Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 4757
  • Author(s)/Creator(s):
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Weapons to Probe the Womb: The Material Culture of Abortion and Contraception in the Early Byzantine Period [The author examines surviving medical instruments designed for surgical abortions and a variety of literary texts to determine the procedures as well as the social and religious contexts for birth control].
  • Source: The Material Culture of Sex, Procreation, and Marriage in Premodern Europe.  Edited by Anne L. McClanan and Karen Rosoff Encarnación.  Palgrave, 2002.  Pages 33 - 57.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Abortion Byzantium Contraception Gynecology Material Culture Medical Instruments and Apparatus Medicine Soranus, Ancient Greek Physician
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Eastern Mediterranean
  • Century: 4- 5- 6- 7
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: Three figures. Figure One Bronze early Byzantine vaginal speculum, fourth to seventh centuries (London, Wellcome Museum of the History of Medicine). Figure Two Cranioclast fragment and embryohook, early Byzantine surgical tools excavated from Ephesos, fifth to seventh centuries (both now missing). Figure Three Drawing of reconstructed Ephesos cranioclast.
  • Table:
  • Abstract:
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation:
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2002.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 0312240015