The Obstetric Connection: Midwives and Weasels within and beyond Minoan Crete

The Minoan peak sanctuaries call for systematic comparative research as an island-bound phenomenon whose significance to the (pre)history of medicine far transcends the Cretan context: they yield clay anatomical offerings attesting to the earliest known healing cult in the Aegean. The peak sanctuary...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Religions (Basel, Switzerland ) Switzerland ), 2021-12, Vol.12 (12), p.1056
Main Author: Zimmermann Kuoni, Simone
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bronze Age medicine
Childbirth & labor
Death & dying
Deities
Diachronic analysis
Eileithyia
Females
gender studies
Gynecology
History of medicine
Midwifery
midwives
Minoan peak sanctuaries
Obstetrics
Packaging
Phenomenology
Source materials
Womens health
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Summary:The Minoan peak sanctuaries call for systematic comparative research as an island-bound phenomenon whose significance to the (pre)history of medicine far transcends the Cretan context: they yield clay anatomical offerings attesting to the earliest known healing cult in the Aegean. The peak sanctuary of Petsophas produced figurines of weasels, which are usually interpreted as pests, ignoring their association with votives that express concerns about childbirth, traditionally the first single cause of death for women. The paper draws from primary sources to examine the weasel’s puzzling bond with birth and midwives, concluding that it stems from the animal’s pharmacological role in ancient obstetrics. This novel interpretation then steers the analysis of archaeological evidence for rituals involving mustelids beyond and within Bronze Age Crete, revealing the existence of a midwifery koine across the Near East and the Mediterranean; a net of interconnections relevant to female therapeutics which brings to light a package of animals and plants bespeaking of a Minoan healing tradition likely linked to the cult of the midwife goddess Eileithyia. Challenging mainstream accounts of the beginnings of Western medicine as a male accomplishment, this overlooked midwifery tradition characterises Minoan Crete as a unique crucible of healing knowledge, ideas, and practices.
ISSN:2077-1444
2077-1444
DOI:10.3390/rel12121056