Physician Turned Mother: Privileging the Doctor-Parenting Expertise in Greco-Roman Antiquity

Reviewed by: Ascetic Behavior in Greco-Roman Antiquity: A Sourcebook Edward Sellner Vincent L. Wimbush , editor. Ascetic Behavior in Greco-Roman Antiquity: A Sourcebook. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990. Pp. xvii + 514. $41.95. This volume represents the collaborative efforts of nearly thirty members of the Society of Biblical Literature Group on Ascetic Behavior in Greco-Roman Antiquity. The purpose of the book, according to its editor, is "to make accessible in English translation a number of interesting texts that will introduce the reader to a wide range of different types of ascetic piety as different understandings of, and responses to, the Greco-Roman world." This the book does well and, considering the numerous scholars who have contributed to it, very competently. It relies not only upon Greek and Latin texts, but also makes ample use of Coptic and Syriac materials. As a [End Page 222] sourcebook, it sets out to broaden the context in which asceticism has traditionally been understood; that is, primarily equated with various forms of ascetic behavior of early Christian monasticism and desert Christian spirituality. Ascetic practices, as the selections show, were a much wider phenomenon. Although in Christianity they can be traced back to John the Baptist, Jesus, and Paul, they existed in Judaism as well as in Hellenistic-Roman religions and philosophical schools. Aware of this great diversity, those who planned the volume, the editor says, took a "minimalist approach" to the subject of asceticism. They sought to include "representative" texts of a number of types of ascetic piety in Greco-Roman antiquity while avoiding the impression that any one text or group of texts was adequate in fully defining or typifying asceticism. The argument or thesis they propose is that "ascetic behavior represents a range of responses to social, political, and physical worlds often perceived as oppressive or unfriendly, or as stumbling blocks to the pursuit of heroic personal or communal goals, life styles, and commitments." Selections in the book consist of more than abstract theological treatises. They include sermons that were preached to the Christian laity, stories and sayings from the hagiographies of both female and male wisdom figures, ritual texts, and documents that detail archaeological and papyrological discoveries. Thus, the materials bring the reader much closer to the social life, religious views, and spirituality of ordinary people in late antiquity. That is one of its major contributions. As such, the content of the book is divided into five categories based upon literary genres. Under "Homily" are included texts of exhortation toward different kinds of ascetic responses to the world. The section, "Philosophical and Theological Exhortation," contains the visions and moral challenges of philosophers and theologians. "Ritual and Revelation" pertains to various texts on rituals, magical rites, and mysticism which reflect the structure of particular types of ascetic spirituality. "Life and Teachings" refers to the hagiographical texts which tell the stories of saintly heroes and their ascetic disciplines. Finally, the section, "Documentary Evidence," includes a group of texts that draw upon archaeological research that documents the practices of specific communities. Chronological tables and a select bibliography follow. Each text in the volume has a brief introduction which explores the historical context of the translation and pertinent scholarship. Short bibliographies after each selection also provide helpful resources for anyone who wishes to pursue further research. Readers, of course, will naturally have their own preferences regarding the wide variety of texts presented in this volume. As a pastoral theologian and historian of early Christian spirituality, I found some particularly interesting and informative. The text, "On Hermits and Desert Dwellers", translated by Joseph Amar, tells how in Syria, before the Egyptian model of asceticism became dominant, the ascetic ideal was lived within society and did not require escape from "the world." David Hunter's translation, "Ambrosiaster: On the Sin of Adam and Eve," reveals that there were critics of the asceticism developing in early Christianity who spoke against those who would condemn marriage and sexual union. "Peter had a wife and children," Ambrosiaster argues, "and producing children did not prevent him from receiving primacy among the apostles. How, then, can one condemn that which does not restrict merits?" In another text translated by Gail Paterson Corrington...

Whether pagan, Jewish, or Christian, religion was an integral part of the lives of women in the Greco-Roman world. Yet studies of the ancient Mediterranean world have focused almost exclusively on the religious beliefs and practices of men. In Her Share of the Blessings, Ross Shepard Kraemer provides the first comprehensive look at women's religions in Greco-Roman antiquity. She vividly recreates the religious lives of early Christian, Jewish, and pagan women, with many fascinating examples: Greek women's devotion to goddesses, rites of Roman matrons, Jewish women in rabbinic and diaspora communities, Christian women's struggles to exercise authority and autonomy, and women's roles as leaders in the full spectrum of Greco-Roman religions. In every case, Kraemer reveals the connections between the social constraints under which women lived, and their religious beliefs and practices. Women's religious devotion often reflected and reinforced social definitions of women in terms of their relationships to men, as daughters, wives, sisters and mothers. Yet religions such as the ecstatic worship of Dionysos (where women periodically abandoned husbands, children and social responsibilities for nocturnal mountain rites), enabled women to find increased autonomy and female community, at least temporarily. The relationship between female autonomy, sexuality and religion emerges as a persistent theme. In antiquity, the body was associated with the female: soul and spirit with the male. Analyzing the monastic Jewish Therapeutae and various Christian communities, Kraemer demonstrates the paradoxical liberation which women achieved by rejection of sexuality, the body and the female. In the epilogue, Kraemer pursues the disturbing implications such findings have for contemporary women. Based on epitaphs and public inscriptions, letters and personal documents, references in literary works, and feminist and anthropological studies, Her Share of the Blessings is an insightful work that goes beyond the limitations of previous scholarship to provide a more accurate portrait of Jewish, Christian and pagan women in the Greco-Roman world.

Coupling together “technology” and “religion” might, to the modern mind, sound rather antithetical. The former, as we know it, is based in scientific knowledge and produces tangible results; the latter is phenomenological and spiritual. Yet this does not do justice to the full character of ancient science, or of ancient religion. Technologies in Greco-Roman antiquity could, and did, help create and sustain a sense of the divine, whether this was in the context of sanctuary space, or as part of religious occasions or rituals, for example. The kinds of evidence available to unearth the realities of the relation between technology and religion in ancient Greece and Rome span literature, material culture, and, importantly, ancient technical manuals. This final genre tends not to be as familiar to students of the Greco-Roman world in general and especially to students of ancient religion. Yet by combining these dry, and at times abstruse, texts with anecdotal evidence, technical realities and issues of viewership which surround the use of technology in ancient religious contexts can be better understood. One of the more familiar instances of religious technologies from ancient Greece is that of the theatrical crane (mēchanē). There, epiphanies of gods were fabricated using a conspicuous mechanical construction which speaks to the fundamentally mediated nature of ancient epiphany. The sense of sacred presence within ancient temples in the Greco-Roman world was enhanced using various technical methods including catoptrics—the science of reflection. Religious processions in antiquity involved parading a vast array of objects through the cityscape and technologies of automation began, in the Hellenistic period onward, to feature as part of this conspicuous display of the marvelous. Various other rituals which formed the very basis of Greek religious life, such as divination and dedication, relied on technical, including mechanical, expertise to create, enhance, or authenticate connection with the divine. Traces of the intersection between religion and technology in Greco-Roman antiquity can be found not only from the Classical institution of the theater but even earlier, including in the Homeric epics. Yet the formalization of the discipline of mechanics in the Hellenistic period gave new shape and vigor to the relation between religion and technology. Subsequently, the Roman period saw increased meta-discourse on the phenomenon, especially thanks to the culturally vibrant “Second Sophistic,” as well as the rise of Christianity, where the word (logos) of god was privileged above anything material.

The popular articles written by A.V. Mishulin (1901–1948), a Soviet historian of antiquity, were analyzed. These articles are focused on the history and culture of the Ancient East states (Egypt, India, and China) with account of their impact on the establishment of Soviet historical science. Their role in A.V. Mishulin’s research activity is very important, because they were used in his school textbook of ancient history. A.V. Mishulin consistently adhered to the idea that slavery was a common basis of all ancient states, but he also believed that the slave-owning systems in the Ancient East and Greco-Roman world were different. Through a brief description of the Ancient East states, he emphasized the following two main aspects: all ancient societies exploited slaves, which inevitably resulted in the mass uprisings as a consequence of exhaustion of the slave-owning mode of production. To prove the validity of his ideas, A.V. Mishulin used historical material (such as the Papyrus Leiden). Therefore, the history of the Ancient East and Greco-Roman world more or less correlated with each other in A.V. Mishulin’s school textbook, which influenced the subsequent organization of school textbooks of history in the Soviet Union.

All doctors face challenges and pressures that can lead to job burnout. The dual pressures of work and family make female doctors less happy and more likely to experience burnout, but few studies have focused on female doctors. In this study we explore the influence of job burnout on female clinical doctors’ subjective wellbeing and the moderating role of perceived social support. A casual comparative study design was used for this research. Three self-reporting scales (Maslach Burnout Inventory, Perceived Social Support Scale and Subjective Wellbeing Scale) were distributed to participants, who were selected through random sampling. Participants consisted of 120 female and 120 male doctors from a hospital of Yantai City. Female doctors scored significantly higher than male doctors in the emotional exhaustion dimension (p < 0.01), and female doctors’ subjective wellbeing was lower than that of male doctors (p < 0.01). The three dimensions of job burnout and subjective wellbeing exhibited significant negative correlations, and a positive relationship was found between perceived social support and subjective wellbeing in female doctors (p < 0.01). Perceived social support, especially from family, played a moderating role between emotional exhaustion and subjective wellbeing, and the moderating effect was significant (p < 0.01). A significant difference was observed between male and female doctors; female doctors experienced more emotional exhaustion and lower subjective wellbeing than male doctors. Improving perceived social support could reduce burnout and enhance subjective wellbeing.

Through a set of original essays, this volume showcases new directions in the well-established field of the study of women in Greco-Roman antiquity. Sarah Pomeroy’s groundbreaking Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves introduced scholars, students, and general readers to a new area of inquiry. Building upon and moving beyond that seminal work, the contributions to this volume together represent a next step in this interdisciplinary field. Contributors, all of whom have been influenced directly or indirectly by Pomeroy’s Goddesses and other work, include scholars with training in the study of history, literature, law, art, medicine, epigraphy, papyrology, and archaeology. Covering a wide range of time periods and utilizing a variety of approaches, the essays will help readers to see women in antiquity with new eyes and to view anew issues related to women today.

Labor refers to the use of human beings as factors of production within the organization of an economic system. Labor production in the Greco‐Roman world was performed by three main groups: slaves, wage‐laborers, and independent craftsmen. Wage‐labor was employed both for the long‐term and from season to season. Independent, free producers tended toward skilled labor, especially within urban contexts. The shape of labor in Greco‐Roman antiquity, however, was dominated by chattel slavery, both because of the sheer numbers of slaves involved, and because of an anti‐labor mentality that the dominance of slavery within the ancient economy had engendered. The fact that so many laboring individuals were un‐free meant that the act of laboring itself carried with it a slavish tinge, regardless of the legal status of the individual in question.

그리스–로마의 전설적인 트로이 전쟁을 떠올리게 하는 도시 드로아(행16:8)는 아이러니컬하게도 그동안 신약성경에서 별로 주목받지 못한 도시 중 하나였다. 본 논문은 드로아가 지닌 역사적, 문학적, 정치적 중요성을 그리스–로마 트로이 전승을 통해 연구함으로써, 드로아에서 있었던 바울의 환상(행 16:8–10)의 의미를 새롭게 밝히고자 한다. 드로아가 역사적으로 아시아와 유럽의 경계 지점이라는 점과 문화적 혹은 정치적으로 로마의 건국 뿌리라는 점은, 바울 선교의 주된 방향이 드로아 환상 이후로 그리스와 로마가 될 것임을 암시하고 있다. 또한 드로아 환상 이후로 기술된 빌립보(16장)와 데살로니가(17장) 사건들도 로마 제국과의 갈등 구조를 통해 바울의 선교적 최종 목적지가 로마임을 암시적으로 드러낸다.

Building upon new perspectives opened up by human-animal studies in the investigation of the Greco-Roman world, this article focuses on the cultural representation of interspecies learning in Greco-Roman sources. In particular, this study analyzes one of the foundational events of human culture in most societies: the introduction of the alphabet and writing. Among the many texts describing its origins, a few involve an enigmatic encounter between several flying cranes and the Greek hero Palamedes. This article considers the literary evidence regarding Palamedes and the cranes. It deals with folktales and anecdotes, illustrating how humans can learn from animals within the broader context of the transmission of knowledge in Greco-Roman antiquity. A thorough investigation of the ancient cultural encyclopedia will show why cranes could be regarded as teachers of the Greek hero. At the end of this study, it will be possible to identify precisely the constitutive forms of the letters that according to ancient Greek texts Palamedes could have observed by paying attention to the flight arrangements of cranes.

Community midwife is a character in the community who assists the mother during childbirth and primary maternity care (1). In public health, midwife is playing a positive role, promotes health care system for mother and child, and brings the good change in the maternal health conditions and newborn baby (2). Community midwife have a multipurpose role in maternal health, public health. In all these process, communication is very important. Empirical evidence shows that relationship between infant and primary health care taker has significant impact on maternal health and baby health (3). The role of a midwife also includes working independently to promote normal birth, identifying deviations from the normal, carrying out emergency processes when compulsory, providing counselling and education for the woman and her family throughout pregnancy and childbirth, and promoting health in the wider community (4). Midwife and maternal health has a strong relationship, which is a positive sign. Community midwife needs in community respect because she is very responsive. With encouragement and support, she can perform health-relating services efficiently and smoothly. At present, midwife has become a necessary and vital part in primary health care system (5). In Pakistan, childbirth cases are assisted by un-trained community midwifes (CMW). In urban areas of Pakistan, people can afford expensive medical services about maternal health but in rural areas where 70% populations are, living situation is worst. In rural areas basic health units are present but no woman doctors and nurses are available. Mostly people get medical services from untrained quacks and traditional community midwife. It is suggested that if government provide proper training to community midwife then maternal death rate can be decreased. Rural women feel hesitation from getting treatment by male doctors. Mostly community midwifes are natives and preferred for treatment by female (6). To conclude, community midwifes (CMWs) assist critical roles by facilitating education, health care and resources for women of childbearing age. The traditional role of birth attendant, a community midwife also functions in a variety of other roles related to women. They perform routine women’s health checkups, educate women on prenatal health and nutrition, provide birth education classes and assist women with breastfeeding and infant care. As labor and birth attendants, midwives provide coaching and comfort.

In this chapter we study the mysteries and secrecy in Greco–Roman antiquity. The cults of Mithras and Isis as mysteries and revelations to their initiates, as well as the “Mithras Liturgy” and magical elements of the ascent, are examined. Secret groups have tripartite social structures. There is evidence for secret societies in Ancient Judaism other than Essenes and Therapeutae. The identification of the Qumran covenanters and of the Essenes is explored. We look at cryptic writing and secrecy within groups. The role of women in some groups is discussed. Past discoveries of Dead Sea manuscripts and documents are outlined.

A working group representing the American Society of Transplantation, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, and International Pediatric Transplant Association has developed a collaborative effort to identify and develop core knowledge in pediatric transplant infectious diseases. Guidance for patient care environments for training and core competencies is included to help facilitate training directed at improving the experience for pediatric infectious diseases trainees and practitioners in the area of pediatric transplant infectious diseases.

Noncompliance is a common problem in patients with end-stage renal disease. In this study, we assessed the relationship between knowledge of disease and dietary compliance in a cohort of 56 dialysis patients. Based on a health belief model of adherence, we predicted that dialysis patients who knew more about kidney disease and its treatment would be more complaint than those who knew less about these matters. We also examined the relationship between dietary compliance and patients' emotional well-being. We used a composite measure of compliance consisting of serum K, P, and interdialytic weight gain. A 30-item "Kidney Disease Questionnaire" was used to assess patients' knowledge of their illness. Contrary to prediction, compliers did not score higher on the knowledge questionnaire; in fact, the observed correlation of .32 was in the opposite direction. In the same vein, we found no relationship between compliance and emotional well-being. These results, although somewhat surprising, add to a growing body of research which indicates that medical compliance involves more than educating patients about the mechanisms and treatment of their illness.

Countering an unflagging modernist infatuation with the new, Antiquities beyond Humanism maps out the ground for a richer and more sustained encounter with Greco-Roman antiquity, excavating an ante-humanism that nonetheless does not seek any kind of return to a pre-humanist arcadia. The volume arises from a commitment to actively engage the ancient philosophical tradition as a powerful field through which to tackle some of the most urgent questions addressed by the new materialisms and forms of post- and non-humanism. The papers gathered here take up ancient Greek philosophical and literary texts as at once live with possibilities for the present and uncannily distant. Collectively, they approach antiquity as neither origin nor telos but as asynchronous or untimely in Nietzsche’s sense. By bringing together a range of international scholars actively working at the intersections of ancient philosophy, literature, continental philosophy, feminist theory, and political theory, the volume opens up new vectors for thinking beyond the human that are informed by and responsive to the contemporary world while proposing a complex set of relationships to the longue durée of Western history, to deep time, and to the profound strangeness and unsettling familiarity of the Greco-Roman world. In this way, the volume resists and displaces the seductions of presentism, scientism, and technological determinism that often limit the horizons of new materialist thinking.

In Drawing Down the Moon: Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World, Radcliffe Edmonds provides us with a new etic framework for understanding ancient magic, but one steeped in the emic perspectives of the actual practitioners and clients as preserved in the literary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence. In this paper I examine Edmonds’s findings in relation to the ancient Jewish magical and mystical traditions found mainly in Sefer HaRazim, “The Book of the Mysteries,” a late-antique ritual handbook written in Hebrew.