The rebellion of Agnodice as seen by Feijoo

Enunciat

Read carefully this text which mentions Agnodice, a famous Athenian gynaecologist who studied in Alexandria alongside the best doctors and managed to make a living off her work. 

Benito Jerónimo Feijoo (1676-1764) in his Cartas eruditas y curiosas, when asked by one of his interlocutors to write about whether it is a false belief ("error") that women are assisted in childbirth by male professionals instead of women, illustrates his answer with the example of Agnodice.

"There was a law in Athens which forbade women to practise medicine; so that even the use of the art of obstetrics was forbidden to them, which caused the very serious inconvenience that many women, too sensitive to the shame of being helped by men in the anguish of the puerperium, miserably lost their lives and those of the foetus. In this context, a maiden named Agnodice, whether out of condolence for this calamity towards her sex, or because she felt in herself a vehement inclination towards Medical Science, decided to break the law; to do so, she disguised herself as a man, she attended the school of a physician named Herophilus, who did not know her. In fact, she was very well instructed in medicine; and with a speciality in the art of obstetrics; when she finished, she began to practise her skill in Athens, always disguised in the habit of a man, assisting women, not only in childbirth, but in any ailments, although confessing her sex in secret, in order to remove the hindrance of her modesty. The Physicians, from whom Agnodice was taking a considerable part of earnings by curing women, conspired against her; and in the belief that she was a man, they accused her in the Areopagus of illicit intimacies with the other sex; adding that many women complained of ailments which they did not suffer from seeking this pretext to accomplish their clumsy trade with the hairless Little Doctor. Agnodice appeared in the Areopagus, exhibiting evident proofs of her sex before those Judges. When this battery was demolished, the Physicians founded another one in its ruins, alleging the law against Agnodice, which forbid women to use medicine. But the Athenian women, knowledgeable of the case, intervened in the cause, and did so much that they succeeded in having that law abrogated; in the end Agnodice was successful, and women were declared to have the right to exercise the Art, which she did.

What Agnodice achieved in Greece, seeking, even at her peril, a skillful Master to teach her, why should not many women be able to achieve it in Spain, where there is no law to resist it? Some will claim that they are less suitable than men for this ministry. But I do not know on what they can base this lesser aptitude".

FEIJÓO B.J., Cartas eruditas y curiosas / Tomo segundo. Carta XVII. Uso más moderno de la arte Obstrética. http://www.filosofia.org/bjf/bjfc217.htm

1- Write down the meaning of obstetrics, puerperium, areopagus, hairless and abrogate a law.

2- Look up information on Herophilus, highlighting his contribution to medicine.

3- According to the information given in the text, what did Agnodice's rebellion consist of?

4- Why did many women die in childbirth in Agnodice's time?

5- On what grounds did the doctors base their accusations? 

6- Feijoo is included in Neoclassicism and Enlightenment. Justify the text in these terms.

7- The didactic concern and the desire to convince by reasoning is a characteristic of neoclassical texts. What does Feijoo want to teach us when he presents the example of Agnodice? What can we deduce if we situate ourselves in Feijoo's Spain and in today's Spain?

Observacions i context

Prehistoric gatherer women discovered and used the healing properties of plants. In Egypt, before 3000 BC there were already female physicians or surgeons, and by 1500 BC the schools of Sais and Heliopolis were open to women like Zipporah and Queen Hatshepsut. In Mesopotamia, female healers were very important, and in Greek cities there were female physicians and surgeons, but their role was gradually restricted to that of midwives. Popular medicine also stood out: one of the first herbalists was Artemisia II of Caria. In Athens, in the 4th century BC, women were prevented from practising medicine, accusing them of performing abortions; this was the context for Agnodice. In Rome, there were many female physicians who also wrote treatises, such as Elephantis, Laïs, Olympias of Thebes, Antiochis and Metrodora. Among the women who wrote about gynaecology and obstetrics, the texts of Cleopatra and Aspasia were the most important until the work of Trotulla in the 11th century. 

Descripció

Reading comprehension activity of an excerpt of one of the Cartas by Feijoo where he provides us with news about the Athenian doctor, as well as a series of research and reflection activities to help us situate the letter in the socio-cultural context in which it was written.

Resposta

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