ABSTRACT
Asclepiades (c 124−40 bc) was the first Roman doctor to achieve high fame. He came to Rome from Bithynia and founded a medical school which continued after his death. At first, such schools were the personal following of the doctor and he would take all his students with him on visits. The writer Martial (40–102 ad) commented on this practice in the following manner:
I was lying ill; but you immediately came to me, Symmacchus, accompanied by a hundred students. A hundred hands, frozen by the north wind, examined me. I did not have a fever, Symmachus, but I’ve got one now.
