Roman Influence

During the 1st to 5th centuries AD the Romans made great advances in medicine. They introduced more herbs into the pharmacopoeias and placed greater emphasis on the improtance of preventative health care by improving public hygiene. Roman physicians, especially Celsus, Galen, and Dioscorides, increased the knowledge and understanding of the structure and function of the human body but Hippocrates theory that "like can cure like" and his idea of an individual prescription for an individual patient were largely ignored.

During the Dark Ages in Europe, after th decline of the Roman Empire, there was little medical advancement. Altough Greek and Roman medical traditions survived in Persia and throughout the muslim empire, it was not until 16 th century that European medical study resumed and progressed.