CLAS3051 Lecture 4: Childbirth
Jan 22, 2016
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?