Agnodike

Agnodike or Agnodice , also Hagnodike (Greek Ἀγνοδίκη; maybe 3rd century BC ) is considered to be the first doctor of ancient Greece who is said to have worked as an obstetrician .

It is only known from a report in Hyginus Mythographus (' Fabulae ' 276, 10-13). Accordingly, she was Athenian and at first could only acquire and use her skills in secret or in men's clothing. Her patients would only have accepted her after she revealed herself to them as a woman. Probably slandered by envious people, she was tried because at that time women and slaves were not allowed to work as doctors. She was saved - so the story goes - through the intervention of some of her highly placed patients. After this negotiation, the prohibition law was repealed.

Hyginus names a certain Hierophilus or Herophilos as Agnodike's teacher. It could have been the Alexandrian doctor Herophilos of Chalcedon (around 290 BC), so that Agnodike in the 3rd century BC. Would have lived.

literature

William Smith: Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. Volume 1, p. 74, Tauris Books, London 2008, ISBN 978-1-8451-1000-0 (reprint of the London 1890/91 edition; online ).
Max Wellmann : Agnodike . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Col. 831 f.
Nancy L. Swanson: Avenging Agnodice. The Struggles and Successes of Female Scientists, Antiquity to Present . ImprintBooks, North Charleston, NC 2004, ISBN 978-1-4196-0204-7 .
Ferdinand Peter Moog: Agnodike. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 17.

Individual evidence

^ Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie: Women in Science: Antiquity through the Nineteenth Century. A Biographical Dictionary with Annotated Bibliography. 4th edition, Cambridge, Mass., London (The MIT Press) 1993, p. 28.

personal data
SURNAME	Agnodike
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Agnodice; Ἀγνοδίκη (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	ancient gynecologist
DATE OF BIRTH	between 6th century BC BC and 3rd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	between 6th century BC BC and 3rd century BC Chr.

[1] Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie: Women in Science: Antiquity through the Nineteenth Century. A Biographical Dictionary with Annotated Bibliography. 4th edition, Cambridge, Mass., London (The MIT Press) 1993, p. 28.