Midwifery in ancient Greece, midwife or gynaecologist-obstetrician?

摘要

Midwifery is one of the oldest medical professions in the world. In ancient civilisations, the midwife was a woman with personal experience that originally received a little practical training from experienced colleagues, able to bear children of her own, usually within her village or community (Drabkin 1944; Karamanou 2013). There was definitely a family training tradition, either from mother-to-daughter or in some cases, from the lady of the house to female slaves (French 1987). Although many consider all mid-wives as auxiliary medical personnel, Soranus of Ephesus classified them into three categories: (i) those that had only empirical education; (ii) those that apart from their experiences, had theoretical training in obstetrics and gynaecology; and (iii) those with a higher education, training and skills, ranked as equals between men physicians (Soranus 1927). Midwifery had opened the door for women to enter a male world of physicians and enjoy the respect of society (Fantham 1994).