CLAS3051

Lecture 4: Childbirth

Nature of Our Evidence?

Written

Soranus' Gynaecology What problems does this present us with?

Myths, tragedies, comedies

Oblique references in, e.g., Plato

Images

Midwives

From tomb of

Scribona Attice,

midwife at Ostia, port

of Rome

Freedwomen, or

daughters of Freedmen

Not a citizen's calling

Requirement Start early? Poblicia Aphe, obstetrix, dead at age

twenty-one

A suitable person will be literate, with her wits

about her, possessed of a good memory, loving

work, respectable and generally not unduly

handicapped as regards her senses [i.e., sight,

smell, hearing], sound of limb, robust, and,

according to some people, endowed with long

slim fingers and short nails at her fingertips.

Soranus

Superstitious Midwives?

Should “be free from superstitions so as not to

overlook what is expedient on account of a dream

or omen or customary ritual or popular

superstition” Soranus Gyn. 1.3-4 in Garland 62-

63

Distinction

Law codices of late Roman period:

Slave doctors and midwives of equal value

Midwives have access to same arbitration as

doctors

In birth contract 40 drachmae left for emergency,

portion for midwife

In East sometimes became 'gynocologists', wrote

essays (not surviving)

Midwifery in Ancient Greece

Less 'professionalized'?

Collective wisdom of local women

four or so other women also in attendance

Socrates as Midwife

Theaetetus: I can assure you, Socrates, that I

have tried very often, . . . but I cannot shake off a

feeling of anxiety.

Socrates: These are the pangs of labor, my dear

Theaetetus, you have something within you

which you are bringing to birth. And have you

never heard, . . . that I am the son of a midwife ...

and that I myself practice midwifery?

Theaetetus: No, never.

Infant Mortality

How do we assess?

Retrojection of Modern Rates

Perinatal infant mortality of ?8%

10 – 20% mortality among women (Garland 65)

5 out of 20,000 mortality among women (French,

V. Helios 1986)

Deities of Childbirth

From pediment of

Parthenon?

Eileithyia = “she who

comes”

Artemis, too

Hippocratic Labour

“The child by the spasmodic movements of its

hands and feet breaks one of the internal

membranes ... it forces a wide passage for itself

through the womb .... It advances head first – that

is the natural position, since its weight measured

from above the navel is greater than it is below.”

Nature of the Child

The Birthing Chair or Stool

This a 19th century

example

couches and dining

benches also used

softening with oils,

etc.

Testing the Child

bathed in wine Plut. Lycurgus Soranus

Process of acceptance

Difficult Pregnancies

Transverse: deal with through palpitation

Tongs not commonly used in live birth

Stillbirths a major hazard

Description on G 76-77 relates considerable skill

Hippocratic text On the Cutting Up of the Embryo

Suppositious children?

Unusual Births

Seen as portentous

Relating displeasure of gods

Not necessarily moral transgression or

wrongdoing of the individual

Pollution of the community

Oath of Athenian Ephebes (Cadets)

“If I remain faithful to the inscribed oath, may

women give birth to children who resemble their

parents. If not, may they give birth to monsters”

(Tod II 204.39-45 in G 79).

Parmenides: Rationalist Explanations

Garland p. 80

What is typical of this passage?

Exposure

Form of population control

Different conception of personhood, parenthood

Illegitimate children, children of slaves, we

assume

Sickly and deformed children

Girls

Most of Greece decision of father, Sparta, Rome

the state

Attitudes?

Golden: “co-exist with care of and affection for

children” just as abortion today

Tragedies suggest undercurrent of anxiety,

perhaps

Exposure not killing: put in care of gods

Rituals of Acceptance

Amphidromia = “running around”

Around hearth

Dekate ('tenth day' ceremony)

Naming takes place on this occasion

Widening circle of acceptance

Hedging against infant mortality?