Chapters
The birth of a child was an important event in every culture. The birth of a healthy and strong offspring, who will bring pride to his family and ensure its continuity, has always been eagerly awaited. However, childbirth was associated with great danger and the threat of death or serious illness not only for the mother but also for the child.
Ancient doctors left behind works from which we can find out how the preparations for childbirth lasted and how the childbirth itself proceeded. They give examples of folk beliefs and superstitions that were supposed to help a woman in labour relieve pain, and describe the tasks of a midwife.
Pliny the Elder, a Roman polymath of the 1st century CE, in his “Natural History”, book VII on anthropology and human physiology, describes various methods of accelerating and facilitating childbirth. According to him, it is much easier to give birth to a boy than a girl. Vapours emanating from hyena blubber cause immediate labour. Placing a hyena’s right paw on a pregnant woman will make childbirth easier, while placing a hyena’s left paw may cause death. A drink mixed with powdered sow’s dung relieves pain, as does sow’s milk mixed with honey. Childbirth will be easier if the woman drinks a decoction containing goose semen mixed with water or “liquid that flows from the weasel’s uterus”. Pliny also mentions medicines made from herbs and various plants. Verbena root was valued for its strengthening and calming properties; scordotis (tencrium scordium), a plant related to garlic, had antiseptic properties; oregano or Diptam leaves (origanum dictamnus) had mint-like properties. Various items and protective amulets were also used during the postpartum period. It was believed that tying a snake moult on the thigh of a woman giving birth would help her quickly recover and recover from an exhausting childbirth.
We do not know whether the above-mentioned measures and practices were effective. We can guess that the presence of items such as snake skin in the room of a woman giving birth posed a risk of infection for both the mother and the newborn, especially when these items came into contact with the intimate parts of the woman in labour. But nevertheless, we must appreciate the potential placebo effect of these items. If a woman believed that a certain thing relieved pain and made childbirth easier, she could relax more and feel better.
Soranus of Ephesus, a Greek physician living in the 2nd century CE, in her work Gynaikeia (“On Women’s Matters”) in four books deals with the duties of a midwife and the hygiene and care of infants.
In the first book, we can find a description of the ideal midwife. According to Soranus, the woman giving birth should be a professional and have high competencies. The author adds that many women do not meet these basic criteria. I’m writing:
It is necessary to reflect on this question so that we do not toil in vain and teach unfit people. Knowledge of writing, reason, good memory, diligence, honesty are needed, in general it must be distinguished by keen senses, be free from all disabilities and strong. As some add, she should have long narrow fingers with small and rounded nails. The knowledge of writing gives her the possibility of theoretical training in craftsmanship. The intellect facilitates his understanding of what he hears and sees, and by a good memory he can retain what he has learned, for knowledge arises from retention and conception. Love of work and perseverance go together; and perseverance is needed to get acquainted with such material. Honesty is needed, because it will be entrusted in the future with the farm and the secrets of life, and because people of bad character, who know about medical matters, can misuse them. A midwife must have acute senses, because she must look at it, listen to it with her ear, and examine it by touch. She dare not be burdened with any disability, so that she can perform her actions cleverly. She must be strong, because by moving from place to place she works double. The fingers should be long, narrow and with short nails, so that when touching the internal parts in a state of inflammation, they do not increase it. This, indeed, is all achieved by taking things seriously and practicing.
In Soranus we find a mention that obstetrics was not reserved exclusively for midwives. A doctor, a man, in exceptional situations could also deliver childbirth. However, the sources leave no doubt that delivery was mainly done by midwives.
In some parts of the Mediterranean, especially in the Greek-speaking part, the profession of midwife (maia) was distinct from that of midwife (iatros gynaikeios). What’s more, this profession enjoyed great respect and gynaecological treatises were written in these areas by women with Greek-sounding names. Often fragments of these works were quoted in the works of ancient physicians. In the Roman West, the situation was somewhat different. Of the thousands of epitaphs collected in the CIL, only sixteen are dedicated to the memory of deceased women who were midwives. Of these inscriptions, nine come from the columbaria of the great Roman patrician families or belonged to the familia Caesaris. The conclusion is that large and wealthy families had their own midwives. Only one inscription indicates that the deceased woman was a slave; the other women were freedmen or daughters of freedwomen. From this, it follows that midwives were very valuable – so much so that they were offered freedom.
We do not know what criteria were used to select slaves who were to become midwives. It was probably the mothers who taught the daughters or the slaves who became the apprentices of the home midwives. Despite the very scant evidence on how midwives were selected and trained, it seems reasonable to say that most of the women trained came from the eastern Mediterranean, where the profession was more respected and had a longer tradition than in the west. The services provided by midwives were not the cheapest. In the comedy Plautus (3rd-2nd century BCE) The boastful soldier (Miles Gloriosus<