Title: Male infertility in Classical Greece: some observations
Source document: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2015, vol. 20, iss. 1, pp. [121]-131
Extent
[121]-131
-
ISSN1803-7402 (print)2336-4424 (online)
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/133970
Type: Article
Language
License: Not specified license
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
This paper considers the range of written and material evidence documenting ancient Greek thoughts about male infertility. While modern science shows that infertility affects both men and women, it is generally believed that most ancient civilisations attributed infertility to women. Recent research into ancient Greek gynaecological texts caused the male function in reproductive processes to be overlooked and under-theorised. Did Greek men understand they might have a fertility problem, or was infertility exclusively associated with women in their minds? How could a Greek man tell he was infertile? Did his infertility affect his standing in the community, socially or legally? Medical texts and archaeological evidence of religious rites demonstrate that the biology of procreation as understood by the ancients was strongly embedded in myth and ritual, whereas philosophical and political sources reveal how the attribution of gender roles might have influenced ancient Greek beliefs about fertility. In investigating ancient views on these issues, striking conclusions are reached: namely, that the social awareness of, and actions taken in response to, male fertility problems were considered more widely in ancient Greece than was previously thought.
References
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[3] Hanson, A. (Ed. et Trans.) (1975). Hippocrates: Diseases of Women. Signs, 1/2, 567‒584.
[4] Henderson, J. (Ed.) (2010). Hippocrates: Diseases of Young Girls, Loeb Classical Library. London ‒ Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[5] Henderson, J. (Ed.) (2010). Hippocrates: Excision of Fetus, Loeb Classical Library. London ‒ Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[6] Henderson, J. (Ed.) (2012). Hippocrates: Barrenness, Loeb Classical Library. London ‒ Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[7] Henderson, J. (Ed.) (2012). Hippocrates: Generation, Loeb Classical Library. London ‒ Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[8] Henderson, J. (Ed.) (2012). Hippocrates: Nature of the Child, Loeb Classical Library. London ‒ Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[9] Henderson, J. (Ed.) (2012). Hippocrates: Nature of Women, Loeb Classical Library. London ‒ Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[10] Jones, W. H. (Ed.) (1931). Hippocrates: Aphorisms, Loeb Classical Library. London ‒ Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[11] Jones, W. H. (Ed.) (1957). Hippocrates: Airs, Waters and Places, Loeb Classical Library. London ‒ Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[12] Lamb, W. R. M. (Ed.) (1967). Plato: Gorgias, Loeb Classical Library. London ‒ Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[13] Lee, H. D. P. (Ed.) (1971). Plato: Timaeus, Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books.
[14] Marincola, J. (Ed.) (2003). Herodotus: Histories, Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books.
[15] Oates, W. J. & O'Neill, E., (Eds.) (1938). Euripides: Ion. New York: Random House.
[16] Oates, W. J. & O'Neill, E., (Eds.) (1938). Euripides: Phoenician Women. New York: Random House.
[17] Page, T. E. & Capps, E. & Rouse, W. H. D. & Post, L. A. & Warmington, E. H., (Eds.) (1948). Aristotle: Generation of Animals, Loeb Classical Library. London ‒ Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[18] Temkin, O. (Ed.) (1991). Soranus: Gynaecology. Baltimore: John Hopkins.
[19] Cole, S. G. (1998). Domesticating Artemis. In S. Blundell ‒ M. Williamson, (Eds.), The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece. (27‒44). London: Routledge.
[20] Davies, M. & Webber, L. & Overton, C. (2009). Infertility. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[21] Edelstein, E. & Edelstein, L. (1945). Acslepius: A Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies. (2 volumes). Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press.
[22] Eidinow, E. (2013). Oracles, Curses, and Risk among the Ancient Greeks. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[23] Flemming, R. (2013). The Invention of Infertility in the Classical Greek World: Medicine, Divinity, and Gender. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 87/4, 565‒590. | DOI 10.1353/bhm.2013.0064
[24] Foxhall, L. (2013). Studying Gender in Classical Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[25] Hanson, A. E., (2007). The Hippocratic Parthenos in Sickness and Health. In B. MacLachlan ‒ J. Fletcher, (Eds.), Virginity Revisited: Configurations of the Unpossessed Body. (40‒65). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
[26] King, H. (1994). Producing a Woman: Hippocratic Gynaecology. In Archer, L. (Ed.), Women in Ancient Societies. (102‒114). London: The Macmillan Press.
[27] King, H. (1998). Hippocrates' Woman: Reading the Female Body in Ancient Greece. London: Routledge.
[28] Lhôte, É. (2006). Les lamelles oraculaires de Dodone. Genève: Droz.
[29] Linders, T. (1972). Studies in the Treasure Records of Artemis Brauronia Found in Athens. Stockholm: Svenska Institutet i Athen.
[30] Nutton, V. (1985). Murders and Miracles: Lay Attitudes towards Medicine in Classical Antiquity. In R. Porter (Ed.), Patients and Practitioners: Lay Perceptions of Medicine in Pre-industrial Society. (23‒54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[31] Nutton, V. (1992). Healers in the Medical Market Place: Towards a Social History of Graeco- Roman Medicine. In A. Wear (Ed.), Medicine in Society. (15‒58). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[32] Nutton, V. (2013). Ancient Medicine. Oxford: Routledge.
[33] Oberhelman, S. M. (2014). Anatomical Votive Reliefs as Evidence for Specialization at Healing Sanctuaries in the Ancient Mediterranean World. Athens Journal of Health, 1/1, 47‒62. | DOI 10.30958/ajh.1-1-4
[34] Osborne, R. (2004). Hoards, Votives, Offerings: The Archaeology of the Dedicated Object. Archaeology, 36/1, 1‒10.
[35] Roebuck, C. (1951). Corinth: Results of Excavations Conducted by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Vol. XIV: The Asklepieion and Lerna. Princeton: American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
[36] Rubinstein, L. (1993). Adoption in IV. Century Athens. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.
[37] Seli, E. (2011). Infertility. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
[38] Smith, W. D. (1979). The Hippocratic Tradition. London: Cornell University Press.
[39] Tournaye, H. (2011). Diagnosis and Management of Male Infertility. In E. Seli (Ed.), Infertility. (71‒82). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
[40] Wilkinson, L. P. (1978). Classical Attitudes to Modern Issues. London: William Kimber.
[41] Zhang, L. (2011). Male Fertility Patterns and Determinants. London: Springer.