\[ **BT: [[human life cycle#labour/childbirth]]** ] --- # birth rites, customs, and folklore ## birth rites, customs, and folklore in the ancient world ### historical medical beliefs #### ancient Greece > [[Per Taylor (1816), ‘The ancient physicians likewise, as we learn from the the anonymous writer, observe, that seven hours prior to the birth the navel of the foetus is spontaneously separated from the mother …’|‘The ancient physicians likewise, as we learn from the the anonymous writer, observe, that seven hours prior to the birth the navel of the foetus is spontaneously separated from the mother; within which space of time the foetus is able to support life, without receiving any nutriment from the mother.’]][^1] [[Hippocrates Aph. 4.1 states, ‘Purge pregnant women, should there be orgasm, from the fourth to the seventh month, but these last less freely ; the unborn child, in the first and last stages of pregnancy, should be treated very cautiously.’]][^2] (Note: ‘orgasm’, here, means ‘a state of excitement’.[^3]) [[Per Hippocrates, ’Women should use a regimen of a rather dry character, for food that is dry is more adapted to the softness of their flesh, and less diluted drinks are better for the womb and for pregnancy.’]][^4] ### miraculous births #### ancient China [[‘Legends tell us that Yü was no ordinary mortal. He had no mother and he came directly from the body of his father, Kun.’]][^5] [^1]: Thomas Taylor, *[[Taylor, Theoretic Arithmetic of the Pythagoreans, 1816|The Theoretic Arithmetic of the Pythagoreans]]* (London: J. Valpy, 1816; York Beach: Samuel Weiser, 1972), p. 231. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/embed/theoreticarithme0000tayl. [^2]: Hippocrates, *Aphorisms*, 4.1. *[[Hippocrates, Hippocrates. Volume IV, trans. Jones, 1931|Hippocrates. Volume IV: Heracleitus. On the Universe]]*, trans. W. H. S. Jones (William Heinemann, 1931; reprinted in 1967), p. 269. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/bwb_W8-AAA-035. [^3]: W. H. S. Jones, *[[Hippocrates, Hippocrates. Volume IV, trans. Jones, 1931|Hippocrates. Volume IV: Heracleitus. On the Universe]]*, translated by W. H. S. Jones (London: William Heinemann, 1931; reprinted in 1967), p. 108. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/bwb_W8-AAA-035. [^4]: Hippocrates, *Aphorisms*, 4.1. *[[Hippocrates, Hippocrates. Volume IV, trans. Jones, 1931|Hippocrates. Volume IV: Heracleitus. On the Universe]]*, trans. W. H. S. Jones (William Heinemann, 1931; reprinted in 1967), p. 108. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/bwb_W8-AAA-035. [^5]: Eva Wong, *[[Wong, Taoism, 2011|Taoism: An Essential Guide]]* (Shambhala, 2011), p. 11.