Cancer

Even though cancer claimed hundreds of lives in ancient Rome, the Greeks were the ones who first recognized it. These words, which in Greek mean "crab," were most likely used to describe the illness because the finger-like spreading projections from a cancer reminded people of crabs' shells. Later, the Greek phrase was translated into cancer, the Latin word for crab, by the Roman physician Celsus (25 BC – 50 AD). Another Greek physician, Galen (130–200 AD), referred to tumors as oncos (Greek for swelling). Although Hippocrates and Celsus' crab analogy is still used to characterize malignant tumors, the term "oncologist," from Galen, is now a part of the term for cancer specialists.

The Greeks, who largely lived in ancient Greece and ancient Egypt, found cancer evidence in the fossilized remains of early humans. According to the Greeks, too much black bile is what causes cancer. Galen, a Roman physician, asserted that Cancer first occurred in ancient Rome around 200 AD. Numerous treatments for cancer were utilized by the Romans after being used by the Greeks originally. They eventually learned that a mastectomy might either cure or significantly reduce breast cancer.

A similar discovery was made regarding the treatment of uterine cancer, which involved breaking a stone into water, pouring it into the vagina, and forcing the patient to sit on something extremely hot.