THE SCHOLA MEDICORUM THAT NEVER EXISTED IN ROME

Abstract

It has been argued that a schola medicorum (i.e. a headquarters of physicians) existed in ancient Rome. According to this, the evidence supporting the existence of the schola is the plinth of a statue engraved with the text translata de schola medicorum, the epitaph of a scriba medicorum, and a Greek inscription dedicated by a δεκαδάρχης ἰατρῶν, but these sources present some problems when they are subjected to a critical examination. Moreover, the silence of ancient authors about this place is striking, and subsequent doubts emerge when considering that the schola medicorum is first documented in a manuscript by Pirro Ligorio. The aim of this paper is to re-examine the documentary sources that allude to the schola medicorum, assessing also the use of this expression in scientific literature from the sixteenth century, and try to determine if the written sources support the existence of such a place in ancient Rome.