Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 73-74. (Budapest, 1975)

ELŐADÁSOK — KISEBB KÖZLEMÉNYEK - Davies, R. W.: Medicus Duplicarius (angol és magyar nyelven)

There were also various medical personnel in each fort for the auxiliary cavalry regiments, light infantry battalions, and units of irregulars. Thus a medicus in a ship had to look after the crew (perhaps 200 men) by himself and without assistance; consequently, he had extra responsibilities and received extra pay. The exception is a recruit with only 17 days service, who had not had time to complete his training and become qualified; consequently, he was still an ordinary ranker (manipularius)

25

. Similarly in the modern British Royal Navy there is often only one naval rating with medical training on board each of the smaller vessels, who is responsible for the health of all the crew

2ti

. Analysis of the names and background of the medici duplicarii of the Italian fleets shows that they are of a low social class and status

27

. They are not doctors and officers but medical technicians and ratings

28

. There is no epigraphic evidence yet of a fleet doctor, but Galen (XII 780 Kühn) seems to refer to "Axius, oculist of the British Fleet"

29

. A hospital has been identified at the early naval base at Fréjus (Forum Iulii)

30

. It is possible that M. Naevius Proculus of the quadrireme 'Venus'

31 at Misenum was a sergeant whose job it was to look after the invalids (optio conv [alescentium]),

32 It is possible that the medici duplicarii had an association (collegium)

, but the evidence is not clear.

33 In the frieze of Mereruka at Saqqara Mereruka has a title interpreted as "Inspektor beide Seiten(?) des Bootes(?) der Hofärzte". Other hieroglyphs give him the additional titles of "Aufseher der zwei Getreidespeicher" and "Aufseher der zwei Felder(?) von Opfergaben".

31 This strongly suggests that Mereruka was an administrator, and there is no evidence at all to show that he himself had any medical training whatsoever. There is, consequently, no parallel of 'double' between Romanus and Mereruka. Moreover, on a ship in the Roman navy the task of supervising the rowers was divided not into the two sides but into those in the fore and those in the aft part of the ship, under the charge of the proreta (deputy-pilot) and gubernátor (pilot) respectively.

35 The special parallels drawn by Dr. Watermann between Romanus and Egypt do not, in fact, exist. Romanus is a typical example of a naval rating in the Ravenna Fleet, with some basic medical knowledge, who looked after the men in his ship and was rewarded with extra pay. The epitaph may be translated: "To the departed spirit of Sextus Arrius Romanus, medical technician receiving double pay of the ship 'Egypt'; lived 26 years; served 5 years; M. Iulius Sossianus, his dear friend and heir, (set up this tombstone)." 25 Davies (1972), op. cit., 10. 26 Caldwell, E. D.: The Medical Branch of the Royal Navy, London 1967, 72. 27 Nutton, V.: 'The Doctors of the Roman Navy', Epigraphica 1970, 66—7J. 28 Davies (1972), op. cit., 10. 29 Davies (1969), op. cit., 92. 30 Starr, op. cit., 12. 31 Bormann, E.: Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, volume X, Berlin 1888, number 3478. 32 Breeze, op. cit., 134. Starr, op. cit., 60. 33 Davies (1972), op. cit., 1—2. Nutton, op. cit. 31 Watermann, op. cit., 102. 3:

' Starr, op. cit., 56.