The Obstetric Connection: Midwives and Weasels within and beyond Minoan Crete

The Minoan peak sanctuaries call for systematic comparative research as an island-bound phenomenon whose significance to the (pre)history of medicine far transcends the Cretan context: they yield clay anatomical offerings attesting to the earliest known healing cult in the Aegean. The peak sanctuary of Petsophas produced figurines of weasels, which are usually interpreted as pests, ignoring their association with votives that express concerns about childbirth, traditionally the first single cause of death for women. The paper draws from primary sources to examine the weasel’s puzzling bond with birth and midwives, concluding that it stems from the animal’s pharmacological role in ancient obstetrics. This novel interpretation then steers the analysis of archaeological evidence for rituals involving mustelids beyond and within Bronze Age Crete, revealing the existence of a midwifery koine across the Near East and the Mediterranean, a net of interconnections relevant to female therapeutics which brings to light a package of animals and plants bespeaking of a Minoan healing tradition likely linked to the cult of the midwife goddess Eileithyia. Challenging mainstream accounts of the beginnings of Western medicine as a male accomplishment, this overlooked midwifery tradition characterises Minoan Crete as a unique crucible of healing knowledge, ideas, and practices.

Northeast Insulae Project: Context and Analysis

This book places the excavation of the northeast insulae at Hippos of the Decapolis, into its historical context, summarizes the archaeological findings, and posits that the site was an urban monastery centered around a healing cult that grew from the veneration of a revered woman and became a monastic infirmary also employing herbals to relieve the suffering in the larger community

Female Saints as Agents of Female Healing

This essay studies the mechanics informing the construction of a single healing cult, that of the virgin saint Empress Cunigunde (c.980-1033) and its gender aspects. The shrine of St. Cunigunde in Bamberg was well known as a healing space after her canonization in 1200, although the first miracle collection does not reveal any medical specialization of the cult. Using previously neglected late medieval narrative and archival material, the essay shows that Cunigunde was a popular female patron whose assistance was sought by women, especially during childbirth. This case of female medical patronage is analysed alongside similar practices in the cults of other saints and is regarded as one of the resources for female convalescence in the medical market of that time.

The Archeology of Divine Guidance in Corinth

This chapter looks at some of the archeological discoveries in Corinth that reflect popular attitudes toward the gods, religious experience, and divine guidance. The most prominent was the healing cult centered in the Temple of Asklepios, where interpretation of dreams was a key feature. Other sites and household shrines would have brought to mind Fortuna, family ancestors, the oracle of Delphi, and mythical stories of divine intervention with a Corinthian slant (Venus, Medea, Glauce, Bellerophon, Sisyphus, Dionysus). But for an alternative point of view, there was the tomb of Diogenes the Cynic (fourth century BCE), who settled in Corinth “to be where fools were thickest.” He was highly critical of superstitious piety and advised instead to follow the inscription at Delphi, “Know Thyself.” He concluded that oracles are deceptive not because the gods are deceitful but because human beings are incapable of properly understanding the gods.

The papacy, Inquisition and Saint Guinefort the Holy Greyhound

Just before 1261 the Dominican inquisitor Stephen of Bourbon (d.1261) visited an area of south-eastern France known as the Dombes, in the diocese of Lyons and there found that women were venerating a certain St Guinefort as a healer of children. He was extremely pleased to hear this, until he discovered that St Guinefort was not a holy man, but a greyhound. Furthermore, he discovered that the women of the Dombes were involved in a rite which allowed for the death of sickly babies. The medieval Church was unwavering in its condemnation of infanticide. Yet Stephen of Bourbon chose to shut down the rite, rather than impose more severe penalties, suggesting that he did not suspect ritual murder. The Church’s censure was not just a ban on a non-orthodox cult, or a theological statement that animals could not be saints, or a crackdown on magical and heretical practices – although it was all these things. It was also the condemnation of a healing cult that had got badly out of hand. The legend of St Guinefort the Holy Greyhound reveals the medieval Church engaged in a familiar struggle: to balance popular piety with orthodox teaching.

Asklepios: Sy rol in die evolusie van die Geneeskunde

Asclepius is first mentioned by Homer as leader and physician in the Trojan War. Later, during the 5th century, he became known as the god of healing, and in this century the Asclepian cult of healing became established in Epidaurus. This healing cult, which was accommodated by empiric (Hippocratic) physicians of the time, endured for close on ten centuries in Asclepieia, of which there were more than 400 in the Mediterranean area and surrounding countries. The Asclepieia were of different design, but usually included a temple dedicated to the god, as well as inscriptions [iamata] with information on the patients who were healed, a sacred bath, a well and a room [abaton] for so-called incubation sleep where the patient would spend the night. Asclepius traditionally appeared to the patients in a vision in the course of the night and an immediate miraculous healing could take place, or advice was given regarding the future treatment of the patient, which was in the morning thereafter discussed by the temple personnel. It is said that the Asclepian cult, a religious healing programme, complemented secular treatment since the tempel personnel were in contact with contemporary Hippocratic medicine. The emotional impact of the incubation sleep and dreams could have had a healing impact on ailments with a psycological basis. The final disappearance of the Asclepian cult was the result of the rise of Christianity, rather than the decline of its healing effectiveness.