The Great Obstetrician of Antiquity

Soranus, the Great Obstetrician of Antiquity, lived and worked in Roman territory in the second century CE.

[Yes, his name is terribly unfortunate. Yet, let us remember that he and his contemporaries would have spoken Latin and Greek. So it may have been a very pleasing name. Let us hope so, for his patients' sakes.]

Soranus, like Galen, was born in Roman territory, but in Greek lands. He trained all over the Roman world, like Galen. Unlike Galen, Soranus is widely believed to have specialized in gynecology. This is probably untrue, since he wrote quite a bit on other topics, but his “Gynecology” was the most widely quoted text on women’s diseases until the 16th century, so the man is an obstetrician, whether he was or not.

Here’s the interesting thing about Soranus–he got an awful lot right. In an age where other practitioners were using sweet odors to entice the uterus back into its normal position, Soranus told them that was bunk. He insisted that the uterus was not an animal, was held in place by ligaments (golly, gee!), and was not going to respond to smells. He bemoaned the idea of bloodletting to “replace” not-lost menstrual blood, claiming that a woman could be perfectly healthy even if she didn’t menstruate, and that blood loss of any kind was probably not a good idea.

He even encouraged midwives to wash their hands–not for magical or ritual purposes, but so that they didn’t harm internal organs.

So he was practically a modern.

Soranus so well defined gynecology that no one added anything to the field for over thirteen hundred years.

Scary, huh?

Soranus was particularly well known for his contraceptives and abortifacients. Roman women averaged a family of TWO, apparently, which is absolutely fascinating for a premodern era. This was so annoying to the Roman government that they adopted a series of laws (the Lex Julia, if you are interested in the history) that rewarded Roman citizens for producing children. A male born in wedlock was worth 16 sestrices (roughly equivalent to what it cost to raise a child), outside of wedlock 12 sestrices; a lowly girl was worth 12 sestrices in wedlock or out.

Roman law made no attempt to regulate conception. It did regulate abortion, not because of any presupposition that the fetus had a right to survive, but because the father had a property right to his progeny. Abortions caused by “drink” were prohibited; Soranus, however, defines a variety of suppositories, all of which were quite likely very effective, based on modern knowledge of biochemistry. Much of his pharmacopeia was covered in my last post on ancient contraceptives, and is known to contain active ingredients that actually work.

Go figure.

In addition to his well known abortifacients, Soranus offered this contraceptive advice:

Avoid intercourse during the period when menstruation is ending and abating.

After intercourse, squat, induce sneezing, wipe the vagina, and drink something cold.

He offered the following suggestions to smear on the mouth of the uterus (presumably pre-coitus):

Old olive oil, or honey, or cedar resin, or the juice of the balsam tree,

AND white lead or myrtle oil or moist alum,

OR place a lock of fine wool in the orifice of the uterus.

Excellent advice. I think. Maybe. Hey, when in Rome…

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