Wandering womb
Wandering womb was the belief that a displaced uterus was the cause of many medical pathologies in women.[1] The belief is first attested in the medical texts of ancient Greece,[2] but it persisted in European academic medicine and popular thought for centuries. The wandering womb as a concept was popularized by doctor Edward Jorden,[3] who published The Suffocation of the Mother in 1603. Suffocation of the Mother was the first text on the subjects of the wandering womb and hysteria that was written in English.
Origins
[edit]One of the first clearly documented mentions of the wandering womb was by Plato in his book, Timaeus.[4] He states:
the same is the case with the so-called womb or matrix of women ; the animal within them is desirous of procreating children, and when remaining unfruitful long beyond its proper time, gets discontented and angry, and wandering in every direction through the body, closes up the passages of the breath, and, by obstructing respiration, drives them to extremity, causing all varieties of disease.
Here, Plato personifies the womb as an animal-like entity inside a woman's body; one that desires to bear children. When a woman remains childless for too long, the womb is said to become upset or “angry,” and begins to move or "wander" through the body in search of fulfillment.[4] As it moves, the womb supposedly disrupts the body's internal balance, and it blocks the passages for breath. This disruption was believed to cause breathing difficulties and a wide range of illnesses or symptoms. Essentially, the womb was imagined not just as a reproductive organ, but as an active and restless creature that could harm a woman’s health if it was unsatisfied or left "idle."[4]
The belief in the "wandering womb" was found in ancient Greece. Some scholars have argued that it originated in Egypt, but this has now been disproved.[2] One description of the theory of a "wandering womb" comes from Aretaeus, a physician from Cappadocia, who was a contemporary of Galen in the 2nd century AD. He wrote that the uterus could move out of place, and float within the body. In the translation of Francis Adams (1856)[5] this reads:
In the middle of the flanks of women lies the womb, a female viscus, closely resembling an animal; for it is moved of itself hither and thither in the flanks, also upwards in a direct line to below the cartilage of the thorax, and also obliquely to the right or to the left, either to the liver or the spleen, and it likewise is subject to prolapsus downwards, and in a word, it is altogether erratic. It delights also in fragrant smells, and advances towards them; and it has an aversion to fetid smells, and flees from them; and, on the whole, the womb is like an animal within an animal.
The Greek translated here as "like an animal within an animal" would be better translated as "like a living thing inside another living thing".[6] The belief that the uterus could move freely, which this imagery evokes, was linked to the use of scent therapy to entice it up or down within the body. This may have been part of ancient cultural beliefs in Greece,[7] but the earliest known written accounts of it are in the fifth- and fourth-century BCE texts associated with the name of Hippocrates. One of the first gynecological treaties that includes a reference to the "wandering womb" was written in medical treaties credited to Hippocrates.[8] The movement of the uterus was believed to cause symptoms throughout the body, depending on the destination to which the uterus moved in search of fluid.[9]
Opposing views
[edit]Soranus of Ephesus, another second century CE physician, opposed the theory of the "wandering womb". In a description of what he labelled "hysterical suffocation" – suffocation arising in the uterus – Soranus wrote, "the uterus does not issue forth like a wild animal from the lair, delighted by fragrant odors and fleeing bad odors, rather it is drawn together because of stricture caused by inflammation".[10] Where Aretaeus used the more neutral "living thing", Soranus used the term for "wild beast", therion. Galen also insisted that the uterus was stationary and that symptoms were due to substances being retained inside it.[11] This suggests that Aretaeus was unusual among physicians of his period in believing in a mobile and animate womb. Despite the fact that Soranus was an influential writer on gynecology, and that Galen was the Greco-Roman medical writer with the greatest overall influence on Medieval and Renaissance medicine in Europe, the belief in the "wandering womb" continued for centuries, for example in Edward Jorden's influential 1603 treatise on the supposed bewitching of 14 year-old Mary Glover.[12]
Hysteria
[edit]The idea of a condition called hysteria caused by "wandering womb" developed from the "hysterical suffocation" of ancient Greek writers. Medical researchers developed a better understanding of anatomy after the invention of microscopes in the 17th century and cellular research in the 19th century. Sigmund Freud's theory of the free-floating unconscious, the "mind within the mind", was similar to the ancient belief in the "animal within the animal".[13]
Edward Jorden, author of The Suffocation of the Mother, used hysteria as an explanation for mysterious medical occurrences in young women. He supposed that the hysteria caused by the "wandering" of the womb around the body was the source of witchcraft, and often presided in witchcraft-related trials as an expert on the subject. The Suffocation of the Mother connected the phenomenon of hysteria with actions like singing, laughing, crying, and choking.
Both "wandering womb" and "hysteria" are unused in medical theories of today.
Social aspects
[edit]Women were viewed differently from men in that they were not as respected, and they did not have many rights. One of the reasons why women were seen as the lesser sex was because their attitudes would change frequently, and men attributed their mood swings to "hysteria".[1] This "hysteria" was thought to have made them incompetent and irritational. Aristotle had a flawed view of women and their biology, and because of this, women were excluded from his philosophical framework.[1] He believed that their emotional fluctuations negatively impacts their character, and this was justification for denying women access to education and not welcoming them in many aspects of public affairs.[14]
See also
[edit]- Ancient Greek medicine
- Childbirth and obstetrics in antiquity
- Female genital prolapse
- Gynecology
- Medical research
- Women in medicine
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "web page template". academic.mu.edu. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
- ^ a b Merskey, Harold; Potter, Paul (1989). "The womb lay still in ancient Egypt". British Journal of Psychiatry. 154 (6): 751–753. doi:10.1192/bjp.154.6.751. PMID 2688786. S2CID 38228923.
- ^ Fitzharris, Lindsey (2017-04-28). "The Wandering Womb: Female Hysteria through the Ages". Dr Lindsey Fitzharris. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
- ^ a b c "The Internet Classics Archive | Timaeus by Plato". classics.mit.edu. Retrieved 2025-04-15.
- ^ Aretaeus, of Cappadocia; Adams, Francis (1856-01-01). Aretaiou Kappadokou Ta sozomena = The extant works of Aretaeus, the Cappadocian. London : Printed for the Sydenham Society.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link) - ^ Gilman, Sander L. (1993). Hysteria Beyond Freud. University of California Press. p. 26. ISBN 0520080645.
- ^ Gilman, Sander (1993). Hysteria Beyond Freud. University of California Press. pp. 17–25. ISBN 0520080645.
- ^ Faraone, Christopher A. (2011). "Magical and Medical Approaches to the Wandering Womb in the Ancient Greek World". Classical Antiquity. 30 (1): 1–32. doi:10.1525/ca.2011.30.1.1. ISSN 0278-6656.
- ^ Gilman, Sander (1993). Hysteria Beyond Freud. University of California Press. pp. 18–20. ISBN 0520080645.
- ^ Dean-Jones, Lesley (1994). Women in the Classical World: Image and Text. New York and London: Oxford University Press. p. 199.
- ^ Gilman, Sander (1993). Hysteria Beyond Freud. University of California Press. p. 41. ISBN 0520080645.
- ^ Gilman, Sander (1993). Hysteria Beyond Freud. University of California Press. pp. 116–118. ISBN 0520080645.
- ^ Gilman, Sander L. (1993). Hysteria Beyond Freud. University of California Press. p. 118. ISBN 9780520080645.
- ^ "The wandering womb | Library | Royal College of Nursing". The Royal College of Nursing. Retrieved 2025-04-17.