This book presents the results of a unique macroscopic and radiological analysis by X-ray and
CT scan of the bone pathologies of about 1800 subjects who lived at the time of the Roman
Empire (first and second centuries A.D.) and whose remains were recovered during the excavation
of a suburban necropolis of Rome. The survey which represents a collaboration between the
Italian Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology and the Special Superintendent for the
Archaeological Heritage of Rome has yielded incredible images of different orthopaedic
diseases in a period when no surgical treatment was available: there are cases of infection
(osteomyelitis) metabolic disease (gout) hematologic disease (multiple myeloma) traumatic
lesions and their complications and degenerative pathology (osteoarthritis particularly
secondary and overload). A multidisciplinary team including orthopaedists paleopathologists
radiologists and medical historians has evaluated the major groups of bone disease in the
population finding out incredible cases and picture of ortho-traumatologic pathologies in a
pre-surgical era. The homogeneity of the sample and the number of subjects make this a study of
fundamental importance.
