Pick one of the time periods below:
- Ancient Rome
- The Middle Ages
What were their attitudes to Public Health at this time? 4 marks (8 mins)
Before the Middle Ages were the Romans. They needed healthy merchants to keep the Empire rich through trade and strong soldiers to control these lands. Therefore, they built towns and forts in healthy places and developed successful public health schemes to keep cities clean and ensure there was fresh water.
In the Middle Ages, there was no government provision of these facilities, particularly fresh water, so cleanliness became a privilege of the rich. For example, wealthy monasteries had their own drainage and water supply systems. They had access to clean water and had an inbuilt sewage system. Meanwhile, Kings and rulers did not believe it was their duty to share cleanliness with ordinary people. They used tax money to pay for wars, not to clean streets or build sewers. Only at times of horror was anything done about Public Health. For example the Black Death of 1348-1350. The Black Death killed over half of the population of Europe. Dirty conditions were perfect for it to spread so quickly. Even during this disaster, people thought the disease was caused by supernatural forces, rather than their poor public health.
After the Middle Ages came the renaissance. Those that survived the Black Death were valued workers and were paid more money. This was spent gaining an education, which allowed them to see the ignorance in the Middle Ages and re-discover healthcare ideas from Greece and Rome.
Key
To get 4/4 marks you need to:
o Context (For time periods: explaining what came before / what it led to)
o Explained sentences about the time period
- Ancient Rome
- The Middle Ages
During which time period was knowledge of Public Health the most advanced?
Refer to both time periods in your answer. 8 marks (16 mins)
The Romans recognised the importance of fresh water. They developed elaborate system to ensure that fresh water from springs could enter their cities. This involved carrying it for many miles along aqueducts into reservoirs, from which it could be piped to the many public amenities that they built. This would include public water fountains, bath houses for washing, and as a flushing agent to wash waste from public toilets into sewers.
In contrast, during the Middle Ages, many ordinary people would collect water for drinking and cooking from rivers or storage pits. However, it was common for people to deposit rubbish into these rivers. In addition, Roman sewage systems had been poorly maintained by the government, meaning that excrement could not be flushed and would instead be collected in piles known as cesspits. These would frequently overflow and enter the water system. This resulted in a situation where water was contaminated and public health was damaged.
Despite their advanced technologies, the Romans could not stop plagues spreading. In AD 160, a plague (known as Galen’s plague) hit the Roman Empire, killing 5 million people. It was spread by the Roman Army because they would carry disease wherever they were sent by politicians to fight or defend the Empire. It could also actually have been worsened by the sewers because they were not always wide enough to let sewage flow through.
Similarly, the Middle Ages also suffered from plague, most famously, the Black Death. This killed 60% of Europe’s population and was allowed to spread easily because of the dirty conditions in towns. The effects of the disease could not be contained because the government did not understand the real cause of the Black Death and believed it had been sent by God or they blamed diverse ideas such as Jews, the planets and bad air.
In conclusion, I think that Public Health was better during the Roman period. I think this because the Romans recognised the importance of cleanliness and fresh water, and strived to ensure that as many people as possible had these conveniences available. However, despite best intentions, were still not perfect, as demonstrated by Galen’s plague.
I did not choose the Middle Ages because the Period marked a regression from the earlier Roman heights of Public Health. The technological advances of the Romans were not maintained, and cruder alternatives had to be used. The result was a dirty environment in which disease thrived.
Key
To get 8/8 marks you need to:
o Explained points about Ancient Rome
o Explained points about the Middle Ages
o Comparrison connectives
o Conclusion assessing relative importance
Pick one of the factors below:
- Religion and Superstition
- Attitudes of Enquiry
Describe how this factor contributed to understanding of Disease and Infection throughout the Ancient World and the Middle Ages. 4 marks (8 mins)
During the Ancient period religion has made some contribution to knowledge of disease and infection. For example in prehistoric times, hunter-gatherers would wear superstitious charms around their necks. This was because charms were believed to be an effective way to combat the evil spirits that caused illnesses. The charms would have been provided by a medicine man, a religious figure trained to communicate with the Gods.
Later, The Greeks continued to believe that gods affected every part of their lives. Asclepius was the Greeks’ chief god of healing, and his temples became health resorts, with people coming to seek a cure from Asclepius. Whilst miracles were unlikely, the temple priests were practical healers and would encourage patients to eat regular meals and rest.
Probably the most impact that religion has made on understanding of anatomy was during the Middle Ages. Most people in Europe were Christian, and they belied that God sent illnesses as a punishment. Therefore, Christians believed that the sick could be healed if they prayed for forgiveness to Jesus Christ and the saints. Prayer was therefore considered the most important treatment for disease and ill people would be encouraged to attend mass as often as possible.
Key
To get 4/4 marks you need to:
o Context (For factors: explaining why they do certain things)
o Explained sentences about the time period
- Religion
- Science and Technology
Which factor contributed most to knowledge of Disease and Infection throughout the Ancient World and the Middle Ages?
Refer to both factors in your answer. 8 marks (16 mins)
Throughout time, different groups of people have had strong supernatural beliefs about the cures of disease. For example, in the Middle Ages, the Christian attitude towards sick people was to believe that God had sent the illness as a punishment. Therefore, Christians believed that the sick could be healed if they prayed for forgiveness to Jesus Christ and the saints. Although there were hospitals, knowledge was hindered because prayer was still the most important treatment and patients would attend mass seven times each day to help recover.
On the other hand, during the same period, attitudes of enquiry were also playing an important role in the Arabic world. Whilst many Muslims still believed that illnesses came from God, their main ideas about curing was that was that for every pain, God had also created a remedy, about which it was their responsibility to discover. Therefore, Islamic doctors, such as Rhazes, actively investigated cures, and furthered knowledge by trying to discover more about diseases, such as smallpox and measles.
Another time period in which religion had a massive role in disease and infection was the Greeks. They built Asclepions in major towns, which were temples to the god of healing, Asclepius, that functioning like a hospital. The priests encouraged patients to build up their strength by taking regular meals and resting. Under the guise of being Asclepius, the priests would also drug patients and try to cure their diseases.
In contrast to the practical religious healers of Greek times, the Middle Ages saw the first professional doctors. At the Salerno medical school, students were allowed to take part in debates challenging the ideas of Galen and Hippocrates. It was largely as a result of these debates that some ideas that had been used for years were revised. New ideas, such as using urine colour as an aid to diagnose the sick were also developed as a result of close observation.
In conclusion, I think that attitudes of enquiry have had the biggest role in contributing to knowledge. This is because the factor has lead to breakthroughs such as diagnosis from urine, and developments in treating diseases like smallpox.
I did not choose religion because it often hindered knowledge – people thought that God would cure them, or that illnesses were a punishment for misdemeanours, and therefore they did not investigate further. However, it is important to remember that religion and attitudes of enquiry can sometimes be linked, as demonstrated by Rhazes, who furthered knowledge, but only because that was the code of his religion.
Key
To get 8/8 marks you need to:
o Explained points about Religion
o Explained points about Science and Technology
o Comparrison connectives
o Conclusion assessing relative importance
- Islam
- Christianity
Which religion IMPROVED medical knowledge the most in the Middle Ages? Refer to both religions in your answer.
Refer to both religions in your answer. 8 marks (16 mins)
The Christian attitude towards sick people was to believe that God had sent the illness as a punishment. Therefore, Christians believed that the sick could be healed if they prayed for forgiveness to Jesus Christ and the saints. Although there were hospitals, prayer was still the most important treatment and patients would attend mass seven times each day to help recover.
On the other hand, the Islamic religion taught people to look after the sick and Muslim hospitals became famous for their care. Muslims still believed that illnesses came from God, but their religion taught that for every pain, God had also created a remedy. Therefore, Islamic doctors actively furthered knowledge by trying to discover more about diseases, such as smallpox and measles.
The Christian church helped to preserve a great deal of knowledge handed down from the Ancient World. Monks in monasteries copied books by medical writers from Greece and Rome. The works of Galen were particularly popular because he said there was one God, and this fitted with Christian belief.
Similarly, books were also important in the Islamic world. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, many Ancient medical books were rescued from being lost forever amidst European wars and translated into Islamic. Muslims took the medical ideas in these books further and wrote their own books. So they preserved the medical works of people such as Hippocrates and extended medical knowledge too.
In conclusion, I think that Islam improved medical knowledge the most. This is because the Muslim doctors were actively trying to find new cures for disease and they then used this practical experience to improve upon the established medical texts from the Ancient World.
I did not choose Christianity because they relied upon God for healing. This meant that there were no new developments, whilst the insistence on only using medical textbooks that supported Christian beliefs may actually have lead to a decline in medical knowledge.
Key
To get 8/8 marks you need to:
o Explained points about Christianity
o Explained points about Islam
o Comparrison connectives
o Conclusion assessing relative importance
- Harvey
- Vesalius
Which of these medical pioneers contributed most to the knowledge of Surgery and Anatomy in the Renaissance?
Refer to both individuals in your answer. 8 marks (16 mins)
Andreas Vesalius had a big impact upon Surgery and Anatomy. His biggest achievement was writing the Fabric of the Human Body which became the first highly illustrated book on human anatomy. In this book, Vesalius wrote about his respect for Galen’s work but proved that Galen was sometimes wrong by showing that the human jaw bone is made from one bone, not two as Galen had claimed. He further contradicted Galen by showing that the breastbone has three parts, not seven. He also discovered that blood does not flow into the heart through invisible holes in the septum – such holes do not exist.
Whereas, William Harvey took discoveries about the heart even further by proving that the heart acts as a pump, pumping blood around the body. He did this by dissecting cold-blooded animals and human bodies to build up detailed knowledge of the heart and its muscles. He proved that the body has a one-way system for blood by trying to pump liquid past the valves in veins but could not do so. He calculated that the amount of blood going into the arteries every hour weighed more than the person to whom the heart belonged, showing that the same blood is being pumped around the body by the heart.
The consequences of Andreas Vesalius’s work were to have an impact on the future. His book spread knowledge, with the underlying insistence on enquiry beginning to change attitudes and encourage others to follow his example; doctors, for instance, realised that Galen had not discovered everything. Therefore, new medical knowledge and treatments began to build up.