1st Edition

Breastfeeding and Mothering in Antiquity and Early Byzantium

288 Pages 12 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

288 Pages 12 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This volume offers the first comparative, interdisciplinary, and intercultural examination of the lactating woman – biological mother and othermother – in antiquity and early Byzantium. Adopting methodologies and knowledge deriving from a variety of disciplines, the volume’s contributors investigate the close interrelationship between a woman and her lactating breasts, as well as the social,... Read more

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Lactating Woman: Breastfeeding and Motherhood in Antiquity and Early Byzantium - Stavroula Constantinou and Aspasia Skouroumouni-Stavrinou

Part I: Society and Ideology

Chapter 2: Breast Rules: The Body of the Wet Nurse in Ancient and Early Byzantine Discourses -Stavroula Constantinou and Aspasia Skouroumouni-Stavrinou

Chapter 3: The Breast as Locus for Punishment - Dionysios Stathakopoulos

 Part II: Medicine and Practice

Chapter 4: Breastmilk as a Therapeutic Agent in Ancient and Early Byzantine Medical Literature - Petros Bouras-Vallianatos

Chapter 5: Weaning and Lactation Cessation in Late Antiquity and the Early Byzantine Period: Medical Advice in Context - Laurence Totelin

Chapter 6: "Galaktology" and Genre: Simple Literary Forms on Milk and Breastfeeding in Ancient and Early Byzantine Medical Treatises - Stavroula Constantinou and Aspasia Skouroumouni-Stavrinou

Part III: Art and Literature

Chapter 7: Images of Breastfeeding in Early Byzantine Art: Form – Context – Function - Maria Parani

Chapter 8: Empowering Breasts: Women, Widows, and Prophetesses-with-Child at Dura-Europos - Barbara Crostini

Chapter 9: Roman Charity: Nonnos of Panopolis, Support for Parents, and Questions of Gender - Tim Parkin

Chapter 10: Children in Distress: Agonizing Mothers as Intercessors in Early Byzantine Miracle Collections - Andria Andreou

Biography

Stavroula Constantinou is the founder and director of the Centre for Medieval Arts & Rituals at the University of Cyprus (UCY). She is also the initiator and editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed and diamond open access journal Eventum: A Journal of Medieval Arts and Rituals (first issue in November 2023). Currently, she coordinates the major EU-Horizon 2020 project Network for Medieval Arts & Rituals (grant agreement nr 951875) and a couple of other projects on mothering and storytelling. Her research focuses on Byzantine narratives, gender, ritual, performance, emotions, and the body. She is the author of the forthcoming book Interactive Embodiment: Approaching Byzantine Bodies (2024).

Aspasia Skouroumouni-Stavrinou is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Medieval Arts & Rituals at UCY. Her research focuses on ancient Greek drama (with an emphasis on performance, space, gender, and reception), ancient Greek religion, ancient and early Byzantine motherhood, and family culture.