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General hygiene
Although public baths are provided in virtually all towns and cities,
and Romans can sometimes seem obsessed with cleanliness, general standards
of hygiene are not all that they could be. Most of the homes of the urban
population have no access to sewers, and even the public toilet facilities
can sometimes play their part in spreading disease. The usual public toilet
consists of a communal, multi-seated facility – and Romans use communal
sponges on sticks to wipe themselves clean afterwards.
Roman medicine
Roman medical science is well advanced compared with most of the rest
of the ancient world. Doctors' medical kits include a range of bronze
and iron instruments for surgery and other practices, including scalpels,
knives, hooks, probes, saws, forceps, specula and catheters. But most
Romans still regard illness as a punishment from the gods or the product
of witchcraft and curses.
Some of the 'cures' can be as alarming as the disease. It's probably
best not to let any doctor near you with those instruments, if you can
avoid it – there are no antibiotics and no effective anaesthetics.
One of the favoured 'cures' of wealthy Romans is taking the waters at
mineral springs or spas, such as at Bath. This can itself be hazardous,
however: the emperor Vespasian, for example, dies after contracting diarrhoea
as a result of taking too much of the water at Aquae Cutiliae, a mineral
spring near his birthplace.
Sex and contraception
Sexually transmitted diseases are rife. There are brothels in most
towns and cities, and 'camp followers', including large numbers of prostitutes,
accompany the legions wherever they go. For contraception, there is a
huge range of potions, oils, ointments, amulets and expensive consultations
available, none of which is very trustworthy. There are condoms – made,
for example, from the bladder of a goat – but they are very expensive.
If all else fails, the Romans practise abortion and infanticide, but both
are best avoided.
Fire
While the villas of the wealthy are airy and spacious, the urban poor
live in crowded insulae (tenements), often several stories high,
with shops opening on to the street and workshops at the rear. The close
proximity of working and living quarters, the overcrowding and the use
of oil lamps for lighting mean that fire is a constant hazard.
Rome itself is ravaged by devastating fires on a number of occasions,
most notably in the great fire of AD 64.
Another devastating conflagration occurs soon after the eruption
of Vesuvius in AD 79, when the whole area from the Capitol to the
Pantheon goes up in flames.
Plague
The year AD 167 sees the first outbreak
of plague at Rome for several hundred years. Twelve years later, legions
returning from the east bring it to Rome again; at the height of the outbreak,
people are dying at a rate of 2,000 a day. From then on, plague becomes
a regular occurrence and is spread by soldiers and traders throughout
the empire.
Cults
Avoid getting caught up in the many religious cults that can be found
throughout the empire. Sometimes they can be ruthlessly persecuted. At
other times, adherents might find themselves biting off more than they
can chew: for example, the cult of Cybele, the great Asiatic mother-goddess,
requires self-castration by the devout.
Bandits and pirates
Bulla Felix (Bulla the Lucky) is thrown to the lions in AD 206 after
leading some 600 bandits as they ravaged the towns of northern Italy.
He is betrayed by a friend's wife, who had been his mistress. It's a sign
of how lawless large parts of the empire can be, even close to Rome itself.
In 67 BC, Pompey is charged with clearing the pirates from the Mediterranean.
He takes three months to do it, having been vested with extraordinary
powers. Pirates return again later to plague the empire, however – and
the Mediterranean is never entirely free of this danger.
War
By far the biggest hazard in the Roman empire is becoming involved
in any of the wars – involving internal or external enemies – that afflict
it for most of its history. Getting caught on the losing side is worst
of all. Survivors will almost certainly find themselves enslaved, if they
are lucky enough to escape execution. And there is little to choose between
Rome or its enemies. Even emperors can face brutal treatment, as Valerian
discovers to his cost when he is captured and
enslaved by the Persian ruler Shapur I in AD 260. His body is skinned
and the skin hung in a temple as a warning to anyone else thinking of
crossing Shapur in the future.
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