title: Roman ophthalmology. A glimpse of our distant past.
abstract: Ophthalmic artifacts from a house destroyed in 275 A.D. and recently excavated in Schwarzenacker, W. Germany, are described and illustrated. The reconstructed house of ophthalmologist, Sextus Ajacius Launus, and its contents provides a fascinating glimpse of ophthalmology as practiced nearly 17 centuries ago in the Roman Empire.
mesh_terms: D049690:History, Ancient; D006794:Household Articles; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000266:history* / Q000295:instrumentation; D012384:Rome