Wandering womb or wandering uterus is a term used to describe a source of female illness, thought to be caused by a displaced womb moving around the body. The wandering womb causes the condition called female hysteria, with a wide range of dysfunctions.
READ: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure
See also:
Female physical and mental illness associated with the womb is first described in ancient Egyptian medical texts c. 1900 BCE. This condition of the female body is discussed in the Kahun Papyri, a collection of texts regarding medicine, administration and mathematics.
READ: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure
Egyptian doctors relate certain mental and physical conditions to the uterus. There's no indication Egyptians believe the womb able to travel around the body and cause disease. Nor do they use the term 'hysteria'. It's coined by Hippocrates in the 5th century BCE.
See also:
They do believe illness is caused by evil spirits or angry Gods, many of whom could attack a person through body openings such as ears, nose, mouth, anus and vagina. Disease spirits can also travel through long hair, one reason Egyptians shave their heads and bodies.
Ancient Greek physicians and philosophers embrace the concept. In ancient Greece, wandering womb is also first described in the 5th century BCE, appearing in "Diseases of Women", the gynecological treatise of the Hippocratic Corpus.
See also:
Plato's dialogue Timaeus compares a woman's uterus to a living creature wandering through her body "blocking passages, obstructing breathing and causing disease". Plato asserts the uterus is "sad and unfortunate" when it doesn't join with a male or bear a child.
Aretaeus of Cappadocia describes the uterus as "an animal within an animal" or "a living thing inside a living thing". The womb causes symptoms by wandering around the woman's body, disrupting natural flow of fluids and putting pressure on other organs.
See also:
The treatment for such "hysterical suffocation" is aromatherapy. Pleasant scents are placed beneath a woman's genitals. and repulsive odors at her nose. Sneezing might be induced to drive the uterus back to its correct place.
READ: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure
The concept of the "wandering womb" is considered the source of the term hysteria, attributed to Hippocrates. The word hysteria comes from the Greek cognate of uterus or womb, ὑστέρα (hystera).
See also:
In the Hippocratic writings, a considerable range of women are susceptible to illness caused by wandering womb, especially the childless. In the second century the physician Galen discards the childless category.
He describes the most vulnerable group as "widows, and particularly those who previously menstruated regularly, had been pregnant and were eager to have intercourse, but were now deprived of all this" (On the Affected Parts, 6.5).
See also:
He also condemns the concept of the womb wandering around the body. His treatments include scent therapy and sexual intercourse. Additionally ointments are applied to the external genitalia; this is to be done by midwives, not physicians.
Most Hippocratic adherents perceive retention of menstrual blood in the womb as a crucial problem. Galen believes the retention of "female seed" to be even more important.
See also:
Female seed is considered thinner than male seed. If retained in the womb, according to physicians, it can cause serious health problems.
Medical practitioners believe the 'female semen' turns venomous if not released through regular climax or intercourse. Hysteria comes to be called the widow's disease.
See also:
Symptoms of hysteria, whether attributed to a wandering womb or venomous female semen, are many and varied. They include:
blindness
fainting
lack of emotional control
hearing loss
hallucinations
seizures
overly dramatic or excitable behavior
increased suggestibility
falling into a trance
amnesia
loss of sensation
A married patient can simply have sex with the spouse. Beyond sexual intercourse, belief prevails the body can be fumigated with scents, bringing the womb back to its proper position.
See also:
Lacking a sexual partner, the woman can self-medicate with a dildo. Dildos are among the world's most ancient tools. The earliest dildos are found dating back c. 30,000 years, or during the last Ice Age. Double-headed dildos appear c. 16,800 - 11,000 BCE.
See also: