The Roman Military Valetudinaria: Fact or Fiction?

This paper questions whether Roman military hospitals have been properly identified in the archaeological evidence. The author is not convinced by the scholarship that adheres to the understanding that we know what Roman hospitals were. The buildings that have been identified as such were so justified at the beginning of the last century on the basis of a single structure with a room that contained medical tools. In comparison with other structures and buildings there is not enough evidence in the archaeological record to support such an argument. Again this has sparked a debate on how we identify buildings used for health and healing.