2 Unfortunately, Boëls-Janssen’s thesis is also one of the very few works that have discussed both the dangerous and beneficial properties of this blood. As such, this paper analyses how menstrual blood was understood by the Romans, potentially as early as the 3 rd century BC. Even though these works contain numerous allusions to Greco-Egyptian practices, it does not mean similar ones were unknown or employed elsewhere in the Roman world at the same time (Aubert 1989, p. 422). However, each and every Latin author examined in this article has acknowledged their debts to foreign influences, especially Hellenistic philosophy and medicine which started to flourish as early as the 5 th century BC. 1 There is no mention of this blood in any of our pre-Imperial sources, perhaps due to the limited range of evidence rather than a lack of interest from the Romans. 3 Those bodily fluids capable to influence nature are briefly listed in Gourevitch (1984, p. 102) an (.)ġSince 1993 and the ground-breaking thesis of French historian Nicole Boëls-Janssen, it is rare to find publications that discuss the powers of female bodies, and in particular of menstrual blood in ancient Rome.2 When Nutton (2009, p. 161) dates the first signs of transfer of Greek medicine to Rome.1 I am very grateful to Dunstan Lowe, Patty Baker and Ada Nifosi, as well as a referee for their hel (.).
0 kommentar(er)
