Did the ancient Romans have an idea of “public health”? And, if so, what impact did the “revolution” in Roman culture and ideas of government that accompanied the fall of the Republic have on conceptions of governmental responsibility for collective wellbeing? Using four complementary bodies of evidence — Roman state responses to epidemic diseases, the growth and maintenance of Rome’s aqueduct and sewer systems, legislation regarding professional medicine, and the use of healing imagery and language in imperial self-representation — I argue that a concept of public health was important throughout Roman history. Popular and institutional understandings of what constituted public health, however, changed significantly in accordance with Rome’s political and cultural climate.
