THE TRANSMISSION OF CONTRACEPTIVE KNOWLEDGE FROM GREECE AND
ROME TO THE ISLAMIC WORLD AND BACK AGAIN
A Thesis
Presented to the
Faculty of
San Diego State University
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts
in
History
By Suzanne Christine Genshock
Summer 2016
iii
Copyright © 2016
by
Suzanne Christine Genshock
All Rights Reserved
iv
ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS
The Transmission of Contraceptive Knowledge from Greece and
Rome to the Islamic World and Back Again
by
Suzanne Christine Genshock
Masters of Arts in History
San Diego State University, 2016
Greek theories and practical knowledge surrounding contraceptives and abortifacients
were passed along from the Greeks and Romans to later civilizations. This information was
transferred to the Islamic world with the translation movement during the Abbasid Caliphate
in the eighth and ninth centuries. The subsequent incorporation of that knowledge within
Islamic medicine and culture was then transferred back to Europe in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries. Firstly, this analysis delves into the Greco-Roman, Islamic World’s, and
Medieval Europe’s understanding of contraception, and the role of contraception and
abortion in these societies. Secondly, it looks at the continuities and discontinuities in the
Greco-Roman tradition as the contraceptive knowledge moved between various cultures and
over time. The focus will be on key Greco-Roman texts that had a significant influence on
Islamic and later European medical knowledge, as well, as the works produced as a result of
the transmission of information.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. iv
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... vii
CHAPTER
1
INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1
2
CONTRACEPTIVE KNOWLEDGE IN THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD
CA. 500 BCE-70 CE………………………………………………………………….7
Socio-Religious Background for Women and Contraceptives…………….….7
Medical Foundations…………………………………………………………10
Contraceptives and Abortifacients…………………………………………...15
3 CONTRACEPTIVE KNOWLEDGE IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD
CA. 800-1200 CE…………………………………………………………………....21
The Transmission of Knowledge…………………………………………….21
Socio-Religious Background for Women and Contraceptives………………25
Medical Foundations………………………………………………………..28
Contraceptives and Abortifacients…………………………………………...31
4
CONTRACEPTIVE KNOWLEDGE IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE
CA. 1000-1400 CE…………………………………………………………………..37
The Transmission of Knowledge…………………………………………….37
Socio-Religious Background for Women and Contraceptives………………41
Medical Foundations………………………………………………………..44
Contraceptives and Abortifacients…………………………………………...48
5
CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………53
BIBLIOGRAPHY ..............................................................................................................72
vi
LIST OF TABLES
PAGE
Table 1.Contraceptivs in the Greco-Roman World………………………………….55
Table 2.1. Contraceptives in the Islamic World……………………………………..63
Table 2.2. More Contraceptives in the Islamic World………………………………68
Table 3. Contraceptives in Medieval Europe………………………………………..69
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to my family and members of my thesis committee for all your support
and patience. This wouldn’t have been possible without you.
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
There is hardly a more controversial topic today than contraceptives and abortion.
While it has been over 40 years since Roe v Wade legalized abortion in the United States,
according to the Guttmacher Institute, “ [t]wenty-two states enacted 70 abortion restrictions
during 2013. This makes 2013 second only to 2011 in the number of new abortion
restrictions enacted in a single year. To put recent trends in even sharper relief, 205 abortion
restrictions were enacted over the past three years (2011–2013), but just 189 were enacted
during the entire previous decade (2001–2010)”.1 In 2013 both Arkansas and North Dakota
passed measures to ban abortion. North Dakota banned abortion at 6 weeks and Arkansas at
12 weeks. 2014 also saw a fetal personhood law proposed, which afforded full rights to a
“human being at any stage of development” in North Dakota. 2 Not only would this measure
have outlawed abortion, but several types of birth control and other reproductive services as
well.
Given America’s current fevered obsession with women’s bodies and reproductive
rights, most people tend to think of abortion as solely a contemporary conversation focused
on modern forms of birth control and the debate over when a human life begins. However,
knowledge of contraceptives and their use goes back thousands of years and encompasses
multiple civilizations. Documented evidence, in the form of the Ebers scrolls dating to
between 1550 and 1500 BCE, detail medical advice from ancient Egypt on how to stop a
pregnancy.3 Not only did this knowledge exist in the ancient world, but it was disseminated
between various cultures at different times. This thesis will describe the transmission of the
Greco-Roman knowledge of contraceptives and abortifacients into the Islamic world, the
1
Nash, E.“Laws Affecting Reproductive Health and Rights: 2013 State Policy Review.”
https://www.guttmacher.org/laws-affecting-reproductive-health-and-rights-2013-state-policy-review (accessed
August 4, 2015)
2
National Women’s Law Center. “2013 State Level Abortion Restrictions”
http://www.nwlc.org/resource/2013-state-level-abortion-restrictions-extreme-overreach-women%E2%80%99sreproductive-health-care (Accessed August 4, 2015).
3
Riddle, Eve’s Herbs, 35.
2
continuities in this knowledge as it merged into Islamic culture, and then evaluate the final
fused Greco-Arabic material after it is transmitted to early medieval Europe.
Covering contraceptive knowledge is a vast topic that encompasses several thousands
of years, multiple continents, and various cultures; therefore, terms and boundaries need be
clarified straightaway. The Greco-Roman world encompassed both the Greek and Roman
Empires that dominated the area surrounding the Mediterranean Ocean and Black Sea from
roughly 500 BCE to 600 CE. Crucial evidence will be the primary sources from roughly the
5th BCE to the 7th century CE that address contraceptives in some manner, for example, the
writings of Hippocrates of Cos II (ca. 460 B.C.E. – ca. 370 B.C.E.), Dioscorides (ca. 40—90
C.E.), and Soranus (1st/2nd century C.E.). This first portion of the study ends with the
beginning of the decline of Greco-Roman medical knowledge around the seventh century
CE. While the Greeks and Romans were separate political entities, they will be treated as a
single connected entity for the purposes of this thesis. After conquering the Greeks, the
Romans adopted the foundations of Greek medicine, the Greek corpus of medical literature,
and Rome’s most accomplished and famous physicians were ethnic Greeks who came out of
the schools established under Greek rule. It was this combined tradition of Greek and Roman
medical texts that were later transmitted to the Islamic world. Chapter 1 will focus on this
tradition.
The next geographic area to be considered coincides with the peak of the Abbasid
Caliphate, spanning from the western tip of Spain and North Africa to central Asia and India
to the east. Major centers were in Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Persia. The Abbasid Period will be
especially important because of their efforts to translate and incorporate Greco-Roman
medical knowledge with their own scientific advances. Authors of the Islamic world that will
be critical to this analysis include: Hunayn ibn Ishaq (809–873); Al-Razis (865 – 925); and
Ibn Sina, (980 –1037). It is important to note that “Islamic world” or “Islamic medicine” are
vague and problematic terms generally ascribed by modern western historians.4 Not all of the
authors previously mentioned were Muslims or Arabs. However, they resided in lands ruled
by Islamic Caliphs and Sultans, and predominantly wrote in Arabic, which was the academic
language of the region and are consistently combined into the same knowledge tradition.
4
Ebrahimnejad, Hormoz, “What is ‘Islamic’ in Islamic Medicine? An Overview,” 259-260.
3
Lastly we will follow the translation movement of Arabic medical texts into Europe
in the Early Middle Ages from roughly 1000-1400CE. Geographically this area encompassed
much of the Mediterranean basin and parts of northern Europe. Major authors for this period
will include Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), Trota (11th or 12th century), and Peter of
Spain (13th century).
Yet another problematic topic to be addressed is the use of “magical” cures used by
all three of these cultures. The problem is in the definition of magic itself, which is in its own
right a hotly contested subject. Too specific a definition and one has excluded items
commonly accepted as magic, and too broad a definition can become almost meaningless in
its vagueness. Taking a very general view of the definition of magic is Derek Collins. In
Magic in the Ancient Greek World (2008) he posits that the debate over the modern
definition of magic is irrelevant. Instead the focus should be on the “particular historically
attested practices [. It] is a more productive way to explore ancient behavior, and doing so
often draws into question what to earlier generations of scholars had seemed clearly to be, for
instance, either magic or religion.”5 He is a proponent of the use of anthropological methods
like sympathy, analogy, agency, causality, and participation, because the written record is
insufficient in most cases. One especially frustrating issue over what constitutes magic is the
question of where the boundaries of religion and science in ancient cultures are, and from
whose perspective are we judging the difference. Sara Iles Johnston posits:
Will “magic” one day be relatively easy to define, as, say, “sacrifice” or “divination”
are? I doubt it; as I noted earlier, one thing that all scholars of ancient magic agree on
is that “magic” and its synonyms were born out of a desire to condemn the practices
of other people and have continued to be used that way throughout Western history6
Looking at the role that magic plays in the ancient medical knowledge of contraceptives and
the transmission of it, a broad approach to what constitutes magic will be taken here. Magic
will be one of several delivery methods discussed. They may not have necessarily been
considered magical by the physicians who prescribed them, because in some cases it is
unclear how the ancient author would have classified the various methods they describe.
Therefore, anything that relies on transferring the properties of an item to a human being
without a direct route into the body, including amulets, will be considered a use of
5
6
Collins, Magic in the Ancient Greek World, xii.
Johnston, “Describing the Undefinable: New Books on Magic and Old Problems of Definition,” 54.
4
sympathetic magic. Several common ancient practices will straddle this line and will be dealt
with in later chapters. Rituals and invocations will be classified under magical remedies as
well.
Contraceptive and abortifacient knowledge has never existed in a vacuum. Women’s
bodies have always been impacted by society beyond just the actual methods, herbs, and
devices used for contraception; religion, medicine, magic, legal codes, and the role of women
all play a part as well. All of these societal forces affected the application and study of
contraceptive knowledge in past times, much as it does in our modern era. Therefore, aside
from the transmission of knowledge over time which has already been delineated in
geographic and temporal terms, a discussion on the societal and historical context of
contraceptives and abortion in these cultures is also necessary. This means that the sources
for this discussion run the gamut from religious scripture, theological writings, medical text,
and compilations of magic spells. For example, On The Nature Of Women which is attributed
to the “father of medicine,” Hippocrates, who lived on the Greek island of Cos nearly 2500
years ago; the Hadith, stories about the life of the prophet Mohammed dating to (7th-8th c ?);
and the Malleus Malificarum, a medieval guide from the 15th century on finding and stopping
witches all make an appearance in this analysis.
The evidence for the historical use of contraception and abortifacients has been
steadily building over the last several decades. Little work was done on the topic until after
the feminist movement of the 1970’s where this First Wave of the feminist movement
focused on women in history and carving out a niche within the historical world for them.7
During this era there was also the Women’s Health Movement.8 Women’s health and
sociology came together with two major concerns: the domination of men in women’s
medicine, and women’s ability to take control of their bodies within the medical culture. At
the end of this period, and signaling the soon to be Second Wave of Feminism, was Joan
Wallach Scott who in the 1980’s proposed incorporating women’s roles into the historical
7
8
Scott, Feminism’s History, 10.
Munch, “The Women's Health Movement ,” 17-18.
5
political structures of the past.9 All of these movements spurred historians to find anywhere
women might have found a means of agency in the past.
Although the first comprehensive study of the history of contraception was written in
1938 by Norman E. Himes, Medical History of Contraception, which detailed various types
of contraception historically used all over the world; further work on the topic did not break
any new ground until the 1980’s and 90’s.10 New research by B.F. Musallem Sex and Society
in Islam (1983) incorporated contraceptives into the larger context of Islamic society and
acknowledged its religious underpinnings. Furthermore, John Riddle’s Eve’s Herbs: A
History of Contraception and Abortion in the West in 1999 focused on the efficacy of herbal
remedies and women’s agency in their use. Largely missing from these studies was the role
of magic. Fortunately, the 1990’s also saw the incorporation of ancient magical studies as a
legitimate field of academic studies. Today magic and medicine may be distinct categories,
but this was not always the case. Newer works like Peter Pormann and Emilie SavageSmith’s Medieval Islamic Medicine (2007) have acknowledged this by including a discussion
of magic within Islamic medicine. Lastly, this analysis also touches on the field of
transmission studies. Key in this field in transmission between the Greco-Romans and the
Islamic societies is the work of Dmitri Gutas. The author of Greek Thought, Arabic Culture
(1998) challenged long standing euro-centric notions about Islamic translators and physicians
merely sitting on the Greco-Roman medical corpus until it could be re-discovered by
Europeans. Touching on all of these fields, this present analysis looks to combine all of these
trends into one examination of the transference and continuities in contraceptive knowledge,
and bridge the gap between these areas of study.
The methodology for this thesis will focus on transmission studies and towards the
end of our analysis the idea of subjugated knowledge. A few of the tenets considered in
transmission studies are complex transmission process with cross-cultural interactions,
contact between different traditions and practices, and diffusion and reception.11 This
analysis will focus on the diffusion and reception of information. Subjected knowledge, an
idea initially proposed by Foucault, has previously been connected to contraceptive
9
Scott, “Gender: Still A Useful Category of Historical Analysis”, 7-14.
Himes, Medical History of Contraception, 1963
11
Gunergrun, Feza and Raina Dhruv. Eds. Science Between Europe and Asia, 1.
10
6
knowledge by other scholars.12 By the Middle Ages in Europe societal and religious
influences became hostile enough to information regarding birth control that it could not be
discussed directly, but the information still managed to circulate nonetheless in coded
language. These analytical approaches have influenced the questions that will be asked
throughout this thesis. How was contraceptive information transmitted? Did the terminology
change over time? Was the information easily available or hidden? How did the information
on contraceptives and abortifacients change as it interacted with new cultures and over time?
Did attitudes towards contraceptives change over time and was that reflected in the medical
text? Are any of these changes reflected in the information that is ultimately left at the end?
This thesis will tackle the transmission of Greco-Roman knowledge as it stays largely
intact and remains a respected authority for over 2000 years, and the contributions made
from subsequent scholars. This knowledge will be placed in the social, religious, and
historical context that dominates each particular era, and how these circumstances affect the
knowledge being transmitted will be discussed.
12
Marcellus, Jane, “My Grandmother's Black Market Birth Control,” 11.
7
CHAPTER 2
Contraceptive Knowledge in the Greco-Roman World
Ca. 500 BCE-700 CE
Greece and Rome established the initial knowledge tradition for this study and further
chapters will show the developments of how this knowledge changed over time. The social,
religious, and medical foundations surrounding women and the use of contraceptives will be
covered first. The second order of business will be a look at the various methods and
ingredients prescribed by the Greeks and Roman physicians of the time period.
Socio-Religious Background for Women and Contraceptives
In ancient Greece and Rome there was no single ideology or religion to provide a
single moral basis to deal with contraceptives or abortion. The Greek and Roman religious
mindset was largely polytheistic. Competing cults, deities, philosophies, and religions all
contributed towards the attitudes and use of contraceptives in both Greek and Roman
societies. The temples of the Greek goddess Artemis(Diana for the Romans), the goddess of
hunting and wilderness, were of particular importance to women for matters of childbirth,
virginity, protecting young girls, and relieving disease in women. These health shrines
contained votives in the shape of uteri or breasts and it is possible that these could have been
patronized for contraceptive purposes as well.13 The birth place of Hippocrates, Cos, also
became a major place of worship for Asclepius, a healing god and patron of doctors in the
fourth century14. However, the Greek Gods of the Pantheon were not the only religious
options for the populace. Several different philosophical schools also had a great deal of
influence on many of the intellectuals and physicians of Greco-Roman culture.
One of the three dominant schools of Hellenistic Philosophy, which lasted until the
later Roman Empire was initiated by Epicurus in 307 B.C.E. According to Epicureanism the
reason for living was to pursue pleasure. Unfortunately, the epicurean idea of pleasure was
moderation. The emphasis was to overcome religious fears and superstitions. The two
principal fears were the gods and death. Epicurus argued that the fear of death was worse
than the condition, "[d]eath is nothing to us; for that which is dissolved, is without sensation,
13
14
Siraisi, Medieval and Early Renaissance Medicine, 2.
Siraisi, Medieval and Early Renaissance Medicine, 2.
8
and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us."15 In Epicureanism the soul was mortal- there
was a beginning and an end. Accordingly, if a pregnancy was prevented or terminated before
the fetus was considered alive and ensouled, then there was no moral dilemma in terminating
a pregnancy.
Stoicism, another major school of Hellenistic philosophy, was founded in Athens in
308 B.C.E. by Zeno of Citium. Stoics believed that the universe was infused with a divine
will, or natural law, and in living a life in harmony with it. The Stoic school prospered in
Greece and Rome for nearly five centuries and in its final stage Roman Stoicism focused
largely on ethics and understanding ones role in their family and community. For a woman
this role was to produce heirs for her husband, to be a mother and a wife. However, this did
not necessarily mean that birth control was rejected by the Stoics. In fact, the opposite was
true. Stoics, whose beliefs on the subject were the basis for Roman law, held that “the foetus
was part of the mother, and that the soul did not enter until the moment of contact with the
outside air.”16
Lastly, Neoplatonism was a school of philosophy which was conceived by the
philosopher Plotinus(205-270 C.E.) Plotinus taught the existence of a transcendent ‘One’ or
‘the Good’, and believed in the concept of a soul. This pagan philosophy was influential to
and co-existed with early Christian culture into the sixth century. The conversion from pagan
to Christian society did not occur over night, but was a gradual process where both sides
influenced each other and long accepted behaviors and beliefs were slow to change. As
Charles Freeman notes “Christians, sometimes to the despair of their bishops, continued to
take part in pagan celebrations, attend games, and indulge in traditional superstitions.”17 Just
as the pagan beliefs continued to play a role in antiquity, Judaism and Christianity introduced
concerns and fueled new discussions about the use of contraceptives and abortifacients.
The Mishnah, or oral law, was compiled around 200 C.E. and the Talmud, or
commentaries around 500C.E. These two works along with the Torah are the basis of
Judaism. Especially in these early centuries when Christian and Rabbinic literature were still
forming, a variety of opinions existed within the same community. However, both the Jewish
15
Russell. A History of Western Philosophy, 239-240.
Wilkinson, “Classical Approaches to Population and Family Planning”, 452.
17
Freeman, Egypt, Greece and Rome, 510.
16
9
and Christian theologians base their views on contraceptives and abortifacients on the same
passage from the scripture:
Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother's wife, and perform the duty of a
brother-in-law to her; raise up offspring for your brother”. But since Onan knew that
the offspring would not be his; he spilled his semen on the ground whenever he went
in to his brother’s wife, so that he would not give offspring to his brother. What he
did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord. (Genesis 38:10)18
This was interpreted by most Christians and Jews to be a very literal argument against coitus
interruptus as a method of birth control and the destruction of seed. The destruction of seed
was seen as an act against god. Additionally there was the commandment to “be fruitful and
multiply.” Both Jewish and Christian scholars agreed on this. However, for Christians there
was also the additional weight of original sin attached to sex, as it is contended from the early
experts on to today that the sole purpose of sex in Christianity is for procreation. From the
Didache, or the Teachings of the Twelve Apostles, one of the earliest Christian texts, possibly
only one or two generations after the life of Christ and within a discussion about murder and
adultery in the commandments says:
You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit
pederasty, you shall not commit fornication, you shall not steal, you shall not practice
magic, you shall not practice witchcraft, you shall not murder a child by abortion nor
kill that which is born (Didache II.2).19
From a modern perspective, this statement seems pretty damning of the use of
contraceptives, but the author did not expressly prohibit contraceptives with this statement.
According to Soranus, a contemporary of the time “[a] contraceptive differs from an
abortive, for the first does not let conception take place, while the latter destroys what has
been conceived.”20 Furthermore, the Talmud allowed for exceptions to this rule if the health
of the woman was in danger:
Three women use the mokh [tampon(cotton and wool pad)] in their marital
intercourse: a minor, a pregnant woman and a nursing mother. The minor because she
might become pregnant and as a result might die. The pregnant , because she might
cause her fetus to become a sandal [flat]. The nursing woman, because she might
18
Attridge, The HarperCollins Study Bible, 62.
Kirby, "Didache,” Early Christian Writings at http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/didacheroberts.html.
20
Soranus, Gynocology, 62.
19
10
have to wean her child prematurely and that would result in his death (T.B. Yevamot
12 b)21
All three women were permitted to use contraception according to Jewish law despite the fact
that it contradicted religious tenets.
There was no single religious or philosophical view on the use of contraceptives or
abortifacients in Greco-Roman society. Rather their use was governed by what was
considered socially acceptable and when contraception was used at the behest of the man it
was acceptable. Marriages were largely business contracts and not the romantic idea of love
that we think of today. A woman’s infidelity could lead to a husband raising and leaving his
wealth to another man's child. It was the man’s right to have legitimate children.22 A married
woman seeking contraception was suspected of having an adulterous affair because the de
facto assumed reason for seeking contraception was to conceal infidelity rather than limit
family size or space out pregnancies. Women who attempted abortions were considered
guilty of vanity and not wanting to ruin their figure, or adultery. However, if a man wanted to
preserve his wife’s beauty or thought children would be a financial burden then contraception
was a legitimate option. As for the legality of contraceptives and abortion, it was always
legal when done at the man’s behest. The reasoning for this was dependent not only on what
was socially acceptable, but also what medical science had to say about fetal development.
Medical Foundations
The Greek concept of humoral pathology contends that one’s health and well-being is
attributed to the balance of 5 conditions: the four humors (blood, phlegm, yellow and black
bile); the four qualities (hot and dry, or cold and moist); one of the four seasons;
temperament (sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, or melancholic); and the four stages of man.23
Ideally one was in balance with most of these qualities or possessed greater quantities of the
more favorable attributes; too much of one or the wrong kind led to health problems.
Women were cold and moist, and those were thought to be inferior qualities. The problem
according to this hypothesis is that women produced excess fluids because they cannot fully
digest and absorb food nutrients properly like men. Once a month the excess fluids are shed
21
Millen, Women, Birth, and Death in Jewish Law and Practice, 27.
Riddle, Eve’s Herbs, 87.
23
Lindberg, The Beginnings of Western Science, 116-117.
22
11
through menses and during pregnancy those extra nutrients are retained to nurture the fetus.
If this doesn’t happen then the fluids build and put pressure on other organs which results in
disease or death.
Therefore, menstruation was seen as healthy and necessary. When it was disrupted for
reasons other than pregnancy, dire consequences resulted. There are accounts of women who
stopped menstruation that gained male attributes, such as, facial hair and died not long
after.24 The cessation of menstruation was associated with widows and women whose
husbands had been away for extended periods of time, also driving home the point that not
having sex regularly was detrimental for a woman’s health. Hippocratic healers claimed they
could examine a woman and determine whether her womb was closed, which meant there
was a developing pregnancy. If there were no “signs” of pregnancy then they would need to
induce menstruation for health reasons. Breast feeding and menstruation were both fueled by
an excess of fluids. Classical physicians believed it was not possible to have both at the same
time, and this helped to promote the use of contraceptives to help lengthen lactation periods
and space births among physicians. Thus, the topic of menstruation and invoking it for a
number of health reasons beyond aborting a pregnancy is discussed at length in most
classical gynecological text.25 Regardless of the reason for invoking menstruation, the
methods and ingredients used by physicians for both overlap frequently and should all be
discussed within the topic of contraceptives and abortifacients.
The distinction that the Greco-Roman made between contraceptives and
abortifacients differed from today’s modern definition. Recent examples of legislation that
define life as “at-fertilization” was not a concept the ancient Greeks or Romans subscribed
to. They did not believe conception occurred immediately, but some months into the
pregnancy. Even then, a fetus was not considered alive until after it was born and accepted by
the father of the child. This is partly why exposure of infants was culturally accepted. Even
into later Antiquity and the Middle Ages the argument was that a fetus was not legally a
person until its first breath. The argument was centered on when God instilled the soul, more
so, than any biological phase of development. At this time even the Christian argument was
that the fetus needed a soul in order to be considered a human life, which was imparted by
24
25
Holmes, “Marked Bodies: Gender,Race, Class, Age, Disability, and Disease.” 173.
Hansen, “Diseases of Women 1”,570-576.
12
God at birth or just prior. A soul was not something physical that could be contributed by the
union of biological material between a man and woman. The Greeks considered a full term
fetus a life similar to that of an animal before receiving its soul or being accepted by its
father. The child may be alive but it was not technically considered a human life.
After the seeds of the man and woman mixed in the womb it needed to acquire breath
and then take in the nutrients of the menstrual blood, so that it could form into a living being.
It was not until after it formed the “bones, head, limbs and sinews, mouth, nose and ears,
eyes, sexual organs, entrails, respiratory organs and, finally, excretory organs” that the fetus
was acknowledged as a potential human life.26 This process took 42 days for a girl and 30 for
a boy. It was then called a “little child” or paidion. After formation, branching occurred with
the sprouting of toes and fingers sprout. Lastly rooting is the growth of hair and fingernails.
The definitive sign of life was fetal movement. Conception was a gradual process for GrecoRoman and contraceptives could be administered any time before movement. This allowed
women several months into a pregnancy to terminate it and still be considered contraceptive
rather than abortifacient. Therefore, when the argument was made in the Didache equating
abortion with murder and adultery, this was possibly only referring to pregnancies beyond
the third or fourth month.
The major medical works we will be looking at for our understanding of GrecoRoman contraceptives and abortifacients begins with Hippocrates of Cos II (ca. 460 B.C.E. –
ca. 370 B.C.E.). Cos is a Greek island next to the Gulf of Cos not far from the coast of
modern day Turkey. Hippocrates founded the Hippocratic School of medicine and was
known as the “father of medicine.” Hippocrates was credited with making medicine a
profession and distinguishing it from other concepts, such as, philosophy, religion, and
magic. He argued that disease was not a punishment from gods, but something tangible with
explainable causes and thus could be treated. The writings of Hippocrates and his followers
are not always easy to distinguish, and can be easily confused. The additional texts are
referred to as the Hippocratic corpus and date to almost two centuries later. This study will
focus on the writings that were specific to women and reproduction, such as, The Diseases of
Women.
26
Helen King, Hippocrates’ Woman, 134.
13
Pedanius Dioscorides (ca. 40—90 C.E.) was another Greek physician, as well as, a
pharmacologist and botanist. He was the author of De Materia Medica, which was an
encyclopedia about herbal medicine and related medicinal substances. Dioscorides was a
native of Anatolia and one of the few authors whose works remained in circulation in Europe
throughout antiquity and the Middle Ages. His works contained herbs and herbal recipes
used as contraceptives and abortifacients. One such example, the plant pennyroyal also
referred to as pulegium, according to Dioscorides “[p]ulegium … is an herb well known,
extenuating, warming, digesting. But being drank it expelleth ye menstrua, & ye seconds, &
ye Emrya.”27 He also listed the names of drugs, as it was commonly called by the Romans
and Africans, preserving the relationship this drug had among the Greeks as well as other
societies.
While Gaius Plinius Secundus (23 – 79 C.E.), originally from Gaul though he moved
to Rome at a young age, was best known as a philosopher his work Natural History recounts
several contraceptives formulas. Not a doctor, Pliny’s listings of herbs and other substances
contained folk medicine and magical remedies not included in other medical texts of the
time. In it he argued:
In the previous part of my work I have often indeed refuted the fraudulent lies of the
Maegi… Nobody will doubt that it [the origin of magic] arose from medicine, and
that professing to promote health it insidiously advanced under the guise of a higher
and holier system; that to the most seductive and welcome promises it added the
powers of religion, about which even today the human race is quite in the dark; that
again meeting with success it made a further addition of astrology, because there is
nobody who is not eager to learn his destiny, or who does not believe that the truest
account of it is that gained by watching the sky. Accordingly, holding men’s
emotions in a three-fold bond on men's, magic rose to such a height that even today it
has sway over a great part of mankind.28
In particular, Pliny attributed sinister intentions towards midwives and prostitutes, whom he
claimed knew the illegitimate magical uses for aborted fetuses and menstrual fluids, and
would induce an abortion in order to acquire a dead fetus. Menstrual fluids were considered
quite lethal and were capable of killing rodents and causing mares to abort.29 In general, a
27
Dioscorides, The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides, 270-271.
28
Pliny, Natural Histories Vol. VIII, 279.
Pollard, “Magic Accusations Against Women in the Greco-Roman World”, 223.
29
14
negative connotation around women, contraceptives, and abortifacients was established early
on.
Greek physicians were incorporated into the Roman Empire during its domination of
Mediterranean culture. Claudius Galenus of Pergamum(129 C.E. – c. 210 C.E.), better
known simply as Galen, was born in the city of Pergamum, an ancient Greek city near the
Aegean Sea. Galen was the Greek physician and philosopher whose views were most
instrumental in the development of medicine in the late Greco-Roman period, as well as, later
Islamic medicine where his methodology and expertise on fetal development would become
central to the field of gynecology.30 His work was a synthesis of theoretical and practical
medical applications. Galen’s major work is the 17 volume set On the Usefulness of the Parts
of the Human Body.
Soranus (1st/2nd century C.E.) was a Greek physician from Ephesus. Ephesus was
originally an ancient Greek city later occupied by the Romans, on the coast of Ionia.
However, he practiced in Alexandria and eventually Rome. Several of his writings still
survive, most notably his four-volume treatise Gynecology. Especially important for this
study is his section titled “Whether One Ought to Make Use of Abortives and Contraceptives
and How?”31 Included in this chapter was such helpful advice for terminating a pregnancy
within the first 30 days as “the woman should have <more violent exercise>, walking about
energetically and being shaken by means of draught animals.”32
Paul of Aegina (ca. 7th century C.E.) was a Byzantine Greek physician best known for
writing the medical encyclopedia Medical Compendium in Seven Books. Aegina is an island
in the Saronic Gulf, near Athens. His work contained the sum of all western medical
knowledge and was unrivaled by any other source in its day.33 Paul is the latest GrecoRoman source this paper will consider. The decline of Roman civilization, especially in the
former Western half of the empire had long been under way, but Paul’s era coincided with
the beginnings of the rise of the Islamic world.
30
Sayed, “Discourses on Sex Differences in Medieval Scholarly Islamic Thought,” 40-81.
Soranus, Gynecology, 62.
32
Soranus, Gynecology, 66.
33
Paul of Aegineta, The Medical Works of Paul of Aegineta: The Greek Physician.
31
15
The amount of time spanned by the previous six men equates to roughly a thousand
years. Within this period the Greek Empires fell to the Romans, and even the western portion
of the Roman Empire was dissolved. By the era of Paul of Aegina, the Eastern Roman
Empire, eventually known as Byzantium, was the heir apparent to the Greco-Roman
tradition. However, do to the fractious nature between the Christian rulers and pagan
academics the ancient schools in Athens had long moved overseas to Egypt. In 529 C.E. the
academy in Athens was closed by Justinian I. This shift in location was also followed by a
shift in focus. The impetus was no longer to produce new works, but to compile vast
encyclopedias, compendiums, and commentaries on the existing literature. Pergamum, which
had been a rival center to Athens in the days of Galen and Athens, ceded their eminence to
the new center at Alexandria.
Contraceptives and Abortifacients
Contraceptives have been administered orally as far back as Hippocrates.
Hippocrates listed several herbs that stimulated the menses, “[t]o initiate the menses: give
crimson berries in wine to the patient to drink in the fasting state.”34 For contraceptive
purposes he expressly recommended, “[i]f a woman does not want to become pregnant, give
her misy to the amount of a bean dissolved in water to drink, and she will not become
pregnant for a year.”35 Hippocrates also listed several abortifacients”
To expel a dead fetus left in the uterus: mix violet and the fruit of purslane, chop fine,
and give in old white wine….Another: mix together silphium juice to the amount of a
bitter vetch and finely pounded cress seed in wine or bitch’s milk, and give to drink:
this also expels a fetus.36
Also, “[m]edication to expel the fetus: a little ranunculus and squirting cucumber juice mixed
in vinegar: give to drink well diluted.”37 Additionally “[c]leaning agent: if a woman is not
cleaned after giving birth, have her drink clover in white wine. The same medication also
cause[s] the menses to break out downwards, and expels the fetus.”38 Dioscorides also
provided several herbs that when ingested would prevent or abort a pregnancy including
sage, “sage… ye branches hath the power being drank, to move ye urine & ye menstrua, & to
34
Hippocrates, Hippocrates Vol. X, 235.
Hippocrates, Hippocrates Vol. X, 305.
36
Hippocrates, Hippocrates Vol. X, 233.
37
Hippocrates, Hippocrates Vol. X, 233.
38
Hippocrates, Hippocrates Vol. X, 321.
35
16
draw out ye Embrya… but ye most wicked woman making a Pessum of it, do apply it. & cast
out ye Embrya.”39
Another type of contraceptive commonly listed in the Greco-Roman sources was the
use of a vaginal suppository or pessary. Soranus explained in Gynecology:
[Pessaries] are styptic, clogging, and cooling [and they] cause the orifice of the uterus
to shut before the time of coitus and do not let the seed pass into its fundus. [Some
pessaries, however, are hot] and irritating, not only do not allow the seed of the man
to remain in the cavity of the uterus, but draw forth as well another fluid from it.40
Pessaries functioned as physical barriers to block conception, but could also be used before
or after intercourse soaked in herbal recipes. Hippocrates proscribed one as such:
Irritating suppositories that draw blood: mix frankincense and myrrh with five blister
beetles, forming this as big as an oak gall; make it into an elongated shape, attach it
around a feather with a flock of wool, tie it with a thread of fine linen, soak in white
Egyptian unguent or rose unguent, and apply.41
Dioscorides in his materia medica mentioned a number of herbs and substances that
were effective contraceptives and abortifacients when used in this manner, for example, “
[a]spalathus… being put into a Pessum it brings out the Embryon.”42 Soranus also listed
several recipes for pessaries:
Pine bark, tanning sumach, equal quantities of each, rub with wine and apply in due
measure before coitus after wool has been wrapped around; and after two or three
hours she may remove it and have intercourse.43
Another: Of Cimolian earth, root of panax, equal quantities, rub with water separately
and together, and when sticky apply in like manner. Or: grind the inside of fresh
pomegranate peel with water and apply.44
Of unripe oak galls, of the inside of pomegranate peel, of ginger, of each 2 drachms,
mould it with wine to the size of vetch peas and dry indoors and give before coitus, to
be applied as a vaginal suppository. Or: Grind the flesh of dried figs and apply
together with natron. Or: Apply pomegranate peel with an equal amount of gum and
an equal amount of oil of roses. Then one should always follow with a drink of honey
water.45
Another vaginal suppository which produces abortion with relatively little danger: Of
wallflower, cardamom, brimstone, absinthium, myrrh, equal quantities, mould with
39
Dioscorides, The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides, 274.
Soranus, Gynecology, 64.
41
Hippocrates, Hippocrates Vol. X, 243.
42
Dioscorides,The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides , 20.
43
Soranus, Gynecology,64.
44
Soranus, Gynecology, 64.
45
Soranus, Gynecology, 65.
40
17
water. And she who intends to apply these things should be bathes beforehand or
made to relax by sitz baths.”46
An often prescribed remedy for female conditions was to fumigate the uterus.
Dioscorides listed several herbs that worked when both taken orally and for fumigation like
dittany: “for not only being drank but also being applied and suffumigated it expels the dead
Embrya… it is also a birth hastener.”47 Also potent for fumigation was gum of the doum
palm, “being applied & suffumigated, & It doth draw out the Embrua.”48 Even Paul of
Aegina recorded recipes for fumigation:
Moreover, certain common seeds are calculated to promote the menstrual evacuation,
but in an inferior degree, such as fennel, cumin, parsley, Cretan carrot, hartwort,
Bishop's weed, sison, chick-peas, juniper berries, and all the diuretics. But the
following things are to be applied per vaginam : Myrrh triturated with the decoction
of wormwood, or of lupines ; or, triturated with the juice of rue; bdellium, in like
manner ; storax, the gum of the wild olive, and that of the juice of rue, in like manner;
or, the long birthwort made into the form of a collyrium ; and so also the root of the
great centaury, or* of hellebore, or the juice of scammony, and the medullary part of
the wild gourd by itself, and mugwort formed with rue, and galbanum applied in the
form of a fumigation. These things are calculated also to expel the foetus.49
Fumigation was one of the methods used in the classical world that blurred the line
between what we would consider magic and medicine. It was listed by respected physicians,
but it often employed substances like urine, feces, and menses which were considered
powerful for their ability to purify and were also used frequently in magic. Pliny calls for a
woman to fumigate with “deer’s hair” to purge herself.50 He also explained that
“[f]umigation with ass’s hoofs hastens delivery, so that even a dead foetus is extracted.”
Fumigation by hoof or dried dung will also expel a fetus according to Pliny, and as we will
see later in this, and subsequent chapters, the use of mule hairs and hoofs are often cited in
magical contraceptives.
Additionally, there are a number of contraceptives prescribed by physicians such as
Galen that call for a woman to tie an herb, usually Roman cyclamen, around her arm or neck
46
Soranus, Gynecology, 68.
Dioscorides, The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides, 271.
48
Dioscorides, The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides, 44.
49
Pormann, The Oriental Tradition of Paul of Aegina’s Pragmateia 336-337.
50
Pliny, Natural Histories Vol. VIII, 167.
47
18
in order to prevent conception. 51 Stepping over the cyclamen was prescribed by Galen, as
well as, bundling saffron and tying it to a woman’s thigh.52 Roman cyclamen was also used
in several contraceptive recipes meant to be ingested or used as a pessary. It seems the plant
itself was considered effective medicinally and possibly had magical qualities, or at least it
had qualities that could be transmitted through sympathetic magic by wearing the herb or
stepping over it.
Aside from what might be considered today as the intersection of magic and medicine
with fumigation and strapping herbs to one’s body, Greco-Roman society also employed
rituals and spells for contraceptive purposes. We do have an example of a spell to cause an
abortion, however, by its language it seems to be more of a curse than a cure any woman
would seek out for herself:
“Let the genitals and the womb of Ms. NN
Be open and let her become bloody by night
And day.” And [these things must be written] in menstrual
Blood, and recite before nightfall… and bury it near sumac
(or a flowing river)53
The following ritual is meant to foreshadow whether a pregnancy will occur, or not before
engaging in intercourse:
The way to know it of a woman whether she will be pregnant: You should make the
woman urinate on this plant, above, again, at night. When morning comes, if you find
the plant scorched, she will not conceive. If you find it/ green, she will
conceive.(PDM xiv. 956-60)54
Invoking gods or demons to prevent a pregnancy was employed as well, “To [prevent
pregnancy]: “… Ochithia, protect from the archetypal daimon [of pregnancy].”(PGM lxv.14)55
The majority of spells revolving around reproductive regulation seemed to have been
performed by men. Or they did not specify the gender of who would have performed them. In
general charms and spells about menorrhagia, contraception, and fertility were written to be
performed by men. For women to perform these spells on themselves would have been a
51
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 80.
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 80.
53
Pollard, “Magic Accusations Against Women in the Greco-Roman World”, 253-254.
54
Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation: Including the Demonic Spells, 242.
55
Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation: Including the Demonic Spells, 296.
52
19
subversion of culture roles, which seems to be what commentators like Pliny feared was
happening. Examples of spells meant to be performed by men include an Egyptian spell that
requires the insertion of a strip of fabric, magically spoken over, coated in honey, or an actual
phallus coated in honey and herbs.56 Another popular magical motif was the use of amulets
and gemstones to open a womb (causing an abortion and or for use as a contraceptive) or
close a womb (pregnancy). One holds the uterine key control either opened or closed.5758
While men were the generally considered the active party in conception, some spells were
meant to be performed by both sexes together. For example, if a man wants to remain sterile
for x years, he gets x bittervetch seeds, and the woman puts them in her genitals where the
seeds mix with her menses. The coup de grace is to then find a frog to swallow the seeds.59
Even in Greco-Roman times these rituals and magical practices had their detractors.
Soranus wrote in his book Gynecology, “[o]thers, however, have even made use of amulets
which on the grounds of antipathy they believe to have great effect: such are uteri of mules
and the dirt in their ears and more things of this kind which according to the outcome reveal
themselves as falsehoods.”60 A reaction to what must have been a popular motif for rituals
and contraceptives spells recounted in the Greek Magical Papyri:
Carried [with a magnetic] stone, or even spoken, [this verse] serves as a
contraceptive: “Would that you be fated to be unborn and to die unmarried.” Write
this on a piece of new [papyrus] and tie it up with the hair of a mule.(PGM XXIIa.
11-14)61
Lastly there were several purported contraceptive practices that physicians
recommended that fall into no particular category. Soranus, for instance, advised woman to
sneeze after sex, wash out their vaginas, and to drink cold water. Jumping backward several
times was also supposed to do the trick. He stated that:
But in order that the embryo be separated, the woman should have <more violent
exercise>, walking about energetically and being shaken by means of draught
animals; she should also leap energetically and carry things which are heavy beyond
her strength. She should use diuretic decoctions which also have the power to bring
56
Pollard, “Magic Accusations Against Women in the Greco-Roman World”, 232-233.
Ritner, “A Uterine Amulet in the Oriental Institute Collection,” 210.
58
Vikan, “Art, Medicine and Magic in Early Byzantium,” 65-86.
59
Pollard, “Magic Accusations Against Women in the Greco-Roman World”, 252.
60
Soranus, Gynecology, 66.
61
Betz, Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, 260.
57
20
on menstruation, and empty and purge the abdomen with relatively pungent
clysters.62
This was the same advice proposed by Hippocrates several centuries earlier.
The Greco-Roman world was a diverse and complicated one. Multiple religions
added their perspectives to the cultural ramifications of contraception and abortion with some
against it while other did not oppose it. Abortifacients and contraceptives were generally
open and positive, so long as it was the men making the decisions and not women.
There were extensive discussions and texts dealing with women’s health, contraceptives and
abortifacients; as well as, a multitude of different techniques and large corpuses of useful
ingredients. The major medical foundation of humoral pathology was laid down by the
Greeks and would continue to be the foundation of medicine for both Islamic medicine and
medieval Europe.
62
Soranus, Gynecology, 66.
21
CHAPTER 3
Contraceptive Knowledge in the Islamic World
Ca. 800-1200 CE
As the Roman Empire declined in Europe and gradually gave way to the burgeoning
Islamic Caliphates in the Eastern half of the Empire, scientific and medical knowledge was a
sought after commodity. Eventually this thirst for information became a concerted effort to
translate and incorporate that knowledge, including the Greco-Roman the tradition, into
Arabic. That knowledge was integrated by talented and influential physicians to form a new
Greco-Arabic tradition of medicine. That transmission will be discussed in this chapter; as
well as, the social, religious, and historical context that contraceptives and abortion held in
the Islamic world from the 8th to 13th centuries CE.
The Transmission of Knowledge
According to Arabic tradition, translations began during the Umayyad Caliphate and
the first work translated, by the Hebrew scholar Masargioyah, was Pandette, which was an
encyclopedic work of scientific material based on Greek medicine.63 However, the
translation movement is attributed to the Abbasid Dynasty under the reigns of Abbasids alMansur (712?-775), Harun al-Rashid (764-809) and al-Ma’Mun (786-833). Logistically the
translation effort was greatly aided by the establishment of the first paper mill in Asia Minor
at Samarkand in 751 CE. 64 This was not the beginning of transmission between these areas
of the world. Important early influences came from the Greeks, the Sasanian Empire, and the
Syriac Christians.
The Greeks had been in direct contact with this region since the conquests of
Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.E.). Although he never conquered or ruled Arabia one of
the resulting territories was the Seleucid Empire (312-60 B.C.E.), which at its height
included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, Turkmenistan, Pamir, and the
Indus valley. While this control over central Asia was short lived, a mere 50 years, the
impact of Hellenization was long lasting. Hellenic influence permeated throughout of
Central and Western Asia. In particular, Greek medicine had an enduring impact on local
knowledge and practices. Also important for later translation activities was the shifting of the
63
64
Gorini, “The Process of Origin and Growth of Islamic Medicine: the Role of the Translators,” 3.
Gorini, “The Process of Origin and Growth of Islamic Medicine: the Role of the Translators,” 2.
22
center of learning in the Eastern Roman Empire from Athens to Alexandria when the
Emperor Justinian I closed the academy in Athens in 529 C.E. Encyclopedias and
commentaries were the most popular form of medical literature in Alexandria and the major
school they subscribed to was Galenic.
The Sasanian Empire dominated Central Asia from the third to mid-seventh century
C.E. and immediately preceded the Umayyad Caliphate. They also had a strong existing
academic tradition. Especially important was the state religion- Zoroastrianism. The
Sasanians were already practiced in recording the history of their own civilization in Pahlavi,
middle Persian; as well as, acquiring learning from other cultures as early as the reign of
Chosroes I (531-78 C.E.):
[F]rom the city of Athens which is famed for its science, Ptolemy the Alexandrian
and Farmasb the Indian. They commented upon them and taught them to the people
in the same way in which they had learned from all those books which originated in
Babylon. After Ardasir and Sabur, Kisra[Chosroes I] Anusirwan [531-78] collected
these books, put them together [in their proper order], and based his acts on them on
account of his desire for knowledge and love for it’65
The idea expressed in this passage reflected the Zoroastrian belief that all of Greek and
Indian knowledge came from the Avesta, a Zoroastrian sacred text. They contended that the
sciences had originated in Persia, but were scattered during the conquest of Alexander the
Great. Retrieving these texts and any knowledge resulting from it was part of their religion.
From the Denkard:
14. When king Vishtasp became relieved from the war with Arjasp he sent messages
to other kings to accept the (Mazda-worshipping) faith. And to spread (among the
people) the writings of the Mazda-worshipping religion which are studded with all
wisdom and which relate to the acquisition of knowledge and resources of various
kinds…
16. The Ashkanian government2 got the Avesta and its commentary which from its
(original) pure (and sound) condition had been, owing to the devastation and harm3
(inflicted by) Alexander and his general of the plundering Aruman army, separated
into parts and scattered about, to be copied out. And any (work) which remained with
the Dasturs for their (own) study and the writings subsequently obtained in the city
were ordered to be preserved and copies of them to be made out for other cities.
17. (After this) Ardashir-i Papakan in his time got a true Dastur named Tosar [Tansar]
to arrange together all the scattered writings relating to the Avesta and its
commentaries…
65
Gutas, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture, 39-40.
23
19. Shahpuhr5 son of Ardashir king of kings collected together, from Hindustan
[India], Arum [the Byzantine Empire], and other places where they had got scattered,
writings other than those of the faith (i.e. other than those on prayer, worship,
precepts, and law), (such as) those relating to medicine, astronomy, geography,
minerals, the increase of the glory of the life-possessing kinds, the parts of the soul,
and (writings relating to) other arts and sciences.66
It was also considered a religious duty to study the sciences. As one might imagine, Greek
medicine was very prominent in this environment.
The earliest copies we have of Zoroastrian texts date to the ninth century. The
Denkard discussed medicine in a section of its third book. It divided medicine into the
spiritual and material, which reflected the duality in Zoroastrianism. Diseases of the body
were an imbalance between hot and cold, or moist and dry, which affected the primary fluid
of body- blood. Additionally, the Wizidagiha I Zadspaoram , a Pahlavi compilation from a
ninth century priest and physician, explained that the body contains four different humors:
blood, phlegm, red and black bile. Blood is hot and moist, phlegm is cold and moist, red bile
is hot and dry, black bile is cold and dry. The three main organs are the heart, lungs, and
brain. This assessment has only minor deviations from the Greek humors according to Galen.
Furthermore, the Sasanians welcomed Christian refugees from Byzantium into their empire,
who would later end up playing a major role in the Translation Movement.
Religious upheaval and persecution forced the heretical sects of the Jacobites and
Nestorians from Byzantium to settle in Sasanian territory. The Nestorians fled to Nisibus
after the Council of Chalcedon (451 C.E.) expelled them from the Eastern Church. They also
settled in the cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon where they established schools, monasteries,
and hospitals. These Syriac speaking Christians initially only translated religious documents
from Greek into Syriac, but eventually they would move on to medical text. One of the
earliest and most important of these translators was Sergius of Resh Ayna (d. 536). Sergius
was a Jacobite priest who studied medicine and philosophy in Alexandria. He translated all
Sixteen Books of Galen, as well as, other works by Galen and Hippocrates. Eventually the
66
Zoroastrian Archives. “The Avesta.” Avesta.org. http://www.avesta.org/denkard/dk4.html.
24
translations of Sergius were superseded by those of Hunayn ibn Ishaq, another Syriac
Christian.
When the translation movement finally got under way, all of these influences from
the Greeks, Sasanians, Syriac Christians, and others contributed to the success of the Abbasid
policy. The Translation Movement began under al-Mansur (754-775 C.E.), the second Caliph
of the Abbasid dynasty, and coincided with his general policy of shifting to the east. The new
dynasty moved away from the old capital of Damascus to Baghdad. The old culture and
traditions of the Sasanians became the major influence on the new dynasty as opposed to the
Byzantines, which was crucial to the development of the Islamic medical tradition and the
capability to translate the Greco-Roman works into Arabic. Al-Mansur, as part of an effort to
legitimate his rule in the eyes of the Persian elites, adopted the Translation Movement and it
was continued by his heirs.
A critical figure for the translation of medical texts into Arabic was Hunayn ibn Ishaq
(809–873). Hunayn translated along with his son Ishaq ibn Hunayn and his nephew Hubaysh.
He often translated the Greek material into Syriac first, and had his son or nephew finish by
translating the text from Syriac to Arabic. Hunayn travelled as far as Syria, Palestine and
Egypt to obtain as many manuscripts as possible in order to have the most accurate final
product possible.67 Rather than translating the texts word for word, like other translators in
the Abbasid period, Hunayn attempted to attain the meaning of the subject and the sentences,
and then rewrote it in Syriac or Arabic. This new technique is referred to as “semantic
copying.”68 In order to accomplish this, the Arabic language sometimes needed to be
expanded to incorporate new terminology. He worked in Baghdad under the Caliph alMa’mun and was head of Bait al-Hikmah (the House of Wisdom). The Bait al-Hikmah was a
community of scholars based in Baghdad, which contributed to the translation movement and
produced original works as well. At this time translation was such big business that wealthy
elites would often patronize scholars to produce these texts and there was even a tax imposed
on translations.69 Paul of Aegina’s work Medical Compendium in Seven Books was one of
the texts translated by Hunayn ibn Ishaq, as were the works of Galen, Pseudo-Galen, and
67
Gorini, “The Process of Origin and Growth of Islamic Medicine: the Role of the Translators,” 3.
Gorini, “The Process of Origin and Growth of Islamic Medicine: the Role of the Translators,”,2.
69
Gorini, “The Process of Origin and Growth of Islamic Medicine: the Role of the Translators,” 3-4.
68
25
Dioscorides.70 In fact, the majority of the Greco-Roman medical works were translated by
Ibn Ishaq.
Socio-Religious Background on Women and Contraceptives
Internal influences are also critical to our understanding of contraceptive use and
the role of women in the Islamic World ca. 800-1100 CE. The religious and moral
authorities, the jurists of the ulama, issued opinions on various important topics, including
birth control. The two major texts used as evidence by the jurist were the Quran and Hadith.
The Hadith being stories from the life of the Prophet and his companions, and the Quran
were the revelations of God relayed to the Prophet Mohammed. The Quran made no mention
of any method of contraception; whereas, the Hadith mentioned a single method- coitus
interuptus. Neither document discussed abortion, but the Quran did discuss fetal
development, which became the basis for when an abortion was permitted and when it was
not in later theological discussions.
According to the Hadith the Prophet Muhammed was aware of the practice of
coitus interruptus and stated that the act was permissible within Islam:
We rode out with the Prophet to raid Banu al-Mustaliq, and we captured female
prisoners… We desired women and abstinence became hard. [But] we wanted to
practice coitus interruptus; and we asked the Prophet about it. He said, “You do not
have to hesitate, for God has predestined about what is to be created until Judgement
Day” – Hadith71
The jurists reasoned that it was God’s decision whether or not a woman got pregnant,
regardless of what precautions were taken; therefore, there was no harm in using
contraception. This excerpt and others similar to it also set the precedent that sex and
marriage were not solely for procreation.
Sex did not need to result in children from a religious or social stand point, thus it was
easier to reconcile the reasons for using contraception. For example, within the institution of
concubinage a man could potentially father children that would end up as slaves. Fear of this
was considered an acceptable reason for using birth control. Additionally, if you wanted to
divorce your wife then you did not want to have children by her. It was also acceptable for a
70
71
Gutas, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture, 182.
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 10.
26
man to have his wife use contraceptives in order to maintain her figure and preserve her
beauty. Economic reasons were good as well. A concubine could not be sold if she had her
master’s child, so not using birth control could result in a financial loss. Even just to limit
family size to manageable number was a valid reason. Possible health risk for both a mother
and her children or spacing out pregnancies to ensure each child could be nursed and cared
for adequately were justifiable medically endorsed purposes. While not illegal, other reasons
were disapproved of by some jurists; such as, the of fear of having daughters, and women
using contraceptives because they disliked pregnancy, had an obsession for cleanliness, or
did not want to be bothered with children or nursing.72
Laws on abortion were directly related to the development of the fetus. If a pregnant
woman was injured and miscarried, the amount of compensation owed depended on whether
the fetus was formed or not. Burials for formed fetuses were permitted, but not unformed. All
jurists agreed fetuses formed at 120 days or four months, but there was some disagreement
on when abortion should be prohibited. The Hanafi School, the most prominent school of
orthodox Muslims in later centuries, allowed abortion until the end of the fourth month. The
Hanafi school even granted the right for women to abort without their husbands permission;
whereas, Maliki jurists prohibited abortion altogether. The Maliki’s agreed a fetus was not a
person until it reached ensoulment, but they believed that once the semen had settled in
womb it was “destiny” and should not be tampered with.73 However, even within these
schools opinions of individual jurist varied. Some schools would argue for allowing
abortions only up to 40 days, others 80 days, but all opinions from the four orthodox schools
were considered legitimate to all orthodox Muslims.
On the topic of fetal development, the Quran proposed two ideas, first, it divided
the formation of the fetus into stages, and second, it established that both the mother and
father contribute equally to the development of the fetus.74 This was opposed to some earlier
Greek theories, such as Hippocrates, where the woman merely incubated the fetus and the
male sperm carried the human soul. The Quran describes fetal development in the following
passages:
72
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 22.
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 58.
74
Musallem, Sex and Society in Islam, 52-55.
73
27
O Men! If you are in doubt as to the [truth of] resurrection, [remember that,] verily,
We have created [every one of] you out of dust, then out of a drop of sperm, then out
of a germ-cell, then out of an embryonic lump complete (in itself] and yet incomplete,
so that We might make [your origin] clear unto you.
And whatever We will [to be born] We cause to rest in the [mothers'] wombs for a
term set [by Us], and then We bring you forth as infants and [allow you to live] so
that [some of] you might attain to maturity (22:5)75
A similar passage also contributes to the progression of the fetus:
Now, Indeed, We create man out of the essence of clay, and then We cause him to
remain as a drop of sperm in [the womb's) firm keeping, and then We create out of
the drop of sperm a germ-cell, and then We create out of the germ-cell an embryonic
lump, and then We create within the embryonic lump bones, and then We clothe the
bones with flesh - and then. We bring [all) this into being as a new creation:
hallowed, therefore, is God, the best of artisans! (23:13-14)76
Finally we have this verse laying out the initial three phases, "He creates you in your
mothers' wombs, one act of creation after another, in threefold depths of darkness” (39:6).77
The term “darkness” has been interpreted by jurist to indicate the time before the fetus was
complete, and before it was ensouled. Ensoulment was considered the point at which the
fetus is considered human, but not necessarily alive. Ensoulment and when it occurred was a
concern of the ancient Greeks and Romans, as we have seen, and would continue to be
discussed by medieval European thinkers as well. According to Hadith scholars there was a
measurable timeline of fetal development, which left little room for deviation for physicians.
The jurist Ghazali (1058-1111) used the analogy of abstinence to make his argument
in favor of the use of contraceptives, he reasoned: if one can abstain from marriage then one
can abstain from sex, if one can abstain from sex then one can abstain from emission, and if
one can abstain from emission then one can abstain from allowing the seed to settle in
womb.78 If you can abstain from one you then are allowed to abstain from the others. He
used a biological argument as well, referencing the anatomist Ahl al-Tashrih, saying that
abortion and infanticide are crimes because they are against an existing being. Conception
requires the merging of the seed of both mother and father. If there is no ‘formation’ then
75
Assad, The Message of The Quran, http:// /arthurs/koran/koran-asad10.html.
Assad, The Message of The Quran, http:// /arthurs/koran/koran-asad10.html.
77
Assad, The Message of The Quran, http:// /arthurs/koran/koran-asad10.html.
78
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 17.
76
28
nothing living was destroyed.79 As discussed earlier, formation and ensoulment were
achieved at the end of the fourth month. Our modern notion of abortion did not fit the ancient
or medieval version: the abortion Ghazali discusses as being against a living being is only a
prohibition on fetuses over four months old. Everything up to four months still fell under the
idea of contraception by preventing life.
One notable exception against this argument was Ibn Hazm.80 He argued for a
prohibition against all contraceptives based on this passage from the Hadith that he claimed
was the most recent and therefore set the precedent:
Accord to Judhama bint Wahb, “I was there when the prophet was with a group
saying, ‘ I was about to prohibit the ghila, but I observed the Byzantines and the
Persians, and saw them do it, and their children were not harmed.’ They asked him
about coitus interruptus, and the Prophet answered, “It is hidden infanticide…”81
He was notably refuted by a Hanabali scholar in Damascus, Ibn Qayyim(1291-1351), who
countered that it was impossible to tell which Hadith was dated latest and Ibn Hazm’s
opinion went against the entire corpus of the ulama. However, the defense of contraceptives
should not be seen as a glowing endorsement of them. Muslim jurist defined contraception as
an allowable, but ‘blameworthy’ practice. Procreation was a good, so trying not to procreate
could not also be good.82 However, this did not affect the legal status of contraceptives and
abortifacients.
The Medical Foundation
The basic medical framework for the Islamic world mirrored the Greco-Roman
humoral pathology. The body was ideally balanced between different fluids and
temperaments. Two of the biggest influences from the Greco-Roman tradition were Galen
and Aristotle. Galen was especially known for his methodology, which emphasized
observation and deductive logic. Physicians of the Islamic world accepted the majority of
Greco-Roman knowledge though they did correct it when they found it wrong and added to
the field in their own right. One of the biggest contributions made by Islamic physicians to
medicine was in the area of pharmacology. Medical writers did not much bother with long
79
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 17.
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 18.
81
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 15-16.
82
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 30.
80
29
treatise on why or when contraception was allowed, that was left to the religious scholars,
instead the doctors focused on the practical application of knowledge.
Overall religious beliefs about life and conception were fairly easily reconciled with
medicine, as these ideas were not in conflict with the use of contraceptives and even
abortion. Contraceptives and abortifacients are discussed openly within the medical text and
even in popular literature as well. Based on the Quranic verses and Greek medical
knowledge, Islamic physicians argued that the fetus developed over the first several months
but did not become ensouled until the end of the fourth month. Following along the Quran’s
explanation, physicians claimed that the fetus followed the same progression from the drop
of sperm to an embryonic lump, to an embryonic lump with bones, and then with flesh before
it was ensouled. These phases occurred in forty day intervals, and at the end of the one
hundred twentieth day there was our modern notion of conception or the beginning of life.83
Many jurists saw this development as the cut off for when an abortion was considered
acceptable.
Physicians, for the most part, did not distinguish any moral differences between
contraceptives and abortifacients. It all fell under the umbrella of birth control. It was seen as
a medical necessity to provide all the options for birth control to ensure the lives of women.
According to Ibn Sina:
At times it may be necessary to induce abortion… when… it is feared that childbirth
would cause her death[the pregnant woman]… Also when the fetus dies in the womb
of the woman. Know that when labor continues for four days it means the fetus is
already dead. Therefore care for the life of the mother, and not for the life of the
fetus… abortion may be performed by movements, or by medicines… Movements
include phlebotomy, starvation, [bodily] exercise, frequent jumping, carrying of
heavy loads, provocation of vomiting, and sneezing84
Ibn Sina also mentioned diseases and illnesses a woman might have that indicated a
pregnancy should be prevented or terminated, such as, a fleshy growth or bladder problems.
Or if the woman was too young, under the age of fifteen, a pregnancy was deemed dangerous
to her life. Despite the majority opinion, some physicians expressed doubts at the motives of
woman and wanted to keep contraceptive and abortifacient knowledge under wraps. The idea
was only women that could be trusted should be allowed to use this information. The
83
84
Musallem, Sex and Society in Islam, 55.
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 69.
30
implication being that these women were being unfaithful to their husbands or vain for not
wanting to get pregnant. Ibn Hubal(1122-1213) and Ibn Abbas writer of the Kamil went
even further and proposed restricting abortion unless it was a medical necessity.
One of the first key physicians Al-Razi- Muhammad ibn Zakariya Razi (August 26,
865 – 925), was a Persian Muslim. Al-Razi was born in the city of Rey along the Alborz
Mountain Range. Al-Razi was educated in Persian, Greek, and Indian medical knowledge.
He made numerous advances in medicine through his own observations and discoveries. He
became the chief physician of Rey and Baghdad hospitals. His most comprehensive work
The Virtuous Life (al-Hawi ) was a medical encyclopedia in nine volumes. It included
criticisms on the Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato along with al-Razi’s own opinions.
The al-Hawi was a posthumous compilation of al-Razi’s notes. In this tome, part IX was
titled “On aids to childbirth: expulsion of the fetus and placenta; the prevention of pregnancy;
the management of women after childbirth; miscarriage; the sickness of raja’, that is, false
pregnancy; and the sickness resulting from an excess of labor pains” and it was the definitive
Islamic medical text on contraception.85 In this section he compiled the knowledge of
previous authors, and original prescriptions based on his own experience. 176 contraceptives
and abortifacients are listed. Al-Razi also has a chapter on contraceptives in his completed,
easier to read, and shorter book the Kitab al-tibb al-Mansuri.
Ibn Sina (980 –1037), also known as Avicenna, was born in a village near Bukhara
(in present-day Uzbekistan), the capital of the Samanids. He wrote 40 treatises on medicine.
Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine was influenced by the principles of Galen and Hippocrates.
The Canon was not essentially different from that of his predecessor Al-Razi, but the Canon
was distinguished from the Al-Hawi by its greater methodology and logical framework. In his
second volume of the Canons, Ibn Sina listed out several of the herbs and recipes used as
contraceptives and abortifacients, for example:
When 1 dram(drachm) of powdered birthwort is taken orally, it purges out humors of
phlegm and yellow bile.it is also useful in treating gastric diseases. Both the long and
round types of birthwort, when taken orally with myrrh and pepper, remove
unnecessary substances from the uterus. It also stimulates menstruation and helps to
expel a fetus.86
85
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 61.
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural
Pharmaceuticals,124.
86
31
Ibn Sina also noted this same herb cures the hiccups, treated asthma, and removed dirty
earwax.87
Other notable authors who also made contributions to the literature on contraceptives
included: Ali Ibn, Abbas, Ibn Jumai, al-Talib, and Ibn Baitar. Ali Ibn Abbas wrote the Kamil
al-sina’a al-tibbiya(better known as the Kittab al-malaki). He was from Ahwaz in Persia
under Buwayhid rule, and died in 994. He had a short chapter on contraception in which all
but one contraceptive recipe had already been covered by al-Razi. There was also Hibatallah
Ibn Jumai al-Israili (?-1198) author of the Kitab al-irshad li-masalih al-anfus wa al-ajsad. He
was an Egyptian Jew and court physician to Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt. His work contained
a short treatment on contraceptives. Abu al-Hasan al-Talib(1044-1101) was responsible for
the Kitab khalq al-insan. He was a court physician to the Abbasid caliph Muqtadi. He
contributed one new contraceptive as well. Another genre within the medical community was
the books on materia medica used by druggist. These druggist were usually the ones that
administered to the populace along with healers and mid-wives; whereas, physicians usually
tended to the elites. Arabic herbalist added to and surpassed the Greek tradition of materia
medica. Ibn al-Baitar(1197-1248) the author of the Treatise on Simples was a renowned
author of this genre. He was born in Spain and moved east in about 1220. He traveled
through North Africa, Asia Minor, Syria, and settled in Egypt as chief herbalist to the
Ayyubid Sultan. Later he moved to Damascus where he lived until his death.
Contraceptives and Abortifacients
One type of contraceptive method is taken orally. Al-Razi from his al-Hawi list the
following for contraceptive purposes: juice of cyclamen, broth of wallflower, male fern,
cinnamon with myrrh, leaves of weeping willow, roots of cyclamen, luffa seed with water
and vinegar, and wild rue seeds.88 Ibn Sina also listed several herbs that fit this classification,
including black bryony, figs, bay laurel, birthwort and many others. He writes, “[t]he central
parts of the sprout of black bryony are a diuretic and stimulate menstruation when taken
87
88
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 124.
Musallem, Sex and Society in Islam, 77.
32
orally.”89 For the bay laurel tree its oil promotes menstruation while its bark is even more
potent “[an] oral dose of 1 dirham… of its bark dissolves kidney stones and kills a fetus.”90
Additionally, several of the herbs Ibn Sina listed as being effective contraceptives
when taken orally, where also capable of being used as a pessary as well. In The Canons Ibn
Sina described Roman cyclamen’s qualities and uses:
Roman cyclamen causes abortion and its oral intake with honey wine removes
phlegm and hydrous chyme. When it is taken orally or used as a device worn in the
vagina to support a displaced uterus, it is useful for the discharge of menses… When
the areas of the navel, pain arising from the abdominal wall and waist rubbed with it,
the bowels are relaxed. It may also cause abortion and is fatal to the fetus.91
This is the same herb used by the Greco-Romans for contraceptive and abortifacient
remedies. Another example was dragonwort:
“If 30 pieces of dragonwort are mixed with water and vinegar or wine and give to a
pregnant woman, it would cause an abortion. Its use as a device worn in the vagina to
support a displaced uterus may expel a fetus. In some cases even the inhalation of its
faded flowers may cause an abortion.”92
One thing that Ibn Sina did with regularity was to make direct reference to the Greco-Roman
medical authors and what they contributed on the topic:
“When black chickpea is mixed with almond oil, radish and celery into a boiled down
form, it dissolves kidney and bladder stones and expels a fetus… Hippocrates states
that chickpea has two substances that are removed when it is boiled down: 1) salty
substance that relaxes the bowels; and 2) hot substance that is diuretic.”93 Or on the
use of common knotgrass he states,“Dioscorides is of the view that it is a diuretic and
stimulates menstruation.”94
Moreover, Ibn Sina does not merely acknowledge the Greco-Roman sources but he also
corrects them when necessary, “Galen states in several places that the milk of a female dog
89
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural
Pharmaceuticals,165.
90
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural
Pharmaceuticals,107.
91
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural
Pharmaceuticals,937.
92
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural
Pharmaceuticals, 381.
93
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural
Pharmaceuticals, 235.
94
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural
Pharmaceuticals, 290.
33
removes hair and prevents its re-growth. This is wrong.”95 Not only is the source showing a
direct link with the Greco-Roman tradition, but it is evolving it as well.
Overall the most used female method in Arabic medicine was the suppository, or
pessary, which served two purposes: as a physical barrier to block the semen, and as a
delivery device for contraceptive or abortifacient drugs before or after sex. Most barriers
contained oil or honey. Some of the chemicals used in this manner were quite effective in
changing a woman’s PH and acted as a spermicide; for example, alum, natron, salt,
pomegranate pulp, and animal dung. 96
In Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine: Volume 2 Natural Pharmaceuticals Avicenna, or
Ibn Sina, list several herbs and recipes for pessaries. One example is dittany:
“Dittany helps menses discharge and urine. Sometimes it may cause bloody urine. Its
oral intake or as a snuff or use as a suppository causes abortion. Its oral use helps in
clearing postpartum blood.”97
Other pharmaceuticals that can be used in pessaries included alkaline plants.98 Asafetida
expelled a fetus.99 Ibn Sina also listed absinthe,“[a]bsinthe acts as a strong diuretic and
stimulates menstruation, particularly when used as a device worn in the vagina.” 100 Agaric
has ”menstruation stimulation properties.”101 Ambergris provokes menstruation.102
Colocynth “[w]hen taken as a device worn in the vagina to support a displaced uterus, it kills
a fetus.”103 So far we have discussed individual herbs, but recipes calling for several herbs
were often listed as well. Ibn Sarabiyun list two recipes for pessaries:
A suppository expelling the foetus quickly, whether it is dead or alive: Myrrh,
black hellebore, opopananx, bull bile, equal parts; crush it and make it into a
long suppository; the woman should carry it; then it will abort [the fetus]
95
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural
Pharmaceuticals, 369.
96
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 63.
97
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural
Pharmaceuticals, 366.
98
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural Pharmaceuticals, 20.
99
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural Pharmaceuticals, 67.
100
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural
Pharmaceuticals, 67.
101
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural
Pharmaceuticals, 17.
102
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural
Pharmaceuticals, 40.
103
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural
Pharmaceuticals, 268.
34
whether it be dead or alive. Another for the same purpose: Galbanum, myrrh,
cabbage wood, bull bile; mix it and fumigate it under her. It will expel it [the
foetus] immediately.104
Fumigation it seems was the least popular method in the Islamic world as there are
few examples given throughout the literature. According to al-Razi, a woman should
fumigate with cardamom or cyclamen to prevent or end a pregnancy. Ibn Sina recommended
elephant dung or balsam, “[v]apors of balsam dries up moistness or coldness of the uterus. It
expels a fetus and placenta.”105106 Al-Talib prescribed fumigations with the galbanum plant
and sulphur kneaded with cow gallbladder; false myrrh gagal and savin; and roots of
cyclamen.107
Just as some methods in Greco-Roman medicine were difficult to distinguish where
science ended and magic or religion began; the same is true in the Islamic world.
Contraceptive measures included wearing an herb or smearing its juice onto a women’s body
possibly absorbing the properties of the medicine either through the skin or sympathetic
contact. Some of these recommendations came directly from the Greek sources; for
example, al-Razi in the Hawi listed cyclamen amulet tied to neck or arm as a a possible
contraceptive method or stepping over the cyclamen. Both options were directly handed
down from Galen and Hippocrates.108 Ibn Sina also prescribed the use of Roman cyclamen
though less than enthusiastically, "[s]ome people are of the opinion that it is a drug that
hastens labor or abortion. When tied around the neck or forearm, it is said to prevent
pregnancy."109 He also stated that, “it is said that when a woman rubs her belly or strikes it
three times with the barberry root, abortion occurs.”110 It is clear that Ibn Sina does not find
these to be effective measures. Yet, other authors indicated very similar remedies, such as,
Jumai who listed the juice of cyclamen smeared on the stomach and also stepping on the
plant. 111
104
Pormann, The Oriental Tradition of Paul of Aegina’s Pragmateia, 34.
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 84.
106
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural
Pharmaceuticals, 85.
107
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 86.
108
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 77.
109
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural Pharmaceuticals, 937.
110
Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine: The Law of Natural Healing Volume 2 Natural
Pharmaceuticals, 95.
111
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 87.
105
35
More obvious examples of magical remedies to prevent conception fall under the
practice of khawass. These magical prescriptions include Ibn al-Baitar’s suggestion of
urinating on the urine of a wolf, carrying a child’s tooth, and a seed of patience wrapped in
linen cloth and worn on the left arm.112 The materia medica genre, like that of Ibn al-Baitar,
was distinct from medical treatise and more inclusive of the magic and folklore that had had
a long tradition in the Ancient Near East and Greco-Roman worlds. There was a rise in the
magical-medical pharmacophia called khawass in the 12th century, but some works in this
genre appeared even earlier. Khawass is the plural of khass, or something special, peculiar,
or distinctive property.113 It referred to the hidden attributes of certain substances, and was
based on sympathetic magic. The term is not to be confused with Khawass al-Ashjar, who
coincidentally transmitted the writings of Dioscorides.114 The Book of Satisfaction in
Treatment with Occult Substances from 10th century Iberia was written by Abu al-Mutrib
Abd al-Rahman, and among other prescriptions it listed the following practice to prevent
pregnancy “[i]f you make a ring from a hoof of a white female mule for her to wear, she will
not conceive while it is on her.”115 Another magical contraceptive from the Kitab al-aghhiya
of Ibn Zuhr of Seville was “the left leg of a rabbit if suspended over the thigh of a woman or
of a man during intercourse prevents pregnancy.”116
Overall women were more likely to be associated with magical practices than
men. Often these women would elicit complaints from male physicians for stealing patients,
generally after the doctor’s cure failed to yield results. For example, there were stories of
female healers and occultist in North African attempting to treat trachoma in the thirteenth
century.117 Several sources made references to female occultist, but gave little detail.
However, we do know it was possible for women to become doctors in tenth century Iberia,
even though it is extremely rare. 118 Additionally, magic had roots in the Middle East going
back before Islam became the dominant religion in the area, but magic adapted with the
112
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam,73.
Azar, Sage of Seville: Ibn Zuhr, His Time and His Medical Legacy, 56.
114
Aga Khan Museum. “The Thorny Plant that Grows in Mountains, Folio from Khawass Al-Ashjar (De
Materia Medica).” https://www.agakhanmuseum.org/collection/artifact/thorny-plant-grows-mountains-foliokhawass-al-ashjar-de-materia-medica
115
Pormann, Medieval Islamic Medicine, 148.
116
Azar, Sage of Seville: Ibn Zuhr, His Time and His Medical Legacy, 58.
117
Pormann, Medieval Islamic Medicine, 104.
118
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 104.
113
36
times. The wearing of amulets and talisman’s was not seen as a threat by most Islamic
religious authorities. Generally, this magic was protective in nature. One of the distinctions
made between these types of magical artifacts in the Islamic world, as opposed to Christian
magic, was that they were generally attributed to the power of god rather than demons, and
the inscriptions included Quranic verses.
Lastly, are all the methods of contraceptives and abortifacients that do not quite fit
into any of the above categories. These include recommendations for certain sexual positions,
violent movements, phlebotomy, carrying heavy loads, vomiting, starving, and sneezing.
The Al-Mansuri, from al-Razi’s chapter “On medicines which prevent pregnancy and abort
the fetus,” prescribed avoiding simultaneous orgasms during sex. He advised that the man
should finish before the woman reached climax.119 A further suggestion of al-Razi, directly
from the Hippocratic treatise The Nature of the Child, was for the woman to jump backward
several times after intercourse in order to expel the sperm.
The transmission movement during the Abbasid period transferred the Greco-Roman
documents on abortifacients and contraceptives into Arabic and that combined with
contributions from the Islamic world produced a new robust medical tradition. This new
medicine was based on the same basic principles of humoral pathology as Hippocrates
practiced. The medical texts retained much of the original knowledge, but the new Arabic
texts corrected errors and added to the materia medica. Of the 112 herbs and recipe
ingredients covered in the texts, 40 (or 35%) were part of Greco-Roman tradition as well.
Although the Islamic world had thriving Christian and Jewish communities, the majority of
this society was Muslim, and being that Islam allowed contraception it became a legal right
for men as well as women.
119
Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam, 64.
37
Chapter 4
Contraceptive Knowledge in Medieval Europe
Ca. 1000-1400 CE
Having already covered contraceptive knowledge within the social contexts of the
Greco-Roman and early medieval Islamic world, this chapter will investigate the return of
this knowledge to Europe in the early middle ages. In the following pages three avenues will
be explored: how much of the original knowledge was retained in Europe from Antiquity
through to the Middle Ages; the translation movement from Arabic into Latin; and the final
product as the Greco-Arabic tradition is incorporated into the early medieval European
mindset.
The Transmission of Knowledge
Contraceptive and abortifacient knowledge from the Islamic world found its way to
an Early Medieval Europe that had largely lost the original Greco-Roman knowledge. In the
centuries following the height of Greco-Roman medicine, with physicians such as Galen and
Soranus peaking in the 1st century CE, compiling encyclopedias by simplifying and
summarizing previous works rather than advancing new medical knowledge and theories
become the norm. This was a trend that continued until the reintroduction of the GrecoRoman and Islamic medical texts. Additionally, much of the Greek terminology of the
ancient medical writers was lost and undecipherable to early medieval scholars. 120 This drop
off in knowledge was especially pronounced in the former Western Roman Empire as the
Classical institutions declined in late antiquity.121 Nevertheless, some works were indeed
translated into Latin as early as the fifth century, such as, Soranus which was translated by
Caelius Aurelianus, and a Latin translation of Dioscorides was also available by the 570’s.122
However, these texts were only a small portion of the Greco-Roman corpus and relayed only
a basic and incomplete overview of Classical medical knowledge. What was known at the
end of the first millennium in Western Europe was inherited largely from two major GrecoRoman traditions: the Hippocratic and Soranic traditions. In particular the state of women’s
120
Trota, The Trotula, 14-15.
Siraisi, Medieval and Early Renaissance Medicine, 10.
122
Siraisi, Medieval and Early Renaissance Medicine, 6.
121
38
gynecology was very limited to a small number of texts stripped of the theoretical
underpinnings behind the illnesses and conditions it discussed.123
The Christianization of Europe in late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages also
introduced new theoretical challenges that affected the discipline of medicine. Monasteries
had become the new centers for healing with their central role to attend to the shrines of the
saints.124 There emerged from this relationship of Christianity and medicine a new
importance on the combination of physical and spiritual healing. This is not to say that what
medical knowledge there was left from the Greco-Roman authors was completely abandoned
or medicine was confined to the churches; however, that knowledge and those practices were
considered secondary to Christian spiritual ideology. In a nutshell, preserving one’s soul was
more important than one’s body.
A common argument among Christian thinkers, such as St. Augustine, was that
illness was a result of the Fall of Man. Further debate existed over whether certain illnesses
were associated with the sins of individuals or communities, for example, Pope Gregory the
Great attributed a 6th century outbreak of the plague to such circumstances.125 Making such
associations rendered Greek cures useless. How could pagan Greek cures remedy spiritual
ailments? Facing these pressures Western Europe managed to keep Greco-Roman medical
knowledge alive until the 7th to 8th century, but as medicine became more and more closely
associated with the religious community it began to dissipate. By the 11th century secular
medical books were still in monasteries, and monks would have been familiar with them, but
they were used for acquiring only simple skills and herbal remedies.126
Meanwhile, not only did Islamic scholars embrace Greco-Roman medicine and the
take on an Aristotelian theoretical framework, but they expanded and corrected the Classical
text as was seen with Ibn-Sina. Whereas, European medical influence was heavily dependent
on Hippocrates and Soranus, the medicine of the Islamic world was indebted to Galen. The
Islamic scholars had had access to many more of the works of Galen and adopted a Galenic
view of medicine, and this was the new, yet old, school of thought introduced back to Europe
through the translation of Arabic works into Latin.
123
Trota, The Trotula, 14-15.
Siraisi, Medieval and Early Renaissance Medicine, 7.
125
Siraisi, Medieval and Early Renaissance Medicine, 8.
126
Siraisi, Medieval and Early Renaissance Medicine, 10.
124
39
The Greco-Roman tradition returned to Europe through two avenues: the Islamic
world and the Byzantines. One catalyst for the re-introduction of the Greco-Roman tradition
was the sack of Constantinople. Many of the classical works were brought back to Europe
from there. These translations mostly took place throughout the 12th and 13th centuries. After
the Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople (1204), scholars gained access to the
original Greek texts that had been preserved in the Byzantine Empire, and translated them
directly into Latin. Additionally, the increased contact between Europe and the Islamic
empires through the Crusades brought a new awareness from Christian soldiers returning
from the East with an insight into the superiority of Islamic medicine. However, the first
known example of an Arabic medical text being translated into Latin was as early as 1070,
and contact between the Islamic and Christian worlds was not solely a result of warfare.
Trade routes that supplied Europe with Eastern goods like spices and silks had been
established for over a thousand years, and had continued virtually uninterrupted ever since.
There was contact via trade connections, especially in places like Italy, which were close to
Islamic footholds in the Mediterranean and contained major trading ports. The influence of
Islamic medical practices and knowledge cropped up early in these places. The first major
instance of this was Salerno, which was considered a beacon for Europeans even to the north
of the Alps for its healing practices and medicines. Salerno’s wealthy and cosmopolitan
nature came from a thriving trade with Muslim North Africa and its own small Jewish
community; as well as, frequent contact with the Byzantines and had exposed them to the
Greco-Arabic medical tradition before the rest of Europe. 127
Salerno, in southern Italy, was influenced by many traditions including Islamic
scholarship and medicine in the 11th and 12th centuries. Salerno even enjoyed its own
“Renaissance” in the 12th century. This renaissance included a growth in formal medical
writing in the Lombard and Salerno territories, which was part of a larger movement that
included law, theology, literature, and architecture.128 The increase in medical literature was
spurred by rediscovered ancient Greco-Roman text and Islamic medical text. The early
translations of Arabic works into Latin started as early as the 1070s and 1090’s at the
127
128
Trota, The Trotula, 7.
Trota, The Trotula, 2.
40
monastery of Monte Casino, just northwest of Salerno. 129 Constantine the African (d. before
1098/99), an immigrant from North Africa who had a background in medical knowledge,
became a monk around 1070 and translated medical works into Latin at the Benedictine
abbey Monte Casino. His translations included the Viaticum by Khalid al-Jazzar,
Hippocrates, and the works of Ibn Ishaq.130 Later translations from Spain of major Arabic
works, in the late 12th c., would eventually dominate European medicine in the later middle
ages; however, up until that point the Salerno texts were the foremost respected sources and
continued to be referenced throughout the Middle Ages.
The other point of entrance for Islamic knowledge into Europe throughout late
antiquity and the Middle Ages was the Iberian Peninsula. The Umayyad caliphate conquered
most of the peninsula in the 8th century and various Muslim caliphates continued to hold
pockets of al-Andulus until the completion of the Reconquista in 1492. Under Islamic rule
cities like Cordoba and Toledo were centers of learning and scientific advancement. Cordoba
during the Umayyad period, often referred to as the Golden Age of al-Andulus, was said to
have a single library with as many as 400,000 books. 131 By end of the 10th century even the
northern region of Catalonia was experiencing a flood of intellectual activity, notable in this
was Hasday ibn Shaprut, who was a physician and leading scholar among the Jewish
community there. He was also a key figure in the “School of Translators of Toledo,” and was
employed by the Umayyad Caliphs Abd al-Rahmen III and al-Hakham II.132 While there was
sporadic contact between the Islamic world and European scholars, for example, diplomatic
envoys to France during the Carolingian Renaissance in the 8th and 9th centuries or the
notable figure of Gerard of Aurilliac (945-1003) who travelled to Northern Spain in the tenth
century; it was not until the latter half of the twelfth century that there was a sustained and
strong effort to incorporate Islamic learning, especially the sciences, into European
knowledge and to translate the classical works of the ancient Greeks into Latin.133 When
Toledo was taken by Alfonso VI of Castile in 1085 there was a large population of Mozarabs
or “Arabized” Christians who spoke Arabic. Much like Salerno, in addition to being centers
129
Lindberg, The Beginnings of Western Science , 215.
Trota, The Trotula, 10-11.
131
Lindberg, The Beginnings of Western Science , 201.
132
Gomez-Aranda, “The Contribution of the Jews of Spain to the Transmission of Science in the Middle
Ages,”171
133
Lindberg, The Beginnings of Western Science, 199.
130
41
of learning, Cordoba and Toledo were multi-ethnic and multi-lingual areas with thriving
Jewish and Christian communities, which would prove integral in the translation of Arabic
text into Latin.134 One prominent figure of this later movement being Gerald of
Cremona(1114-1187) who left Italy to work in Toledo and is known for translating over
twenty four medical texts including Galen, Rhazes, and Avicenna’s Canons of Medicine.135
The “School of Translators of Toledo” started under the Umayyad caliphate and continued
under the patronage of Archbishop Raimundo and Alfonso X the King of Castile in the 12th
and 13th centuries. Further fueling the translation movement’s momentum was the rise of
universities by the last half of the 12th century. By the beginning of the 14th century
universities renowned for producing physicians had cropped up in Bologna, Padua, Paris, and
Montpellier; and they had already integrated the translated works into their curriculum.136
While our two major centers were Salerno and Spain in the 12th century, some earlier
translations into Latin existed. Pliny was translated by Isidore of Seville in the 7th century.137
The translations of Galen started in the 11th century, though only a fraction of his works, and
Avicenna’s Canons were translated as early as 1187, although they did not catch on till 13th
century.138 These endeavors, however, were scattered and irregular until the 12th century.
Instead the 12th century was a busy one for the translation of ancient Greek and Arabic works
into Latin. These new books propelled a re-thinking of the existing medical knowledge of
Medieval Europe. This new knowledge was more complex, thorough, and sophisticated. It
would take many years for the knowledge to be fully absorbed and applied.
Socio-Religious Background for Women and Contraceptives
It is important to note that this focus on the Greek and Arabic sources as the expert
opinions for medical knowledge was the beginning of the shift away from clerics and various
‘healers’ practicing medicine to specially trained and educated physicians, even though
religious and magical cures continued to exist.139 Gynecology would have been incorporated
134
Burnett, The Coherence of the Arabic-Latin Translation Program inToledo in the Twelfth Century,
249.
135
Lindberg, The Beginnings of Western Science, 216.
McVaugh, The Nature and Limits of Medical Certitude at Early Fourteenth-Century Montpellier. 62.
137
Trota, The Trotula, 22.
138
Pseudo-Albertus Magnus, Women’s Secrets, 43.
139
Trota, The Trotula, 13.
136
42
into a male physicians practice, though he likely had limited contact with women for
modesty concerns and would simply prescribed herbs and recipes for difficult births. In
practice this left a good deal of room for women ‘healers’ and midwives, who although they
did not have access to the same educational opportunities as male physicians, still operated in
society. The professionalization of medicine was part of a larger movement of the growth of
universities in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Whereas, the previous generations had
learned their skills through apprenticeships and guilds; the new system focused on literacy,
and especially the skills and information acquired from Arabic, ancient Roman, and Greek
works. 140 Medicine was considered an advanced discipline, requiring graduate work beyond
the basic curriculum at the university.141 Some scholars, like Guglielmo of Saliceto in the
thirteenth century, went so far as to argue that orally transmitted knowledge was not only
inferior, but heavily criticized it as secretive. Women’s medicine being passed down orally
amongst women, therefore, was the antithesis of the new learning emphasized in the late
twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. 142 Eventually this contributes to some very unflattering
associations between women practiced in medicine, such as midwives, and more nefarious
activities.
Central to the transmission of ideas and knowledge about contraceptives was the
Church’s position on the topic. Again the concept of ensoulment and the understanding of the
development of the fetus are critical pieces of this opinion. Firstly, it was not believed that
conception took place immediately after coitus. Therefore, women administering
contraceptives following coitus were not understood to be procuring an abortion. Secondly,
ensoulment at this time can be explained by the writings of Albert the Great (1206- 1280).
Albert, a student of Aristotelian logic and philosophy, concluded that the soul does not
develop before the body is whole in the womb.143 In Questions Concerning Aristotle's On
Animals he argues, “It is clear that this is not a power of the fetus’s soul because that which
does not yet exist does not have an operating or operative power… the soul of the fetus does
not yet exist. “144 Before ensoulment the fetus was closer to an animalistic state than human.
The argument behind this logic being that the soul does not transfer from the parents to the
140
Lindberg, The Beginnings of Western Science, 206.
Lindberg, The Beginnings of Western Science , 223.
142
Park, Secrets of Women, 88.
143
Riddle, Eve’s Herbs, 29.
144
Albert, Fathers of the Church , 478.
141
43
fetus, but that the soul is instilled by God. According to Albertus Magnus, “[t]herefore
entirely from outside the matter of the seed (sperma), the rational and intellectual soul is
brought into the fetus (conceptus) by the light of the intellectual agent.”145 Church doctrines
and teachings also made it clear to medieval thinkers that sex was strictly for procreative
purposes even within the marriage sacrament.146 So while the Church was against any
interference regarding conception, and sex for recreational purposes was a sin, contraception
or what we would think of as an early term abortion would not be destroying a soul and
therefore would only be a minor offense. Consequently, the authors of medical text on
gynecology may have wanted to include information on contraceptives, but not give the
appearance of approving of their use. Thus, the terminology for such procedures and herbs
may not implicitly state, but often must be inferred as a contraceptive or abortifacient.
There was a counterpoint to Albert’s position with Regino, the Abbott of a Lorraine
monastery, who bucked the notion of contraception and abortifacients as a minor sin and
equated them with murder instead in the ninth century. However by the 12th century most
Church thinkers, including the Archbishop of Cantebury, had agreed with Albertus.147
Eventually these attitudes would turn and any contraception would not only be strongly
opposed by the Church and its theologians, but vilified as a major offense as well. The basis
for this stricter position was still based on the reading of a passage from the bible, Genesis
38:8-10, where God condemns Onan for spilling his seed on the ground:
Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother's wife, and perform the duty of a
brother-in-law to her; raise up offspring for your brother”. But since Onan knew that
the offspring would not be his; he spilled his semen on the ground whenever he went
in to his brother’s wife, so that he would not give offspring to his brother. What he
did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord. (Genesis 38:10)148
The Church took this passage to indicate that contraception was a sin.
The actual legality of contraceptives and abortifacients in the middle ages is not quite
clear. We do have cases of accusations and trials where a pregnant woman was harmed with
the intent to cause a miscarriage, but most of those cases resulting in either no convictions or
if there was judgment it was because of the harm sustained by the woman and not the
145
Riddle, Eve’s Herbs, 30.
Riddle, Eve’s Herbs, 30.
148
Attridge, The HarperCollins Study Bible, 62.
147
44
fetus.149 According to English legal commentaries from 1290, Britton writes, “[a]s to women,
our will is, that no woman shall bring an appeal of felony for the death of any man, except
for the death of her husband killed within her arms within a year and day. For an infant killed
within her womb, she may not bring any appeal, no one being bound to answer an appeal of
felony, where the plaintiff cannot set forth the name of the person against whom the felony
was committed.”150 There are no cases brought for any contraceptive or oral abortifacients
used. Presumably this is because these items would have been used much earlier within the
pregnancy and the courts were not concerned with their administration, though the legal
outcome would have likely been the same.
Medical Foundations
The medicine of the European medieval world is highly indebted to the Greco-Arabic
tradition. Pseudo-Albertus Magnus’ composed Women’s Secrets in the late 13th or early 14th
century. Pseudo-Albertus Magnus was most likely a disciple of the theologian and scientist
Albertus Magnus. Magnus was known as a great interpreter of Aristotle’s works, and like
Aristotle there is a focus on the theoretical rather than the practical in his disciples writings as
well. Accordingly, there is nothing directly on contraception in original text of Women’s
Secrets, the topics discussed were: female anatomy, conception and the formation of the
fetus. All of these were consistent with the earlier traditions of Greco-Roman and Islamic
sciences understanding of these topics. For example, according to Women’s Secrets menses
was understood as “superfluous food” that women do not absorb and when a woman is
pregnant or nursing “the menses are transferred to the breast, where they are cooked and
receive the form of milk.”151 Humoral pathology was still the basic building block of
medicine.
The intersection of medicine and religious beliefs became especially pronounced in
later editions of Pseudo-Albertus’s work. When discussing why the book was written the
following explanation was given:
From Commentary A, the Preface
It is written so that we might be able to provide remedy for [womens’] infirmities,
and so that in confessing them we might know how to give suitable penance for their
149
Riddle, Eve’s Herbs, 88.
Riddle, Eve’s Herbs, 99-100.
151
Pseudo-Albertus Magnus, Women’s Secrets, 69-71.
150
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sins… the executive part begins, “As Aristotle said,” etc….The moving cause was a
certain priest who asked Albert if he would write for him a book on the secrets of
women. The reason for this is that women are so full of venom in the time of their
menstruation that they poison animals by their glance; they infect children in the
cradle; they spot the cleanest mirror; and whenever men have sexual intercourse with
them they are made leporous and sometimes cancerous. And because an evil cannot
be avoided unless it is known, those who wish to avoid it must abstain from unclean
coitus, and from many other things which are taught in this book.152
This passage from the Secrets of Women comes from the commentary added sometime
between the 13th and 16th century by clerics.153 However, the earlier original text attributed
less than moral attributes to women who sought to end a pregnancy as well:
Chapter V: On the Exit of the Fetus from the Uterus
Some women habitually give birth in the sixth month, and abortively, for they do not
produce something with the nature of a man but rather a fleshy and milky matter. This
can happen for a variety of reasons: either because the matter of the menses is
corrupt, or because too much motion on the part of the woman which breaks the
womb, or on account of other evils that befall her. For this reason harlots and women
learned on the art of midwifery, engage in a good deal of activity when they are
pregnant. They move from place to place, from town to town: they lead dances and
take part in many other evil deeds. Even more frequently they have a great deal of
sex, and they wrestle with men. They do all these things so that they might be freed
from their pregnancy by excessive motion. 154
From this passage we see that midwives were being associated with harlots and seen as
having the subversive role of purposefully ending pregnancies. Furthermore, Women’s
Secrets contains none of the exceptions for the health of the mother unlike in Greco-Roman
and Islamic medicine. In fact, when posed with the hypothetical question of savings a
woman’s life hardliners refused to give any ground as can be seen by the response of Peter
the Cantor in the late 12th century, “to procure poisons of sterility; that is prohibited in every
case.”155 Not everyone agreed with this stance, but the amount of support for this opinion
was a big shift from Greco-Roman and Islamic societies.
The argument made by leading expert on the history of contraception, John Riddle, is
that as Medieval society became more adverse to the open usage of contraceptives and
abortifacients medical authors could not plainly state the usage of certain pharmaceutical
152
Pseudo-Albertus Magnus, Womens’s Secrets, 59-60.
Pseudo Albertus Magnus, Women’s Secrets, 2.
154
Pseudo Albertus Magnus, Women’s Secrets, 101-102.
155
Riddle, Eve’s Herbs, 94.
153
46
herbs.156 Instead these herbs were discussed as a way to provoke menses, or to stop the
retention of menses. Furthermore, there was no reliable pregnancy test during this period, so
the cessation of menstruation could have been a medical condition or it could in fact have
been an early pregnancy. There was no way to know. Indeed at this time women were not
even considered pregnant until they were physically showing, therefore, our modern notion
of early pregnancy and abortion is anachronistic for this period. The Greco-Roman and
Islamic medical text also discussed the retention of menses as a medical condition separate
from contraceptives and preventing pregnancies. However, it was often the case that many
of those herbs served dual purposes of curing the retention of menses and as an abortifacient.
For example, Dioscorides lists several herbs including dittany: “for not only being drank but
also being applied and suffumigated it expels the dead Embrya… it is also a birth
hastener.”157 Also “sage… ye branches hath the power being drank, to move ye urine & ye
menstrua, & to draw out ye Embrya… but ye most wicked woman making a Pessum of it, do
apply it. & cast out ye Embrya.”158 Thus, it is possible to assume that a medieval audience
would have made the same connections between contraceptives and drugs to provoke
menses. Anything provoking menses or similar goals, such as, the expulsion of afterbirth
would fit this bill:
[146] there are some women to whom the afterbirth remains inside after birth, to
whom we give aid for its expulsion thus. We extract the juice of a leek and mix it
with pennyroyal oil or musk oil or juice of borage, and let us give it to drink, and
immediately [the afterbirth] will be brought out perhaps because she will vomit and
from the effort of vomiting it will come out. Nevertheless, the juice itself has such a
power that it is sufficient for expulsion.159
Often the same herbs and ingredients could be used interchangeably for contraceptives,
expelling menses or afterbirth, and expelling a fetus. This passage also exemplifies the
continuity with both the Greco-Roman and Islamic medical traditions. Pennyroyal as a
contraceptive ingredient appeared in all three traditions.
The earliest text for this analysis will be the Physika. It was written by Hildegard von
Bingen (1098-1179) a Benedictine abbess from the Rhineland. Her text contains mostly folk
traditions and remedies. The Rhineland was so far north that it is likely the knowledge and
156
Riddle, Eve’s Herbs, 90.
Dioscorides, The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides, 271.
158
Dioscorides, The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides, 274.
159
Trota, The Trotula, 92.
157
47
influence of Islamic medical text did not reach this area in her lifetime. Her materia medica
listed two abortifacients and two recipes for inducing menses. The Physika demonstrated the
prominence of women in medical circles in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, the status of
early European medical knowledge before the Greco-Arabic tradition was rediscovered, and
serves as a contrast to several later works, like Women’s Secrets, where women’s’ knowledge
of contraceptives and abortifacients are linked to nefarious motives.
Trotta of Salerno was said to have lived in the 11th or 12th century and to have written
one of the preeminent books on women’s medicine in Europe in the Middle Ages. While it is
not certain that this work was composed at Salerno, the style and philosophical
underpinnings seem to suggest it was.160 Additionally, scholars argue that the Trotula has at
least 3 authors, one of which is certainly male; however, women in Salerno were known to be
effective healers and Trotta was a common name. 161 It is worth mentioning the attribution of
this work to a woman healer as at this time demonstrates that there still was a positive
association between women and women’s medical knowledge at least until the 12th century.
The Trotula is made up of three works: Book on the Conditions of Women, Treatments for
Women, and Women’s Cosmetics. The work is influenced from the Arabic sources, local
traditions, and Greco-Roman heritage from antiquity. The Trotula follows the Galenic
theoretical scheme and is one of the first texts to favor him over Soranus, the previous
leading expert in late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages gynecology.162
Another text attributed to the medical mecca of Salerno was the Regimen Sanitatis
Salernitanum. The Regimen is usually placed either in the 12th or 13th century, although
some sources estimate it to have been written as early as the 11th century. Even though the
book bears the name of the famous medieval medical school, it is not certain if it originated
there or who the author was. Tradition has it that the poem was written for Robert Curthose
the Duke of Normandy from 1087 until 1106, to describe and give advice on how to live a
healthy life. Due to its rhyming verse The Regimen enjoyed a great deal of popularity in the
Middle Ages.
Peter of Spain was the author of The Treasure of the Poor, a 13th century medical
work geared towards taking care of the poor, which covered the use of contraception. The
160
Trota, The Trotula, 18.
Trota, The Trotula, 48.
162
Trota, The Trotula, 19.
161
48
Treasure of the Poor was heavily influenced by both Greek and Arabic medical writings, like
Galen and Avicenna. Peter’s exact identity is not known to scholars, though theories abound
from him being Pope John XXI to other known physicians from the Dominican orders.
Contraceptives and Abortifacients
Delivery methods for contraceptives and abortifacients in early medieval Europe
remained consistent with the earlier traditions of Greco-Roman and Islamic medicine. For
example, the Trotula contains several recipes and herbs meant to be taken orally to provoke
menses. In The Book on the Diseases of Women According to Trotula the section titled “On
the Retention of Menses” there are nine prescriptions. Several of these concoctions were
mixed with honey, and or water:
[10]… [L]et her drink some calamint or catmint or mint cooked in honey so that there
are 8 parts of water and a ninth of honey… And after the bath let her drink one
denarius ofdiathessaron or two denarii with honey and water… [11] Diathessaron is
made from four plants, that is, mint or myrtleberry, felwort, birthwort, and laurel
berry; an equal weight of each should be prepared cooked with honey… [12] All
diuretic substances are good for her, such as, fennel, spikenard, wild celery, cumin,
cowbane, parsley, and similar things. All these herbs together or individually are
useful when cooked in wine or drunk with honey.163
The medieval European sources favor oral contraceptives over other methods and contain a
wide variety of ingredients. There also examples of recipes from the Regimen Sanitatis
Salernitanum:
The Ancients called mallow "malva" because it softens the belly (alvum).
The roots of the mallow act as a laxative;
They bring movement to the womb and cause menstrual flow to occur often.
The willow's juice kills worms when poured into their ears;
Its bark cooked in vinegar cures warts;
The juice of the fruits and the flower are harmful to human reproduction.
Mind and brain, makes your marrow warm,
Purges your bowels and restrains your stomach and belly from vomiting or
menstruation;164
While this poem does not directly state any substances purpose as a contraceptive, the
“harmful to human reproduction” label would have indicated that those individuals not
wanting to reproduce could use these ingredients for such a purpose. Peter of Spain also
163
Trota, The Trotula, 67.
SCA, Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum
http://www.sca.org.au/herb/library/RegimenSanitatisSalernitanum.pdf.
164
49
listed several cures to provoke menses, or as he referred to it “to provoke the flowers.” This
allusion was used by Hildegard as well, Peter advised “[w]ine of decoction of Calamint…
pulpoll dronke, both quickly provoke the flowers, but Mugwort is much better for the same
purpose.”165
Medieval authors, like Trota, would often reference the original Greco-Roman
sources, “Galen teaches as follows: mugwort ground with wine and drunk is very good, or it
helps when it is cooked and drunk. In the bath, it helps not a little if catmint is drunk, or
cooked in the bath itself…”166 In this prescription, the Trotula made a direct reference to
Galen and his medical writings. Galen being most prominent in the Islamic medical tradition,
the Trotula list 43 ingredients in her various contraceptive and abortifacient recipes and 17 of
those ingredients are also found in the medical literature of Ibn Sina and Al-Razi.
While the influence of the Greco-Arabic tradition in The Trotula is evident, there are
other treatments from Trotula on provoking menses, from the section “On Treatment for
Women,” which focus more on Italian folk traditions and remedies such as:
[213] for provoking menses, take vervain and rue, and pound them heavily, and cook
them with bacon, and give them to the patient to eat. Afterward, grind root of a
delicate willow and root of a madder, and give the juice to the patient with wine.167
Pharmacological remedies existed in Northern Europe roughly contemporary with the
Trotula. Hildegard’s recipes were likely pulled from local customs rather than from the
influence of Islamic medicine or Greco-Roman knowledge. She mentions German
Chamomile and white dock as cures for the retention of menses.168 What is interesting about
her text though is that she specifically reports on substances that will cause an abortion:
“XLVIII. Hazelwort: … A pregnant woman who eats it would die or abort the infant, with
danger to her body. If a woman who has not yet had a menstrual period eats it, it will afflict
her more.”169 Later she adds, “Goatsbeard (hirtzswam) is cold and harsh… Also, if a
pregnant woman eats it, it causes her to abort, with great danger to her body.”170 These
165
John XXI, Pope, The Treasury of Health.
http://eebo.chadwyck.com.libproxy.sdsu.edu/search/full_rec?SOURCE=pgimages.cfg&ACTION=ByID&ID=V
6899.
166
Trota, The Trotula, 67-68.
167
Trota, The Trotula, 106.
168
Hildegard, Physica, 62, 68.
169
Hildegard, Physica, 31.
170
Hildegard, Physica, 25.
50
statements seem to be cautionary in nature and warn a woman of the risk involved, but
perhaps these were herbs that local women did in fact use to procure abortions. What is
obvious from this source is Hildegard was a woman, educated, and a medical expert. She
compiled a source of knowledge that affected women, and as an Abbottess she was in a
position of power within her own female dominated ecosystem.
Another common method of contraception from Greco-Roman through to early
medieval Europe was the pessary. Peter of Spain listed the following herbal recipe to be used
as a pessary:
Wild Margera, Calamint, Savory, Mint, Mugwort, cinamo, Cardamonni z.i. Galin,
gale, Cappares, the rinds of Cassia fibuls, Cassia liguea, fenel foed, Sage, Bulioth,
afterward make a pessarie or fuppofitozic of black Heleboz Nigella, Romana
Scamone, inzpapco in a linen cloth, put that into the matrire, and without doubt it will
provoke the flowers wonderfully.171
Out of the 15 ingredients listed by Peter of Spain, 3 of the herbs from this excerpt are listed
as contraceptive in nature by both Greco-Roman and Islamic physicians.
Covered in the earlier Greco-Roman and Islamic sections, fumigation was also a
contraceptive measure employed in the early middle ages. As previously argued, certain
practices may seem decidedly unscientific by modern standards; however, this would not
necessarily have been so to someone in the Early Middle Ages. Fumigation could have
seemed to be a perfectly reasonable delivery system for medicinal substances. According to
the Trotula one would use contraceptive herbs, such as, the “root of the red willow… madder
and marsh mallow.”172 Further directions are included:
[L]et the woman set a perforated chair over it and let her sit there covered all over and
let the smoke come out through a reed, so that the smoke is received inside
penetrating through the reed up to the womb.173
Another contraceptive method was placing an herbal remedy on or near the patient, or
possibly tying a small satchel of herbs to them. Whether through diffusion or some type of
sympathetic magic, the idea was that the healing properties from the concoction would be
transferred to the patient. Some examples from The Trotula include:
171
John XXI, Pope, The Treasury of Health.
http://eebo.chadwyck.com.libproxy.sdsu.edu/search/full_rec?SOURCE=pgimages.cfg&ACTION=ByID&ID=V
6899.
172
Trota, The Trotula, 89-90
173
Trota, The Trotula,68.
51
[13] [herbal concoction]… Or let it be tied, fresh and pounded, upon the belly either
below the navel or upon the navel174
[14] Mugwort is also very good when mixed with these herbs: deadly carrot,
sermountain, sage, oregano, cumin, cowbane, savin, balm, pennyroyal, dill, betony,
anise, summer savory, lovage, either all of these or some of them cooked in water.
And let one little sack be filled with finely carded wool in the manner of a cushion
and let it be dipped in this water and placed warm on the belly. Let this be done
frequently.175
[15] likewise, chickweed cooked in an earthenware pot and placed over [the belly]
provokes menses.176
Though fumigations and rubbing herbs on the skin were not effective as contraceptives or
abortifacients, some of the herbs used for these purposes were. It is possible that these
ingredients and means were combined, taken orally or as a pessary, and when taken as a
whole were successful.
Herbal potions were not the only means employed by medieval women to prevent
pregnancies. Magical methods were recorded in medical text in the 12th century as well. In
fact, the only contraception in the Trotula clearly stated for that purpose were magical ones,
specifically sympathetic magic, from the section titled: “On Those Who Do Not Wish To
Conceive.” Contraceptive measures included:
[86] in another fashion, take a male weasel and let its testicles be removed and let it
be released alive. Let the woman carry these testicles with her in her bosom and let
her tie them in goose skin or in another skin, and she will not conceive.177
[87] if she has been badly torn in birth and afterward for fear of death does not wish
to conceive anymore, let her put into the afterbirth as many grains of caper spurge or
barley as the number of years she wishes to remain barren. And if she wishes to
remain barren forever, let her put in a handful.”178
These suggestions are very similar to the accusation made by The Malleus Malificarum of
using “cocks' testicles” to prevent conception. 179 They were also very similar to cures from
the Greco-Roman and Islamic medical texts for the prevention of conception, with the use of
sympathetic magic where mule hair and hooves were used. In addition to the methods of
174
Trota, The Trotula, 68.
Trota, The Trotula, 68.
176
Trota, The Trotula, 68.
177
Trota, The Trotula, 78
178
Trota, The Trotula, 78.
179
Kramer, The Malleus Maleficarum, Part II, Question I. Chapter VI.
175
52
contraception already discussed as being pharmacologically or magically based, there are still
other methods discussed in the sources.
Following the Humoral Philosophy, the retention of menses was seen as an imbalance
of the humors and according to “The Book on the Diseases of Women According to Trotula”
bleeding a woman was one option:
[8] if therefore the menses are deficient and the women’s body is emaciated, bleed
her from the vein under the arch of the inside of her foot…180
[9] Galen tells of a certain woman whose menses were lacking for nine months, and
she was drawn and emaciated in her whole body, and she almost entirely lacked an
appetite. [Galen] drew blood off from her from the aforementioned vein for three
days…181
It follows that bleeding a patient, in addition to being unpleasant, could potentially lead to a
health crisis which might in turn lead to a miscarriage and possibly have been one means
employed by physicians to induce an abortion. Additional methods included vigorous
movement. In fact, extreme movement to invoke a miscarriage was the accusation made in
The Malleus Malificarum towards midwives, harlots, and witches. This notion of excessive
movement causing miscarriages has roots in the Greco-Arabic tradition as well with
Hippocrates, Soranus, and Ibn Sina among those counseling similar actions.
While much of the original knowledge of the Greeks and Romans made it more or
less intact to the early Middle Ages in Europe, the information was no longer discussed as
openly as it was in Greco-Roman times or in the Islamic world. While medieval Europe
arguably had the harshest views on women who use contraception, they also are the only
timeframe explored in this study to have medical texts written by or attributed to women.
Additionally, the credit for where the information comes from is given to the Greek and
Roman sources with some regularity, but far less often to the Arabic sources. 66 herbs were
listed by the texts covered in this chapter. 15 (or 21%) came directly from Greco-Roman
tradition. 4 or 6% came solely from Islamic authors. 14 (or 21%) are present in all three
civilizations: Greco-Roman, the Islamic World, and medieval Europe.
180
181
Trota, The Trotula,67.
Trota, The Trotula, 67.
53
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
Contraceptive knowledge from the Greco-Romans through to the Middle Ages, traversed
thousands of years and multiple continents. By the 1400’s, almost 2000 years after the first
writings of Hippocrates, the medical tradition of the Greco-Romans had maintained a great deal
of continuity over that time with one fifth of the herbal remedies used for contraceptive and
abortifacient purposes tracing back to the original sources.
This continuity does not mean that the knowledge did not evolve over time. It expanded
under the Islamic world. It looked poised to do the same in medieval Europe with the intense
interest in translations and the rise of medical schools, however, in the later centuries studied in
this analysis social acceptance of contraceptive and abortifacient knowledge took a turn. The tug
of war between religious beliefs and societal needs, led to the knowledge being subjugated.
While there had always been a mistrust of women regarding the means to prohibit reproduction
before, it had generally been balanced by forthrightness in the medical literature in discussing
contraceptives and abortifacients. However, medieval Europeans published fewer texts on the
topic and used coded language.
At this point the association of women and midwives with black magic and the devil
began to gain significant popularity in Europe. An early example of this link comes from
Burchard’s Decretum in 1010 where the fetus was obstructed from the uterus by “maleficia and
herbs.”182 A later example was The Malleus Maleficarum written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer, a
German Catholic clergy member. Though this is not a medical work, it does reference the use of
herbs and magical practices as the means by which witches can prevent conception and cause
abortions:
Extrinsically they cause it at times by means of images, or by the eating of herbs;
sometimes by other external means, such as cocks' testicles. But it must not be thought
that it is by the virtue of these things that a man is made impotent, but by the occult
power of devils' illusions witches by this means procure such impotence, namely, that
they cause man to be unable to copulate, or a woman to conceive.183
182
183
Riddle, Eve’s Herbs, 93.
Kramer, Malleus Maleficarum, Part II, Question I. Chapter VI.
54
Additionally, The Malleus Maleficarum directly associated midwives, and by extension women
healers, with witchcraft:
Here is set forth the truth concerning four horrible crimes which devils commit against
infants, both in the mother's womb and afterwards. And since the devils do these things
through the medium of women, and not men, this form of homicide is associated rather
with women than with men, And the following are the methods by which it is done...
when a woman is prevented from conceiving, or is made to miscarry after she has
conceived. A third and fourth method of witchcraft is when they have failed to procure an
abortion, and then either devour the child or offer it to a devil. There is no doubt
concerning the first two methods, since, without the help of devils, a man can by natural
means, such as herbs, savin for example, or other emmenagogues, procure that a woman
cannot generate or conceive, as has been mentioned above. But with the other two
methods it is different; for they are affected by witches…
We must add that in all these matters witch midwives cause yet greater injuries, as
penitent witches have often told to us and to others, saying: No one does more harm to
the Catholic Faith than midwives. For when they do not kill children, then, as if for some
other purpose, they take them out of the room and, raising them up in the air, offer them
to devils.184
This negative association had existed within the other knowledge traditions, but increased
in this time period and the text reflected it. There is a palpable mistrust of women and their
motives. This development coincided with the professionalization of medicine started in earnest
during the 1300’s and the demonization of women practitioners. Knowledges and practices
available to women for over two millennia were driven further and further into secrecy. This is a
trend seen well into 20th century medicine, which was eventually challenged in the 1960’s and
70’s by the Women’s Health Care Movement and the push for women’s reproductive rights
though the matter is hardly settled.
184
Kramer, The Malleus Maleficarum, Part I.Question.
Agaricus
Alexanders
Almonds
Ammi visnaga
Ampeloprason
Ammoniacum
Anagyris
Anthemis
Aquiline
Artemisia
Arum maculatum
Asparagus
Asphodel
Axe-weed
Balm
Balsamum
Cabbage
Calamintha
Cancamun
Caper
Carrot/pastinaca
Cedrides fruit
Cestron
Ceterach
Alheal
Ash tree seeds
Barley
Bitch’s milk
Bitter vetch
Blackberries
Black samian earth
Chickpeas
Clover
Cress seed
Crimson berries
Fennel roots
Grape stones
Green berries
Hemlock
Hypocist
Myrtle berries
Maidenhair
Mallow root
Misy
Peony root
Pomegranate juice
Purslane
Rabbit hair
-ingested
Adiantum
Aeginetan
Pharmacological
Dioscorides
Hippocrates
Method
Table 1 Contraceptives in the Greco-Roman World
White pepper
Wallflower seed
Oxymel
Rue seed
Rocket seed
Panax balm
Myrtle
Cyrenaic balm
Cow parsnip
Soranus
Verdigris
Weeping-Willow
Watermint
Saltwort
Rue
Mugwort
Myrrh
Lupine
Honey
Great Centuary
Fleawort
Ferula scowitziana
Dittany
Centaury
Cardamom
Beans
Adrumali
Galen
PGM
55
Chick pea
Chrysanthemon
Cinnamon
Cinquefoil
Coltsfoot
Conyza
Coris
Costus
Ranunculus
Silphium juice
Squirting cucumber
Sulphurwort
Sumac leaves
Terebinth seed
Violet roots
White violet seeds
Helenium
Hartwort
Greek cyclamen
Great centaury
Germander
Gold flower
Garlic
Galbanum
Fig
Fennel
Eryngium planum
Epimedium
Elacasnus spinosa
Edderwort
Dock
Dittany
Daphne
Cress
Chaste tree
Red dog roses
56
Penny royal
Parsley
Origanum majorana
Opopanax
Onosma
Onion
Ocimum pilosum
Nigella sativa
Nettle
Naphtha
Mint
Myrtus sylvestris
Myrrhis
Medium/ astragalus
Megastachyum
Marrubium
Marjoram
Madder
Lupin
Luncus odoratus
Lily
Ligusticum
Leek
Juniper
Hulwort
Hippomarathem
Heliotropium
57
Vitis higra
Vitex
Trifolium
Tragium
Thyme
Thelypteris/ pteris
Sweet marjoram
Stachys
Sphagnon
Southern wood
Soapwort
dioscoridis
Smyrnium
Sison
Simm nodiflorum
Silphium
Shepherd’s purse
Sesameus
Serpyllum
Selinum
Sagapenum
Salvia
Rumex patientia
Rue
Rennet of hare
Pitch
Peonia
58
Pessary
Anemone
Anchusa
Aspalathus
Apargic
Baccharis
Bryony
Cabbage
Chamaedaphne
Colocynthis
Dyers oak
Dung of vulture
Feverwort
Ground pine
Helleborus niger
Hypericum
Ivy
Lilium
chalcedonicum
Lupin
Madder
Mandrake
Anemone Leaves
Marrow Goose, Bull,
Or Deer
Anise
Mercury Herb
Bayberries
Misy
Bitter Almond Oil
Myrrh
Black Cumin
Narcissus Oil
Black Hellebore
Oxybaphon Oil
Black Peony Seeds
Pennyroyal
Blister Beetles
Pepper
Bottle Gourd
Red Peony Grains
Bull’s Gall
Rue
Wormwood
White poplar bark
White hellebore
Water germander
Water plantain
Wallflower
Old Olive Oil
Oil Of Roses
Oaks Gall
Natron
Myrtle
Myrrh
Honey
Gum
Ginger
Galbanum
Figs
Aegean Sea)
Cimolian Earth (From Island In
Cedar Resin
Cardamom
Brimstone
Bitter Vetch
Bitter Lupines
Balsam
Alum
Absinthium
Water mint
Thyme seeds
Tar
Squirting Cucumber
Scammony
Rose Water
peppermint
Rose
Hellebore
Great Centuary Musk
Fleawort
Flase Myrrh Gagal
Dittany
Cyclamen
Christmas Rose
Camphor
59
Hartwort
Water Chestnut
Galingale
Terebinth Resin
Frankincense
Telephion Fruit
Fig
Swine’s Gall
Ethiopian Cumin
Sumac
Egyptian Acorn
Storax
Cyprean Salt
Stinging Nettle Fruit
Cyclamen
Squill Root
Cleavers
Soapwort Root
Chamomile
White Lead
Sweet Bay
Sepia Eggs
Thymelaea
Castoreum
Rue
Wallflower
Squirting cucumber
Safflower
Pomegranate Peel
Celery Seed
Scamonia
Cabbage
Pine Bark
Tanning Sumach
Origanum marjorana
Rose Unguent
Panax
Saffron
Myrrh
Buprestis Beetle
60
Fenugreek
Iris oil
Topically, worn or
anointed?
Fumigation
Absinthium
(herbs)
Dittany
Cyclamen
Vitex
Dung Of Vulture
Gum Of Doum Palar
White violet seeds
False Myrrh Gagal
smeared on stomach
on or wearing it, and
Cyclamen- stepping
Goat excrement
Wormwood
Syria)
Syrian ungent(balm imported from
Rue
Panax
Marsh mallow
Mallow
Linseed
Poultices:
Lain or tied on
Marjoram
Wormwood
Linseed
Woman’s Milk
Lily Oil
Wild Gourd
61
Other methods
Violent exercise
Asparagus(amulet)
Bleeding a great quantity
and wormwood
Bath of linseed, fenugreek, mallow,
and pungent foods
Anoint body with olive oil, hot baths
objects.
animals, leaping, and carrying heavy
energetically, shaken by draught
Violent exercise, ie walking
and possibly drink a cold beverage
Get up immediately, squat and sneeze,
must hold her breath and draw back.
At the moment of coitus, the woman
Male- Dittany &Tar
archetypal daimon [of
or amulet
and tie with mule hair
carry a stone or write on papyrus
unborn and to die unmarried.” –
“Would that you be fated to be
pregnancy].”
“… Ochithia, protect from the
Incantation, ritual,
62
Cardamom Cinnamon
Cyclamen
Dogs Fennel
Dorema
Laurel Roots
Luffa Seeds Lupine
Mulberry Lupine
Madder
Myrrh
Opopanax Pepper
Peppergrass
Rind Sesame Seeds
Round Aristoloch
Rue
Salikh
Myrrh
Savin
Alkaline Plants
Barberry
Bay Laurel Bark
Birthwort
Bishop’s Weed
Black/Whitebryony
Cabbage
Chamomile
Cane
Cedar Tree
Columbine
Common Centaury
Common Knotgrass
Dittany
Dodder
Dragonwort
Dyer’s Bugloss
Fennel
Fenugreek
Feverfew
Figs
Male Fern
Myrrh
Vinegar
Wallflower
Weeping Willow
Wild Rue
Wild Rue
Cyclamen
Cinnamon
Cardamom
Candy Carrot
Birthwort
Bean Clover
Beans
Asafetida
Arabian Costus
Absinthe
Luffa Seed
Beans
Sarabiyun
Talib
ingested
Agaric
Ibn
Abu al-Hasan al-
Cinnamon Cyclamen
Ibn Jumai
Pharmacological-
Ibn Sina
Al-Razis
Delivery method
Table 2.1 Contraceptives in the Islamic World
Abbas
Ali Ibn
63
Sweet Basil Sweet
Basil Grass
Water Cress
Weeping Willow
Gardencress
Garlic Leaves
Germander
Gum Ammoniac
Olive Gum
Narcissus
Thyme
Mint
Camel’s Milk
Melilot
Mastic
Male Fern
Maidenhair Fern
Lupin
Lovage
Lettuce Seeds
Bitter Lentils
Lemon
Leek
Lapis Lazuli
Juniper
Bedellium
Orris Root
Hypericon
Horehound
Hellebore
Savin
Galbanum
64
Pessary
Absinthe Bindweed
Ambergris
Asafetida
Asparagus
Bitumen
Menstrual Blood
White bryony
Cabbage Flowers
Colocynth
Dill
Lion’s Leaf
Pepper
Pennyroyal
Pepper
Yarrow
Rennet Wild Hare
Wild Carrot
Watercress
Valerian
Tragus
Sweet Flag
Sweet Basil
Storax Oil
Squill
Spanish Fly Beetle
Southernwood
Sagapenum
Syrian Rue
Roman Cyclamen
Rennet
Plum Juice
Pepper
Oregano
Onion Juice
Opopananx
Myrrh
Bull Bile
Hellebore
Black
Rabbit
Rennet Of
65
Cardamom
Castoreum
Rue
Tar
Scammony
Roman Cyclamen
pomegranate
nettle
myrtle
mint
mandrake
madder
lupin
lapis lazuli
juniper
garlic
geniciana
galbanum
fig
dyer’s bugloss
dittany
squirting cucumber
columbine
Colocynth
Cassia bark
Cinnamon
Chick pea
Cedar tree
Cabbage flowers
Peppermint
66
Other method
or amulet
Incantation, ritual
Fumigation
(herbs)
Tied to or lain on
Avoid simulataneous orgasm
Male- white lead, sesame oil or balm oil.
sneezing
Movements include phlebotomy, starvation,
[bodily] exercise, frequent jumping, carrying
of heavy loads, provocation of vomiting, and
dittany, or balm oil
“Spoiling” the
testicles
Cyclamen on
stomach, sitting in
Elephant Dung
Roman cyclamen
Rue
lupin
Poultice: labdanum
Male-wood tar,
Cyclamen
Cardamom
Wild carrot
Sunflower
Soapwort
Soapnuts
Sesame sees
Oyster shell
strikes it 3 times
Rubs belly or
Snuffing caraway
of oil
onion or any type
Male- juice of
Balsam
Wood
Bull Bile
Galbanum
Myrrh
Cyclamen
False Myrrh
Gagal
Galbanum Plant
Avoid simultaneous
pregnant
Safe period not to get
watermint
juice of onion or
Male- tar, balm oil,
Sulphur
Savin
Cabbage
Cow Gallbladder
stomach.
cyclamen on
Smear
salt or tar.
Male-rock
67
juice of cyclamen
orgasms
Other methods
wolf
Amulet
Carrying a child’s tooth
Urinating on the urine of a
Seed of patience
Ibn al-Baitar’s
Incantation, Ritual, or
Fumigation
(herbs)
Tied to or lain on
Pessary
- ingested
Pharmacological
Delivery Method
female mule
Wear ring from a hoof of a white
Abu al-Mutrib Abd al-Rahman
Table 2.2 More Contraceptives in the Islamic World
cyclamen
during intercourse
Left leg of a rabbit suspended over the thigh of a woman or of a man
Ibn Zuhr of Seville
gall -bladder of cow or
simultaneous
Stepping over
Smearing navel with
Avoiding
Jumping backwards,
orgasms
sneezing.
Sit in boiled down solution yarrow
Scent of luffa plant
with barberry root
Jumping backward
sneezing
broth of wall flower
68
Calamint
Castoreum
Common Centaury
Goatsbeard
Hazelwort
White Dock
Savin
Sage
Rue
Root Of The Red Willow
Root Of Delicate Willow
Pennyroyal Oil
Parsley
Mugwort
Myrtleberry
Myrrh
Mint
Madder
Leek
Laurel Berry
Hemlock
Fennel
Felwort
Cumin
Cowbane
Borage
German
Ingested
Birthwort
Chamomil
Trota
Pharma-cological-
VonBingen
Table 3 Contraceptives in Medieval Europe
Juice
Willow's
Roots
Mallow
Regimen
Mugwort
Sage
Root Of A Lily
Pulpoll Dronke
Calamint
Peter of Spain
Magnus
Pseudo Albertus
Savin
Kramer
69
Cassia Liguea
Cappares
Musk Oil
Wild Celery
Balm
Cassia Fibuls
Root Of A
(herbs)
Calamint
Natron
Anise
Bulioth
Hyssop
Wild Margera
Scamone
Savory
Sage
Romana
Nigella
Mugwort
Mint
Inzpapco
Gale
Galin
Fuppofitozic
Fenel
Cinamon
Cardamonni
Black Heleboz
Gall Of A Bull
Tied to or lain on
Pessary
Yellow Flag
Wild Celery
Vervain
Spikenard
Sea Wormwood
70
Other method
A stone, jet, which if held or tasted prohibits conception.
ritual, or amulet
Excessive
movement
Bleed her from the vein under the arch of the inside of her foot
Draw blood off for three days
if permanent
as the number of years she wishes to remain barren, or handful
Put into the afterbirth as many grains of caper spurge or barley
skin or in another skin carried in woman’s bosom
Male weasel’s testicles (weasel must be released alive) in goose
Amulet- womb of a goat which has never had offspring.
Marsh Mallow
Madder
Egg Whites
Barley Flour
Incantation,
Fumigation
Summer Savory
Savin
Sermountain, Sage
Pennyroyal
Oregano
Mugwort
Lovage
Dill
Deadly Carrot
Cumin
Chickweed Cowbane
Betony
testicles
Cock’s
71
72
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