September 1, 2025

The Roman Forum (Foro Romano) – Continued
As mentioned in the previous issue, Rome began on seven hills.

Streams from these seven hills flowed down into the valleys between them, forming swamplands.

These wetlands became breeding grounds for mosquitoes and were unsuitable for human habitation.

It was King Tarquinius in the 6th century BCE who envisioned reclaiming the marshes to make the area livable.

He mobilized citizens to undertake the construction of a sewer system.

Although he was eventually exiled from Rome for overworking the populace, his vision ultimately bore fruit in the form of the Cloaca Maxima—a great sewer. 

This massive drainage system, stretching 1.5 kilometers, carried water from the marshes to the Tiber River, transforming the wetlands into the Eternal City, Rome.

At the center of the city was the public square that still stands today: the Roman Forum.

By the 4th century BCE, the drainage system had been covered and turned into an underground culvert.

Remarkably, it is said that since the fall of the Roman Empire, the main Roman sewer has never been cleaned.

Nevertheless, it still functions impressively to this day.

The greatest achievement in the medical history of ancient Rome was the development of public sanitation—including water supply systems, sewers, and public baths.

Cloaca Maxima is spelled "Cloaca Massima" in Italian.

Massima is a variation of massimo, meaning "greatest."
Like the English word maximum, it is derived from the Latin maximus, meaning "greatest."
　The word cloaca means sewer or drain, but in anatomy, it refers to the cloaca—a common cavity into which the intestinal, urinary, and reproductive tracts open.

It is found in animals such as birds and frogs.

In these animals, feces, urine, eggs, and sperm are all expelled from the same opening.

I learned this in anatomy during my student days, but I didn’t know the word also meant “sewer.”

So, except for those born by Caesarean section, you and I all came out of the sewer, so to speak!

To be continued

August 1, 2025

Foro Romano

   This was the public square of ancient Rome.

   To make it easier to understand, let’s begin with the legend of the founding of Rome.

There is a city called Troy in what is now Turkey.

The “Trojan War” refers to the conflict in which the ancient Greek army destroyed Troy.

A young survivor of Troy named Aeneas later landed on the Italian Peninsula.

Much later, his descendants—twin brothers named Romulus and Remus—were cast into the Tiber River as infants and were raised by a she-wolf.

   As they grew up, the twins decided to build a town at the place where they had washed ashore.

They quarreled over which of them the town should be named after and agreed to settle the dispute by climbing hills to see who could spot more birds.

They also vowed to kill anyone who crossed the walls of the new city.

   Remus climbed the Aventine Hill and saw six birds.

Romulus climbed the Palatine Hill and saw twelve birds.

Since Romulus saw more, he began to mark the boundaries for the new city walls.

He named the new city Rome, after himself.

When Remus, in frustration over his loss, kicked down part of the city wall, Romulus killed him.

Romulus buried his brother with honor and invited many people to settle in his new city.

He ruled Rome for 40 years before vanishing into the clouds.

This is the legendary origin of Rome, dating back to the 8th century BCE.

   Rome is surrounded by seven hills, including the Palatine Hill.

These are known collectively as the Seven Hills of Rome.

The valleys between these hills became marshy due to water flowing down from the heights.

  These marshes were not suitable for habitation and were mainly used for burying the dead.

The area was also infested with mosquitoes that carried malaria.

Naturally, malaria outbreaks were common among the Roman population.

Around the 1st century BCE, a massive malaria epidemic drastically reduced the population.

The famous orator Cicero even called Rome “the city of pestilence.”

   The disease that has plagued humanity for so long was named malaria by an 18th-century Italian physician, Francesco Torti.

He believed that the illness was caused by the “bad air” (in Italian, mal aria) of the marshes, and thus named the disease malaria using the Italian words.

   The people who suffered from malaria weren’t limited to ancient Romans.

Historical figures such as Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Cleopatra and Tutankhamun of Egypt, the Florentine poet Dante, Japan’s Taira no Kiyomori, and Mother Teresa of Calcutta are all said to have contracted malaria.

Modern medicine has revealed that malaria is an infectious disease transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes.

Unfortunately, even today, more than 200 million people are infected with malaria each year, and over 400,000 die from it.

   In the 45 years since I became a doctor, I have never encountered a single case of malaria.

However, with global warming, I am concerned that Japan may become a malaria-endemic region.

   As a side note, there is a city whose name means “good air”:

It is Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.

To be continued