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Writer's pictureLinda Persson
Oct 24, 20224 min read

The Wandering Womb: The much entertaining, ideological female disease of ancient Greece


Votive relief of Ascleipius. Image: George E. Koronaios.

The Hippocratic Corpus is a series of medical treaties, dated around the second half of the 5th century BCE to the first half of the 4th BCE, often attributed to the known physician Hippocrates. However, the series is often believed not to have been written by Hippocrates himself, but by the Hippocratics, a group of Greek physicians who followed the teaching of Hippocrates.


As many of us know, the ancient Greeks are known for their impressive accomplishments. However, despite their impressive discoveries and knowledge of human anatomy during the Classical Age, the ancient Greeks missed the mark in some areas. At least when it came to the female body and gynecology. One of the most interesting and rather humorous misconceptions of the female physique was the Hippocratics theories of the female reproductive system, especially the womb and menstruation.



Accurate depiction of the female reproductive system.

The Hippocratics believed that regular menstruation was key to women’s health, that their menses were to flow like the blood of a sacrificial animal. They also believed that women who had intercourse with men were healthier than those who did not, and that having intercourse and even becoming pregnant, often prevented or even cured many diseases, such as uterus displacement, aka. “the wandering womb”, which, according to the Hippocratic corpus, seems to have been a very common disease that affected women.

It was believed that the womb could move around in the female body and even attach itself to many different organs and press against them causing women great pain and suffering. And while the wandering womb was often related to a woman’s failure to menstruate it was believed that this disease could also happen to women whose womb was light, dry or empty. A dry and empty uterus could close up, causing serious problems, such as blocked menstruation, where the blood could not escape the womb, and would instead fill up.

A dry and empty uterus could seal itself up, causing serious problems, such as blocked menstruation, where the blood was locked inside the body. All that build-up of warm blood could give women high fever and delirium and the pressure would make the womb expand and press against other organs, such as the bladder, spine, hips or loins, causing great suffering and even paralysis.


In bad cases, the womb would press on the heart and diaphragm, causing the woman to become stupefied, numb and finally deranged, irrational and suicidal. After a few months of this, if the woman was still alive, the blocked blood would start to decompose and turn to pus, which could eat through the groin. Finally, if no period had come for over six months, the woman would most likely die.


But there was hope! The Hippocratics were certain that by having regular intercourse with her husband, a woman’s uterus would become moist and heavy, which meant that there was less chance of the uterus to go on a joyride through her body, causing havoc along the way. Regular intercourse also helped menstruation to flow more easily, because of how moist and warm the uterus became. For young women who were of age, but still not married, it was therefore imperative that they marry as soon as possible, so they could lose their virginity and the blood could flow out freely and spare them the horror.


Benjamin Franklin (left) and Hippocrates (right).

The Hippocratics ideas or beliefs about the female body and its reproductive system can be seen as a direct result of patriarchal societies' ideological views towards women. Almost everything about the female body was believed to be different from the male body. Not only was the female body believed to be weaker than the male one, but women were also considered to be the result of there being more of the weaker female seed present during conception. A female fetus also supposedly took a longer time to develop in the womb and even began to move much later than male fetuses. Another interesting fact that the Hippocratics believed was that all female illnesses were related to the uterus, no matter the symptom. Even a headache or pain in the toe. In the Hippocratics Corpus, almost all women were prescribed to either have intercourse, have a “normal” menstruation, become pregnant, or all of the above. However, the Hippocratics also prescribed various fumigation and suppositories made out of rather strange materials, that were to be inserted into the vagina. For example, one cure was to insert a suppository into the vulva, the contents of which were sharp. For a modern woman, that seems terribly horrific and extremely brutal. For me, that’s a thanks, but no thank you!



Ultimately, despite many of the misconceptions of the female physique, we can all agree that they are rather humorous now (maybe not for those women that had to live through it) and makes one wonder how these ideas came to life.


Greek physicians did not practice dissections and the vast majority of women did not allow men to examine them. Thus, since the female body was not as easily available for a closer observation, the physicians had to rely on female cadavers of animals – and apparently a tad of imagination and curiosity.

Text: Linda Persson. MENAM Archeology. Copyright 2022.

Further Reading:

  1. Persson, L. 2016. Women and Their Bodies in Classical Greece: The Hippocratic Female. Bachelor’s thesis. Uppsala University, Uppsala.

  2. Dean-Jones, L.A. 1994. Women’s Bodies in Classical Greek Science. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

  3. Rousselle, A. 1993. Porneia: On Desire and the Body in Antiquity. Blackwell, Oxford.


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