Before Hellenistic influence, the Roman legion did not contain any medical services. The common practice among professional generals of the Hellenistic world was to campaign in the company of a personal physician. Literary sources leave us with the distinct impression that the wounded treated by the physicians present in the army were of the higher ranks, and there is little indication that the common soldiers had access to medical care. Instead, some troops functioned as medical staff as the need arose. It is to the Romans’ credit that they recognized the need for such a service, but the solution was not a medical corps whereby trained physicians became part of the army. The Romans clearly distinguished between the treatment of the “sick” and the “wounded”. The wounded were cared for, as far as possible, by fellow soldiers on the fields, and the transportable sick were placed in ualetudinaria (hospitals) along with the severely wounded. The medici (doctors) treating the wounded on Trajan’s column are dressing superficial wounds and their uniforms are identical with that of the soldiers they are aiding. Trajan’s column would thus bear out the general picture: the medici were those soldiers of a legion or of an auxiliary detachment who had demonstrated their capabilities for wound dressing and a primitive surgery, but who were not themselves trained physicians.

Trajan's column, Rome, dedicated 113 CE: Soldiers aiding their wounded comrades Trajan's column commemorated the emperor Trajan's Dacian Wars which were fought at the beginning of the second century CE. This scene illustrates the treatment of the wounded under battlefield conditions. Note that the uniforms of the medics rendering aid do not differ from those of the regular soldiers.

Wall painting from Casa di Sirico, Pompeii, 1st Century BCE: Aeneas receiving medical attention from Iapyx A wounded Aeneas is carried off the battlefield and taken to the physician to remove the dart from his thigh with forceps.

The Roman poet Virgil (70-19 BCE) composed an epic poem, titled the Aeneid, about the events leading up to the foundation of Rome. It follows the adventures of the Trojan hero Aeneas who was forced to do battle with the native inhabitants of Italy upon immigrating there from Troy. In one of the climactic scenes at the poem’s conclusion (Aeneid XII.383-440), Aeneas is wounded in the thigh by an arrow shaft hurled by an anonymous soldier in the enemy camp. After the wounded Aeneas is helped back to camp, the surgeon Iapyx comes to Aeneas’ aid by using forceps to remove the arrow. Since the surgeon is unable to withdraw the shaft, Venus, Aeneas’ divine mother, intervenes. From across the Mediterranean at Mt. Ida near Troy, she brings dittany, an unknown herb to heal the wound. Cicero, in the philosophical treatise De Divinatione, says that dittany was supposed to make arrows fall out of goats’ bodies. Although he was unable to help Aeneas, Iapyx was given his skill by Apollo himself to practice ingloriously the “silent arts”, i.e., medicine. Apollo’s three realms are music, prophecy and healing. Only in the first two is the voice used, hence medicine is the silent art. The idea of obscurity is included because the profession of medicine does not lead to great fame.

Drawing of Attic Black Figured Vase, 6th Century BCE, National Museum Athens: Sthenelos bandaging Diomedes' index finger The episode portrayed here is not mentioned in any extant saga of the Trojan War. In the Hippocratic treatise In the Surgery, the author states bluntly that "he who desires to practice surgery must go to war."