History: In search of the wandering womb
Where the wild wombs are: the ancient Greeks called it 'an animal within an animal'
16th January 2019
Do you ever get the sensation that your womb is wandering about your body? No?
Well, ancient Greek women did, or at least, that was what they were told.
For Hippocrates and his followers, the wayward womb was to blame for a wide variety of female ailments.
The reproductive organ was viewed as a wild animal, which if bored, could spontaneously uproot and travel around the abdominal cavity, causing all sorts of trouble.
Ancient physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia described how the womb "moved of itself hither and thither in the flanks”, like