Sangue mestruale e latte materno: riflessioni e nuove proposte. Intorno all’allattamento nella Grecia antica

Abstract

Within a larger study on breast-feeding in ancient Greece, we dwelt on four subjects (the superstitions concerning menstrual blood, milk and dairy products consumption by the Athenians, different kinds of milk and beliefs related to the transmission of hereditary characteristics through human milk, the connection between milk, breast and madness) on which we have identified a certain number of neglected sources. Starting from these, we can gain not only some mosaic tiles of the overall fragmentary view on habits and beliefs about breast-feeding, but also, more generally, helpful hints on some aspects of the Greek world and mentality that we barely know. In attempting to reach some general conclusions, we have also considered the iconographic sources, trying to explain, in part at least, the reason for the almost complete absence of scenes of breast-feeding in the archaic and classical art.

Bodily Fluids in Antiquity

“…Laurence Totelin's chapter (Chapter 15) emphasises the ways in which the reluctance of ancient texts to engage with the confluence of milk and blood immediately following childbirth reflected social anxieties about the female body. 5 Elsewhere, Giulia Pedrucci's work on breastfeeding in ancient Greece considers the connection between menstrual blood and milk and argues that deep-seated prejudices against the former tainted Greek attitudes towards milk (Pedrucci 2013a(Pedrucci , 2013b(Pedrucci , 2013c. This chapter will build upon Pedrucci's work, examining the ways in which such prejudices manifested during the Roman period.…”

Baliatico, αἰδώς e malocchio: capire l’allattamento nella Grecia di epoca arcaica e classica anche con l’aiuto delle fonti romane

“…19 -Sono gli stessi popoli che si cibano di latticini anche da adulti, mentre in Grecia i maschi adulti in salute evitavano di cibarsi di latte e derivati, v.: Pedrucci (2013b), pp. 177-190;Pedrucci (2013c. ) Varrone (La vita rustica II, 11.1) nella descrizione dei costumi delle popolazioni dell'Illyricum, dopo aver detto che le donne di queste terre allattano personalmente, spiega che l'alimentazione a base di latticini è tipica di popolazioni selvagge e barbare; Tacito (Germania 20, 23) scrive la stessa cosa dei Germani (va detto che Tacito dimostra ammirazione per i corpi vigorosi di coloro che sono stati allevati in questo modo).…”