A remarkable case of gout in the Imperial Rome

Surgery and diseases in antiquity by osteoarchaeological, paleopathological, and historical perspectives

Bibliographic Data

ID12371284
AuthorsG Fornaciari (0000-0002-1334-1707, National Archaeological Museum), Silvia Marinozzi (0000-0002-4571-343X, Department of Molecular Medicine, Unit of History of Medicine and Bioethics Sapienza University of Rome Rome Italy, corresponding author), Daniela Messineo (0000-0003-3059-4439, Department of Radiological, Oncological and Anatomo‐Pathological Sciences Sapienza University of Rome Rome Italy), Carla Caldarini (Service of Anthropology Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Roma (Special Authority of Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Landscapes of Rome) Rome Italy), Federica Zavaroni (Service of Anthropology Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Roma (Special Authority of Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Landscapes of Rome) Rome Italy), Silvia Iorio (0000-0001-9741-7838, Department of Molecular Medicine, Unit of History of Medicine and Bioethics Sapienza University of Rome Rome Italy), Sveva Longo (0000-0002-4895-4511, Sapienza University of Rome), Longo Sveva (CNR ‐ISC ‐ NuclearMagnetic Resonance and MedicalPhysics laboratory C/O Università degliStudi di Roma La Sapienza ‐ Physics Department Rome Italy), Silvia Capuani (0000-0002-7863-1801, CNR ‐ISC ‐ NuclearMagnetic Resonance and MedicalPhysics laboratory C/O Università degliStudi di Roma La Sapienza ‐ Physics Department Rome Italy), Paola Catalano (Service of Anthropology Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Roma (Special Authority of Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Landscapes of Rome) Rome Italy), Valentina Gazzaniga (0000-0003-2110-4856, Department of Medico‐Surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies, Unit of History of Medicine and Bioethics Sapienza University of Rome Rome Italy)
Year2019
Volume29
Issue5
Pages797-807
Publication date2019-06-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1047-482X • E-ISSN: 1099-1212
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/oa.2792
OpenAlexW2963730238
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited18

This study is the result of a multidisciplinary approach and focuses on a case of considerable historical and medical interest. The work originally stemmed from findings at a funerary site in the area of Casal Bertone in Rome (Italy), regards an individual in a tomb identified simply by the number “75.” The skeletal alterations that were later discovered gave rise a debate among the members of the team. Challenges in identifying the pathology have brought historians, anthropologists, and radiologists into the field with the use of sophisticated equipment, including CT scans and X‐ray equipment, as well as some analyses carried out with the latest spectrometers. Consequently, the most likely diagnostic hypothesis resulted in gout. During this work, each area of study dealt with the problem in a different manner, allowing for a greater understanding of gout at this point in history, how this pathology might have influenced a person's life, as well as the medical approaches and techniques used to treat it in the imperial age of the second century BCE

Archaeology · Gout · Multidisciplinary approach · Paleopathology · Social science · Sociology · Work (physics · Classics · Engineering · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Genital Health and Disease · History · Medicine · Paleopathology and ancient diseases