This book assesses a narrow but vital – and so far understudied – part of Roman women's lives: puberty, preparation for pregnancy, pregnancy and childbirth. Bringing together for the first time the material and textual sources for this key life stage, it describes the scientific, educational, medical and emotional aspects of the journey towards motherhood.
The first half of the book considers the situation a Roman girl would find herself in when it came to preparing for children. Sources document the elementary sexual education offered at the time, and society's knowledge of reproductive health. We see how Roman women had recourse to medical advice, but also turned to religion and magic in their preparations for childbirth.
The second half of the book follows the different stages of pregnancy and labour. As well as the often-documented examples of joyous expectation and realisation of progeny, there are also family tragedies - young girls dying prematurely, stillbirth, death in childbirth, and death during confinement.
Finally, the book considers the social change that childbirth wrought on the mother, not just the new baby – in many ways it was also a mother who was in the process of being conceived and brought into the world.
Author(s): Anna Tatarkiewicz
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 251
City: London
Cover
Halftitle page
Series page
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
Illustrations
Abbreviations and Editions
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Cursus laborum feminae Romanae
Women
Mothers
In statu nascendi
The transition from puberty to motherhood: Women’s reproductive health
The premise
Sources
Limitations and expectations: A summary
1 Marriage: The Institution that Makes One a Mother
Liberorum procreandorum causa
Does everyone want to have children?
2 Women Preparing to Be Mothers
Menstruation
Roman girls’ sex education
Those who died young: ‘wed to death’
Fertility issues
Fertility and the gods
3 Specialized Care for the Would-be Mother
Medicae
Obstetrices
Obstetrix et medica – or, obstetrix id est medica ?
Why not a man-physician?
4 Pregnancy and Its Course
Symptoms of pregnancy
Boy or girl?
The course of a normal pregnancy: Advice given to the pregnant
Unusual pregnancies
Miscarriage
Male violence and the death of pregnant women
‘The lucky have children in three months'
Pregnancy in the light of visual sources
5 Parturition
Symptoms of the onset of labour
Normal labour
Closely monitored labour
Inducing labour and pain relief
Abnormal labour
Death in childbirth and the postpartum period
Divine protection during childbirth
6 Dies lustricus: The Birth of . . . a Mother?
Caring for a woman in puerperium
Caring for a newborn: Fashioning a human being
The social birth of the child – and the mother
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
