This marble plaque from the Ancient Roman port city Ostia Antiqua shows a birthing scene, and you will no doubt notice that no men are present. Although the medical profession in Ancient Greece and Rome required extensive training and usually eliminated women from being doctors, enormous exceptions were made when it came to the treatment of women around issues of childbirth.
Ancient men frequently wrote derisively about women’s intelligence, characterizing females as overly emotional and irrational (I know — the trope is extremely tiring). The Greek poet Menander (d. 291 BCE) pronounced that a man “who teaches a woman letters feeds more poison to the frightful asp”. So there was an obvious disconnect in the practice of allowing women to be medics and men’s beliefs that women were stupid, temperamental, and oughtn’t to be educated.
The story of the woman doctor Agnodice addresses this inconsistency. Written by the Roman Gaius Julius Hyginus (d. 17 CE), the tale is a made-up account (probably) of how the extremely misogynist Athenians ended up allowing women to practice medicine. He writes:.
The woman Agnodice “desired to learn medicine, and since she desired it, she cut her hair, and in male attire” went to a doctor and got training. Eventually, she went to treat a woman who was in labor, but the patient refused to see Agnodice because she didn’t want to be seen by a man. So Agnodice took off her clothes to prove her gender, and successfully helped the new mother deliver her child.
Afterwards, Agnodice was in high demand, and pregnant women all wanted her services. This aroused suspicion from the other doctors, who accused Agnodice of seducing women. When Agnodice finally was forced to reveal her sex to fight against the slander, the doctors grew hostile until a leading woman from the community burst into the discussion and said:.
“You are not husbands, but enemies, because you condemn her who discovered safety for us”.
After that, writes Hyginus, the Athenians changed their laws to allow women to study medicine.
Source(s): Hyginus, Tabular from _The Myths if Hyginus_, trans and edited by Mary Grant (#274l. Univ of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies, no 34, at “topostext.org”. “Male attitudes concerning female edication,” Gary K. Clabaugh for the Menander quote. British Museum for the image.
