Minozzi Simona, Fornaciari Gino
Med Secoli. 2015;27(3):1043-65.
Many diseases induce alterations in the human skeleton, leaving traces of their presence in ancient remains. Paleopathological examination of human remains not only allows the study of the history and evolution of the disease, but also the reconstruction of health conditions in the past populations. This paper describes the most interesting diseases observed in skeletal samples from the Roman Imperial Age necropoles found in urban and suburban areas of Rome during archaeological excavations in the last decades. The diseases observed were grouped into the following categories: articular diseases, traumas, infections, metabolic or nutritional diseases, congenital diseases and tumours, and some examples are reported for each group. Although extensive epidemiological investigation in ancient skeletal records is impossible, the palaeopathological study allowed to highlight the spread of numerous illnesses, many of which can be related to the life and health conditions of the Roman population.
许多疾病会导致人体骨骼发生改变，在古代遗骸中留下它们存在的痕迹。对人类遗骸进行古病理学检查不仅有助于研究疾病的历史和演变，还能重建过去人群的健康状况。本文描述了在过去几十年考古发掘中，于罗马市区和郊区发现的罗马帝国时期墓地的骨骼样本中观察到的最有趣的疾病。观察到的疾病分为以下几类：关节疾病、创伤、感染、代谢或营养疾病、先天性疾病和肿瘤，并为每组报告了一些实例。尽管对古代骨骼记录进行广泛的流行病学调查是不可能的，但古病理学研究能够突出众多疾病的传播情况，其中许多疾病可能与罗马人口的生活和健康状况有关。
