Old Recipes, New Practice? The Latin Adaptations of the Hippocratic Gynaecological Treatises
- *↵Lecturer in Ancient History, School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University, Humanities Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff CF10 3EU, UK. Email: TotelinLM{at}cardiff.ac.uk
Abstract
There were two main gynaecological traditions in the early Middle Ages: the Soranic and Hippocratic traditions. This article
focuses on the latter tradition, which was based on the translations into Latin of the Greek treatises Diseases of Women I and II. These translations, referred to here as Latin Diseases of Women and On the Diverse Afflictions of Women,
contain a wealth of recipes, which are examined in detail. I ask
whether recipes that had been first written down in the
fifth century BC could still form the basis of
gynaecological practice in the Middle Ages, and whether the act of
translation
transformed medical practice.
