Ancient medicine
The relief could be showing us a doctor treating a serious stab wound in his patient’s upper abdomen. He’s holding a sponge or charpie – a wad of plucked textile fibres – in his right hand to still the bleeding and clean the wound. Are we seeing a Roman (military) doctor at work in the field? Yes and no.
Celsus, the encyclopaedist of Roman medicine in the 1st century CE, describes the professional treatment of fresh stab wounds and cuts: “After you have discovered where a wounded patient has been struck, and survival is possible, you must ensure two things: That neither the blood loss nor any onset of infection kills the patient. If you are concerned the patient may bleed to death […] fill the wound with dry charpie, place a sponge squeezed in cold water over it, and apply pressure to the wound with your hand,” (de medicina v. 26, 21).
Our physician here sees chances for recovery due to the smooth edges of the wound because, according to Celsus, “a wound that runs in a straight line is the least dangerous.” (de medicina v. 26, 1). He recommends cleaning the wound before applying stitches: “Furthermore, you must first place a sponge soaked in vinegar over each wound. If the patient cannot endure the concentration of the vinegar, use wine,” (de medicina v. 26, 23).
The medical details are realistically depicted in this scene, and so they presented the art of medicine and prudence to ancient viewers. Yet at the same time, the doctor and the patient seem far removed from reality: As figures from a tale from Greek mythology, they shift the scene into a timeless setting, connected with the centuries-old idea of rescue from the grips of death through medicine and its benedictions.
In creating this scene, the sculptor referred to various depictions of the doctor-patient relationship and translated them into a version requested by the client, namely through references to Greek mythology. This is made especially clear by the wounded soldier, who is either a hero or a god. His muscular body is presented in its nude ideal. His curly locks and smooth face underline his young age. In accordance with his status as a hero, he is not lying on a sick bed to be inspected, but rather leaning against a tree, legs crossed, exhausted by still standing. A sword and spears are lying on the ground. He has hung up his helmet by the cheek flaps on the stump of a branch. When the relief was created, specifically in the final decades of the 1st century CE, this style of helmet and shield were no longer commonplace. The soldier’s armour thus also transported the ancient viewer to a time since passed.
The doctor is wearing the Greek attire of his profession, a girdled exomis with many folds over only the left shoulder. His facial features betray how much older he is than the patient, but this is also supposed to indicate some of his important characteristics: experience and skill. The concentration with which he inspects the wound, and his careful treatment of the patient, underline the depiction of medical virtues.
The story shown here was certainly a familiar one to Roman contemporaries, while clear identification of the persons shown here eludes modern viewers to this day. Suggestions include the treatment of the hero Aeneas’ wounds by Japyx(Virgil, Aeneis XII, 311f) or the healing of Ares by the physician of the gods, Paean (Homer, Iliad V, 396-405). However, these literary depictions don’t line up with many of the details in this relief from Cologne. There exist only few depictions of the treatment of wounded soldiers from the time of the Roman Empire. One of the more famous examples is a scene on relief 40 on Trajan’s Column, or the Telephos relief from Herculaneum. Nevertheless, none of these works of art present the medical details more precisely than the one shown here from Cologne.
The relief was part of a defensive tower, the foundation of which was excavated during construction of the Museum Ludwig and Philharmonie in 1981. The tower was once used as part of the fortifications for Colonia along the banks of the Rhine, protecting the eastern city wall. Massive limestone blocks from Roman tombs were also lined up here to form an even surface in the 4th century CE, with the unworked, smooth sides on top. As a result, the decorative elements remained largely preserved, including the unusual scene with the doctor that once adorned the left side of a lavish tomb – perhaps belonging to a local physician in Roman Cologne.
B. Schneider