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Decision against Abortion in an Ancient Greek Novel (Chariton, Callirhoe 2.8–11)

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Wojciechowski M.

Collectanea Theologica

2023

vol. 93

issue 3

33-50

Artykuł najpierw szkicuje postawy wobec aborcji w greckim świecie pogańskim. Na tym tle przedstawiony zostaje wyjątkowy fragment z Kallirhoe, powieści greckiej z I wieku po Chr. Jest to najdłuższy tekst antyczny na ten temat i jedyny, który przedstawia opinie kobiet (a może jest też kobiecego autorstwa). Są to mianowicie Kallirhoe, sprzedana do niewoli, i Plangona, inna niewolnica. Artykuł zawiera przekład Kallirhoe 2,8–11 i omawia jego przesłanie. Powieść przytacza pewne usprawiedliwienia aborcji (nieszczęśliwy los przyszłego niewolnika oraz jego matki; uniknięcie niechcianego małżeństwa), ale mówi o dziecku, a nie o płodzie. Ostatecznie bohaterka opisuje aborcję jako nieprawe i bezbożne dzieciobójstwo oraz stwierdza, że zarówno dziecko, jak jego ojciec zagłosowaliby za życiem. Życie dziecka jest ważniejsze od osobistej cnoty sophrosyne.

The article firstly outlines attitudes toward abortion in the Greek pagan world. Against this background, a unique passage from Callirhoe, a Greek novel from the first century AD, is presented. It is the longest ancient text on the subject and the only one that presents the opinions of women (and perhaps is also authored by a woman). These women are Callirhoe, who was sold into slavery, and Plangon, another slave. The article includes a translation of Callirhoe 2.8–11 and discusses its message. The novel cites some justifications for abortion (the unfortunate fate of the prospective slave and his mother; avoiding an unwanted marriage), but speaks of a child, not a fetus. In the end, the protagonist describes abortion as unlawful and ungodly infanticide and states that both the child and its father would have voted for life. The life of the child is more important than the personal virtue of sophrosyne.

Wine and Myrrh as Medicaments or a Commentary on Some Aspects of Ancient and Byzantine Mediterranean Society

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Rzeźnicka Z., Kokoszko M.

Studia Ceranea

2019

vol. 9

615-655

The present study has resulted from a close reading of prescriptions for therapeutic wines inserted in book V of De materia medica by Pedanius Dioscorides, the eminent expert in materia medica of the 1st century A.D. The authors emphasise the role of wine varieties and selected flavourings (and especially of myrrh) in order to determine the social status of those to whom the formulas were addressed. This perspective gives the researchers ample opportunity for elaborating not only on the significance of wine in medical procedures but also for underscoring the importance of a number of aromatics in pharmacopoeia of antiquity and Byzantium. The analysis of seven selected formulas turns out to provide a fairly in-depth insight into Mediterranean society over a prolonged period of time, and leads the authors to draw the following conclusions. First, they suggest that medical doctors were social-inequality-conscious and that Dioscorides and his followers felt the obligation to treat both the poor and the rich. Second, they prove physicians’ expertise in materia medica, exemplifying how they were capable of adjusting market value of components used in their prescriptions to financial capacities of the patients. Third, the researchers circumstantiate the place of medical knowledge in ancient, and later on in Byzantine society. Last but not least, they demonstrate that medical treatises are an important source of knowledge, and therefore should be more often made use of by historians dealing with economic and social history of antiquity and Byzantium.

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1 Collectanea Theologica

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1 Rzeźnicka Z.

1 Wojciechowski M.

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1 2019

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Decision against Abortion in an Ancient Greek Novel (Chariton, Callirhoe 2.8–11)

Wine and Myrrh as Medicaments or a Commentary on Some Aspects of Ancient and Byzantine Mediterranean Society