[State of ophthalmology in ancient Rome].

The article presents the state of medical knowledge of the peoples forming Etruscan and Roman civilization circa 600 years B. C. Medical practices of these peoples are discussed. It is underlined that some Etruscan views were adopted by the Romans who cared much about hygiene. However, the development of Roman medicine was strictly related to the Greek And Egyptian physicians to this country. Various conditions of ophthalmic inflammation and many ocular diseases like pterygium, entropionand tumor of the lids were known in the Roman society. We owe to Celsus the description of the couching of the cataract. Oculists could be find in military hospitals (valetudinarias), and the navy. However, some civilian physicians like Antyllus--a famous surgeon who also performed the couching of the cataract, and Rufus of Ephesus--an author of a great description of the anatomy of the eye ae still remembered.