Here is a collection of some of the surgical instruments used in the Roman era: scalpels with spear-shaped blades, hooks, spatulas, cauterizing irons and probes. Thanks to a book called de arte Medica, written by Celsus, a first century Roman doctor who has been called the Cicero of medicine, we have full descriptions of surgical operations along with explanations of the medical instruments used for them. Although this work is our best written source of information on ancient surgical instruments, the descriptions given by Celsus tend to be fairly brief and vague, and they cannot be used to identify the specific purpose of every such instrument found. Archaeological sites dating from this time yield great quantities of these objects.
Provenance: Southern Syria.
Substance: bronze.
Era: circa 100 CE.
Text: Fortin (p. 325).
Photo credit: Jacques Lessard.
Collection of the National Museum of Damascus.
Michel Fortin, Syria, Land of Civilization. Les Éditions de l'Homme, Musée de la Civilisation de Québec 1999.
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