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The absence of female nurses and physicians in Hippocratic text, as Helen King states, was not because of the purposeful ignorance of such figures, but rather the cultural divide between the sexes[1]. It was forbidden for a Greek female physician to tend to a male due to the danger of the influence women could have over men in their weakened state[2]. There is also a considerable lack of female patients in Hippocratic text, ‘There are twice as many male case histories as female’ (Dean-Jones, 248), perhaps because male physicians were only interested in documenting issues of gynaecology, but as Dean-Jones outlines, ‘a more probable explanation is that many women preferred to turn to traditional female healers’[3]. Although this is probable, an evidenced answer for the female inclination to be treated by females is based on the grounds of preserving their modesty. In this essay I will explore the role of the female physician and midwife in classical medicine, and their significance within society by using and analysing classical sources of Hyginus, inscriptions, Plato and Soranus, to not only prove the existence of female physicians and midwives in antiquity, but the importance of the role they served.

Hyginus, in his Fabulae (274, 10-13), tells the poignant story of Agnodice, or ‘Hagnodike’[4], the first Athenian physician. In the tale, no Athenian women were permitted to practice medicine. As a result, many women, who attempting to protect their modesty, rejected treatment from male doctors and died after lack of treatment. Agnodice decided to train in medicine, she ‘cut off her hair, put on men’s clothing, and became the student of… Herophilus’ in Alexandria’. Under the guise of a man, she was trained, and returned to Athens where she treated women, whose trust she gained through lifting her tunic to prove she was female (anasyrmos)[5], and gain their trust. Her practice became so successful that male doctors accused her of seducing the women she treated, ‘and that the women were only pretending to be sick’. Whilst on trial, to prove her innocence, Agnodice lifted her tunic again to show them she was a woman, making it impossible for her to seduce her patients. This increased the charges against Agnodice, for falsely impersonating a man, but also being a woman and practicing medicine. However, ‘the women leaders converged on the court and said, “You are not our husbands, but our enemies, for you have condemned the woman who discovered a means for our well-being.”’ Thus, not wanting to break their societal role to provide and protect the women and reproducers of their society[6], the male Athenians formed a new law ‘to allow free-born women to learn medicine.’ Here, the male Athenians faced a conundrum in their priorities, their fear of female superiority in medicine, and the fear of female control over men, or their societal role to protect their reproducers. So, they concluded to allow women to train in medicine, on the grounds that women physicians may only practice on other women.

Hyginus’ story is important for my argument for two reasons. Not only does it prove the existence of the female physician and midwife from at least the 4^th century[7], but it also indicates the importance of female modesty in Athenian society. There is no evidence supporting Agnodice’s existence, and there are questions of Hyginus’ authenticity here, as Helen King notes ‘[Herophilus’] reality does not prove hers’ (King, 54). Agnodice’s existence, I believe, is irrelevant. Hyginus argues for the treatment of women by women, ‘not because they have different or superior knowledge… but because of a woman’s natural modesty.’ (Dean-Jones, 32-33).

Though Agnodice’s existence is questioned, there is stark evidence of actual female physicians and midwives existing; Hippocrates mentions female helpers at birth[8], and Socrates claims his mother, Phainarete, was a midwife[9]. There is also a large amount of evidence of female midwives and physicians in inscriptions, listed by both Christian Laes and Holt N. Parker, the most well-known being the inscription of the grave stele of Phanostrate. It reads: ‘Midwife and doctor Phanostrate lies here, she caused pain to no-one and, having died, is missed by all.’[10] Here, evidence can be seen of not just a female doctor, but a completely competent female doctor that was loved and respected by many. This is also shown on the base of a statue in a sanctuary of Asclepius[11], Middleton states ‘a man called Delophanes set up the statue of Phanostrate when his wife Lysimahe was helped.’ (Middleton,157-8).

The existence of Phanostrate is significant. She was loved by those she treated, evidenced in the intimate grave stele in which she shakes hands with Antiphile, an action that ‘is a common motif signalling emotion.’ (Middleon, 157). It is clear Phanostrate was an important and respected member of society, excelling at her role as a healer so much so that she is commemorated in a sanctuary of Asclepius. Phanostrate, therefore, slips into the Platonic female physician, outlined by Sara B. Pompey.

Plato believed ‘that a man and a woman whose souls have an aptitude for medicine have the same nature’[12], he dismisses sex as a reason for inferiority, claiming the soul of a physician, whether male or female are the same, therefore just as competent as one another. This is clear within the inscriptions for Phanostrate, an example that Pompey focusses on, ‘whether there was any difference between the soul’s female and male physicians was not a hypothetical question.’ (Pompey, 500), she further claims that Plato was not attesting for the existence of female physicians, rather focussing on the actual existence of such figures in Athens. Plato used the existence of female physicians to argue for the education of women to become guardians of the Republic.

This is strong evidence for the existence of female physicians as their prevalence in Athenian society was so normalised that Plato casually uses their existence to argue for equality between the genders, and the furthering of education for women.

Similarly feminist Soranus also attested to the education of women. Born at Ephesus and trained at Alexandria, practising in Rome during the 1^st and 2^nd century AD[13]. His surviving work Gynaecology details extensive, sympathetic[14] treatment for women, however here, the focus shall be on his ideal expectations for midwives. He discusses this in the chapters named What Persons Are Fit to Become Midwives and Who Are the Best Midwives, in which he identifies the midwife as female using pronouns ‘she’ and ‘her’. This is objective evidence for the existence of female midwives, and within these chapters there is no mention of a male. For some time (arguably, before the story of Agnodice), midwives would consist of elderly women, well versed in the act of childbirth to guide a mother through labour, or a female family member. The story of Agnodice (along with the Hippocratic practitioners and the Hippocratic teachings of midwifery[15]) highlighted the essential nature of the female profession of midwifery; the protection of modesty, and the need for the physician to understand the process of childbirth from the perspective of a woman. Some believed the midwife should have firsthand experience with childbirth as a mother, Soranus disagrees: ‘it is not absolutely essential for her to have borne children…’ (Soranus, 1.6), understanding that sympathy is more important than understanding the pain of childbirth, ‘for <to have sympathy> is <not> more characteristic of a person who has given birth to a child.’

Despite this essential femininity during childbirth Soranus mentions, the other qualities listed are notably traditionally masculine, and align with attributes listed in Hippocrates’ Testamentum for a (male) physician. Ecca notices this too, ‘the woman who wants to become midwife needs to have the endurance of a typical man…’ (Ecca, 131), Soranus stresses the importance of being well versed in both theory and practice of medicine[16], attesting for the equal education of women and men in the medical field. Again, this is a reference to the story of Hyginus’ Agnodice. Her education under the guise of a male led to her success as a physician – Soranus here is using the education of Agnodice to justify the essential schooling of future midwives. Soranus was a physician that aimed to protect everyone. Despite the Hippocratic Oath that declares to never perform an abortion[17], Soranus wrote on how to make abortive drugs, understanding that the female body, and subsequently medicine to treat women, is more complicated than traditional morals, sometimes abortions were necessary to save the female patient. In this way, Soranus remains a figure of great respect for women, as his writings teach equality.

There is much to be said about the female figure in classical medicine. My argument in this essay is to prove the extent of the female physician and midwife in Rome and Greece. Some may argue the lack of writing of female physicians indicate the sparseness of them, however I believe that women in medicine were so normalised it wasn’t necessary to write of them so often. I have detailed the importance of women treating women to preserve modesty, and the tale of Agnodice explains why, and how important female physicians were for the protection of women, the reproducers of society men were expected to guard.  Holt N. Parker agrees with this thought, explaining how ‘the existence of women doctors is taken for granted’[18], they are spoken of so casually their existence, prevalence and importance cannot be disputed.