Women and Ancient Greek Medical Texts

Study Questions

Medical Science

Readings from Women's Life in Greece and Rome, ch. 9 and Lesley Dean-Jones, "The Cultural Construct of the Female Body in Classical Greek Science"

1. What is meant by the phrase "the cultural construct of the female body"?

2. What do ancient Greek myth and scientific theory have in common?

3. How do cultural assumptions about gender roles influence science?

4. What qualities did Greek medical texts attribute to male and female bodies?

5. How do the Hippocratic texts and Aristotle explain menstruation?

6. What was considered to be the role of the womb in women's health?

7. How do the Hippocratic texts and Aristotle explain differences in growth patterns of body hair?

8. According to Aristotle, what is woman's contribution to conception?

9. What were the most common cures prescribed for women's ailments?

10. What forms of contraception were recommended?

Philosophical Thought (WLGR 72-74, 225)

1. According to Aristotle, how and why are the virtues of men and women different?

2. What criticisms of Sparta does Aristotle make?

3. What sort of education does Plato advise for women and why?

4. In Plato's Laws, what is the only approved function of sex?