable.