Healthcare in Roman Colchester

Journal article

Colchester Museums has collected Roman-period medical instruments from the town since the late nineteenth century. Brought together here, along with items from the town housed in other institutions, their typological links or differences are explored, along with their wide range of uses. They are set in a variety of contexts, including a conquest-period British Doctor’s kit from Stanway, near Colchester, the alloys used in their manufacture, their distribution across the town and its suburbs, the diseases evident from late Romano-British human remains in the town’s cemeteries, and herbal remedies and other treatments. Interpretation of a previously enigmatic collyrium stamp attests to an eye infection not previously recorded in Roman Britain.

Authors: Crummy, N; Davis, GJC; Tomlin, RSO; Bray, P; Humphreys, O

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Journal: Britannia: A Journal of Romano-British and Kindred Studies
• Pages: 1-32
• Publication date: 2026-05-18
• DOI: 10.1017/s0068113x26100713
• EISSN: 1753-5352
• ISSN: 0068113X, 0068-113X
• Language: English
• Keywords: treatments; alloys; medical instruments; diseases; Stanway; pathologies; medical practitioners; Colchester