The ancients regarded women as imperfect, promiscuous beings whose pleasure depends on ... sperm. They put an enormous amount of effort into coming up with uncreated theories about the female body. Their fantasies were especially over the uterus. How did they perceive this inconspicuous organ?
“When women have relationships with men, they are healthier, otherwise they languish. For, on the one hand, the uterus moisturizes during intercourse and is no longer dry; Well, when it is dry, it shrinks rapidly and more than is necessary, and shrinks, and it causes the body to suffer violently "- stated Hippocrates himself (...).
A monster in a woman's womb
The ancients had a talent for inventing miracles about the uterus. Plato considered her almost a beast hidden in a female body that wants to give birth to children. Areteus of Cappadocia, a Greek physician from the 1st century CE, specified that the uterus " is an animal suspended in the lower abdomen by wings be membranes connected to the hips ”!
For lack of meaningful occupation, this animal was supposed to wander around the body, crush organs, attack the heart, and even suffocate it. The cure for a withering uterus could be ... masturbation. According to Galen, thanks to her, young girls were able to get rid of excess sexual energy and continue to live chastely while waiting for their husbands.
Ancient philosophers also dealt with the issue of female orgasm in detail. They argued about it - for example, discussing whether women ejaculate their own semen and especially whether a female orgasm is needed for fertilization to occur. (...) Hippocrates (5th-4th century BCE) believed that during an orgasm a woman ejaculates inside her womb, so without sexual satisfaction it will be difficult for a Greek to have a descendant. Aristotle (4th century BC) contested this position:a female orgasm was not, according to him, necessary for fertilization.
According to mythology, the first woman in the world - Pandora - was sent by Zeus to oppress men. No wonder the ancients were wary of ladies.
During the Roman Empire, Soranus (1st - 2nd century CE) emphasized that a fetus is created after mixing male and "female" sperm and female bliss helps in this process. Finally, Galen (2nd-3rd century CE) returned to the theory of Hippocrates, and his works had a great influence on medical science in subsequent eras - in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, in Christian Europe and in the Arab world.
Lust is not befitting a lady
Yet the Greek and Roman gods sometimes demanded that their followers appear "pure" before them or live chaste for a time. There were also women who were "doomed" to virginity. Pythia, the prophetess dedicated to the god Apollo, was known throughout Greece.
In her case, the hymen was not some kind of sacredness as later for Christian philosophers. In fact, for the Greeks, this membrane did not exist at all. Doctors didn't identify her. In the case of the prophetess, it was not about the membrane, but about keeping her whole body for the deity (...).
Anthony Sandys, Helena Trojanska.
In turn, in Rome, the famous priestesses of the goddess Vesta vowed purity. They were chosen for a period of thirty years from among girls from patrician families. " The choice of the vestal was the highest honor a Roman woman could meet . Girls six or seven years old probably didn't realize it yet, only then did they realize what honor they had been awarded. Having a Vestal daughter was a symbol of prestige "- confirms the importance of this function by the historian of antiquity Paul Roberts.
Although it was a very prestigious function and did not last for life, at least a few of the priestesses could not stand it. After the defeat at Cannae in 216 BCE, when Hannibal and his Carthaginians stood at the gates of the Eternal City, it was discovered that the war failures could be the result of the anger of the gods - for the betrayal of two vestals who broke their vows of chastity. Their names were Opimia and Floronia. One was buried alive, the other committed suicide. Floronia's lover, who stripped her of her virtue, was beaten to death (...).
Centuries passed, and women were still distrusted by moralists. There was no end to their criticism. Today there are jokes about wives evading their husbands from "marital duties", in ancient jokes the eroticized wives were attacked .
For example:"The young man said to his wife, and she was lascivious:'My lady, what shall we do? Are we going to eat breakfast or make love? «. And she:»As you like! But there's nothing to eat at home! «”. One Greek complained in a poem by Plutarch that "it is not fitting for honest women either to lust after themselves or to be their object." They complained about the alleged female debauchery, for example, going back to the story of the mythical king of Crete Minos and his wife Pazyfae in love with the bull - even if she was not considered real, she was treated as an accurate metaphor.
Source:
The above text originally appeared in Adam Węgłowski's book The Age of Shamelessness. Sex and erotica in antiquity , which was published by the publishing house CiekawostkiHistoryczne.pl.
The title, illustrations with captions, boldface text, explanations in square brackets and subheadings come from the editors. The text has undergone some basic editing to introduce more frequent paragraph breaks.