Ancientist

  • Rare Roman Surgical Tool for Bladder Stone Surgery Found Beside Temple of Hercules in Bulgaria

    Rare Roman Surgical Tool for Bladder Stone Surgery Found Beside Temple of Hercules in Bulgaria

    Archaeologists excavating the ancient city of Heraclea Sintica in southwestern Bulgaria have uncovered an exceptionally rare Roman-era surgical instrument used to remove bladder stones — a small bronze object linked to one of the most painful and risky operations known in ancient medicine. The instrument was found in a room adjoining the Temple of Heracles,…

  • Pompeii Victim Fleeing Vesuvius May Have Been a Roman Doctor

    Pompeii Victim Fleeing Vesuvius May Have Been a Roman Doctor

    A Pompeii victim who died while fleeing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 may have been a Roman doctor, according to new scans of objects preserved inside his plaster cast. The small case, coins and tools found with the man suggest he may have carried the equipment of a medicus during the city’s…

  • Roman Medicine Used Human Feces—Pergamon Now Has the Proof

    Roman Medicine Used Human Feces—Pergamon Now Has the Proof

    For centuries, Greco-Roman medical texts described remedies made from human waste, but whether these treatments were ever truly prepared remained uncertain.A small Roman glass vessel unearthed in Pergamon has now provided the first physical proof that such remedies were not theoretical ideas, but part of everyday medical practice. The discovery comes not from a monumental…