Medical Sources Flashcards
What are the four diff categories of ‘healers’ in Homer?
Seers, Physicians, Women, and Foreigners (esp Egyptians)
Sappho (31) quotes that show medical discussion mirroring
’ a subtle fire has stolen beneath my flesh, I see nothing with my eyes, my ears hum, sweat pours from me, a trembling seizes me all over [..]I am little short of dying.’ (lns9-16)
Who was Empedocles?
Presoc philosoher hailed as a healer, w clairvoyant powers and purifier. Galen hailed him as crucial in Sicilian/Italian School of Docs, whilst others thought of him as a divine figure. Exemplar Greek holy man/sage
What happened to Phaethusa of Abdera? Part of Hipp Corpus?
Stopped having period after having children and turned masculine: grew beard, body hair, and voice deepened. Soon died after efforts to restart period failed. Epidemics
What does Phaethusa’s case suggest abt Hippocratic physicians’ understanding of sex and gender?
sex was fluid, gender was not
the bodily sex of the patient changes irreversibly but the doctor, until the end, refers to her w female pronouns etc and as a woman
What kind of poor health do women suffer from more acc to Hipp.Corp? Why
Mental. They are more fainthearted. (Girls lns 466-7)
What is the physical effect of sex for parthenoi that is crucial in the function of their marriage?
cervix is opened and thus the menstrual blood can flow out when period comes (Girls 467)
What is the main impact of lack of a period for women?
Derangement from blood in heart and diaphragm (Girls 467-8)
Solution to lack of a period given by Hippocrates?
‘cohabit with men as soon as they can: for if they become pregnant, they recover’ (girls 469)
What was the general diagnosis for women’s ill acc to Hipp. Corp?
problems w reproductive system (menstruation, fertility etc.)
What were the fundamental differentiator of fem from male anatomy? Signif?
M porous flesh equivalent to one big gland - this was the balancing measure of the male body that the woman’s emulated fully (DoW (Mul.) 1.1)
Heat, although whether females were hotter or colder is not consistent across Hipp corpus
Wetter (Nat. puer. 15)
flesh itself was understood to be sexed
Why did hippocratic physicians trust female testimony (historia) on the state of their bodies more than male patients? (2 reasons)
Their bodies were so different so doctors can never really empathise and taboos around men seeing women in dom space and vulnerable.
What form of healing did Hipp Corp draw on quite a lot? In what strain of medicine especially?
Female healers’ practices. pharmakopoiía (‘preparing drugs’).
What is DoW 1 and 2 (Mul.) in Hipp Corp about?
Female anatomy, physiology, pathology, and reproductive problems.
What is Nature of Women (Nat. mul.) in Hipp Corp about?
Descrips of female diseases and how to treat them.
What is Superfetation in Hipp Corp about?
Pregnancy, childbirth, and infertility.
What is Excision of the Foetus in Hipp Corp about?
Childbirth and its related problems
What is Seven-Month Infant & Eight-Month Infant in Hipp. Corp. about?
embryology and premature births
What is Generation and Nature of the Child in Hipp. Corp. about?
conception, gestation, and birth
What is (Diseases of) Girls in Hipp. Corp. about?
vague diesease of young girls that occured when pubescent girls didn’t get their periods and subsequently suffered night terrors adn suicidal delusions
cured by having sex
Why did pregnancies help the health of women?
the baby would take up any excess blood in the women’s body for nourishment and will make later periods easier as the passages have been widened (DoW(Mul.) 1.1; Nature of the Child (Nat. puer) .4)
What causes ‘wandering womb’ syndrome? What is the syndrome?
Dryness. The womb is unfixed in the body and, in the interest of finding fluid, moved around the body especially to the brain, heart, liver, and diaphragm. (DoW(Mul.) 1.2)
What does Hipp corpus suggest as the best treatment of ‘wandering womb’ syndrome? Signif?
sexual intercourse.
subordination of women to reproductive purpose of womb
How can ‘wandering womb’ syndrome be cured?
Hanging woman upside down, binding diaphragm, and, most commonly, odour therapy around vagina area. (DoW(Mul.) 2)
What does Plato say happens to the female body after the womb has wandered? How has he thus charcterised the physis of the womb?
body goes into a ‘state of distress’ engendering strong sexual appetite
Independent, disobedient, and lustful.
What was the problem w crucial hippocratic autopsia when treating women?
Taboo with men and women mixing outside of marriage/dom setting