Medical Practices in Roman Spain: Report on a Pilot Study of the Archaeological Remains of Medical Tools

In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder (25. 85) stated that the Cantabri, an indigenous group of people who lived in the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis, devised an elixir consisting of one-hundred herbs that they drank to maintain their health. Pliny’s story is one of a rare few comments in ancient literature that refers to localised traditions of medical practices in the Roman provinces. His statement was the initiating factor in undertaking a pilot study that asked how the native populations of the three provinces of Roman Spain responded to the introduction of Graeco-Roman medical philosophies and practices in contrast to their own healing traditions after the incorporation of Hispania into the empire (1st century BC). This paper gives a short overview of my preliminary findings and explains why it is necessary to consider provincial medical practices in historical examinations of Roman medicine from an archaeological perspective.