Reclaiming Our History: Agnodice and the Oldest Profession

This is the legendary Agnodice, an Athenian midwife so successful that doctors tried to throw her in prison.

Roman author Gaius Julius Hyginus told Agnodice’s story in Fabulae, where we learn that Agnodice studies medicine under the famous physician Herophilus. Today, we use Agnodice’s story in discussions of women in medicine, in part because Agnodice is the reason the laws in Athens were changed to allow women to practice medicine.

Ancient Athens suffered from its share of cultural failings; one of which was the law that women were not permitted to practice medicine. Of course, we know that gendered laws have never stopped a determined woman. Enter Agnodice, the midwife obstetrix so successful that other Anthenian doctors tried her in court.

Anthenian Law and Droves of Deaths

Agnodice, an Athenian native woman, believed it was her life calling to practice midwifery and other medicines. However, as Athenian law prevented women from practicing formally, Agnodice did what all women in these stories do: she cut her hair short, dressed as a man, and found tutelage under a master – in her case, Herophilus in Alexandria, a Greek physician considered one of the earliest anatomists of the human body.

Trained as a physician, Agnodice focused her efforts on women in labor, who were frequently too embarrassed or afraid to consult for medical help at all. Her style of treatment put her fellow women at ease, even when her patients were unaware she was a woman. However, in some cases, it is recorded that Agnodice would reveal her sex in secret to her patients, in hope that they would allow her to treat them. As far as it’s told, this practice worked; and Agnodice saved many lives, as the death rate for birthing women in Greece was extremely high.

We briefly discussed this during The Old Gods: Hekate this past November. Some will remember discussions around Hekate’s influence as the tendon or connection between life and death, and therefore birth: We must remember that childbirth in historical humanity, while a moment of joyful life-bringing, also frequently resulted in one or more deaths. Women in Antiquity writes that “This was due partially to a lack of understanding about the female body, leading to societal assumptions about pregnancy and childbirth, as well as the use of potentially dangerous herbs.” Death in childbirth of either the mother, the child, or both, was so common that goddesses associated with childbirth were often also associated with death and the underworld, and goddesses of childbirth and labor, such as Ilithyia, daughter of Zeus and Hera, were expected equally likely to kill the child as they were to allow the child to be birthed into the world.

Women Loved Agnodice, So Men Feared Her

However, Agnodice’s success and popularity were envied greatly by other Athenian doctors and the husbands of her patients. The envious took Agnodice to trail before the Areopagus, where they accused her of seducing patients. Presumably, this is the only idea they could muster.

It was at this trial that Agnodice revealed that the most successful obstetrix in Athens was a woman. To prove that she had not been seducing female patients, Agnodice lifted her skirt to bare herself in a movement called anasyrma and cried, “But I am not a man! Now do you think I am seducing your wives?”

Given that birth is specifically unsexy, probably not.

Of course, this caused an outroar in Athens. Agnodice was immediately charged with breaking Athenian law for practicing medicine as a woman, regardless of the lives she had saved. However, as the story often does when women come together, this story has a happy ending.

The wives of powerful men in Athens rose up in equal outcry, holding their healthy children to their breasts and at their skirts, and demanded that Agnodice be released. They argued that it was thanks to Agnodice, regardless of her sex, that Athens still had its wives and its children. These wives of Athens stood by Agnodice in furious charge, and in doing so, shifted Agnodice’s fate. She was released.

Agnodice’s success, and the support of the patients who rose to protect her, changed Athenian culture so greatly that the laws forbidding women to practice medicine in Athens were formally lifted after this trial. Agnodice couldn’t fight Athenian law herself; the wives of the men in Athens couldn’t change their husbands without a figurehead. Together, the women of Athens tore this prejudice apart.

Midwifery is the Oldest Profession

Why on earth would the oldest profession be prostitution? Don’t people need to exist before they can be abused?

Now, were there midwives in Athens before Agnodice? Yes, of course there were; but they were not authorized by Athenian law to call themselves doctors, no matter how essential their work. It is generally believed by historians such as Kate Mead, 1938, that this is because men feared they would perform necessary abortions.

“In Ancient Athens, and in America today, it is permittable to allow women and children to die. ”

Agnodice knew the risks. She knew she could be tried or simply killed for practicing medicine, but she felt a calling, and she followed despite the dangers. Today, across the world, we must bear in mind the dangers our doctors face when they follow their callings to save our lives. And likewise, we must remember Agnodice, and when called to protect the figureheads who stand for our rights, we must offer our support and protection.

But Still, She Persisted.

Get Involved

Agnodice’s work as a midwife changed Athenian culture, and from her determination and the power of the women who supported her, her story lays the groundwork for our bravery today. Support other Agnodices, and yourself, by getting involved in the following organizations:

The Lilith Fund provides financial and emotional support to Texan and southern women who are forced to travel across state lines for care. Volunteers can battle misinformation, provide travel and transit, donate to help women and girls who can’t rely on their families for financial support, and more, here.

MSI Afghanistan is an American-based organization which provides services to women in Afghanistan, who cannot access services provided by male providers, and are not allowed to leave home without a male escort. MSI Afghanistan has built a team of female providers who deliver services to women in their own homes, and prevented over 100,000 unsafe abortion attempts in 2023. This service is more serious now than ever. Donate here.

Thanks for Reading

Remember:

An ideology only panics when it knows it’s dying.

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