Be Fruitful but Don’t Multiply: Controlling Fertility Before the Pill Depictions of ancient medicine focus strongly on medicinal plants and the ways they were used. Until recent years very little consideration has been given to the effectiveness of ancient medicine. This is especially true for gynecological material mentioned in ancient texts. But the inclusion of birth control or fertility management methods in ancient texts is significant for two important reasons. First, the fact that there is evidence of birth control throughout history shows that women’s desire for control of their bodies has been present for nearly as long as we have printed sources. Second, with more modern consideration slowly being given to ancient medical knowledge, there is evidence that these techniques were both desired and, somewhat effective. This shifts our understanding of family dynamics and the autonomy of women in history. Examples in ancient Greece and Egypt show that ancient peoples were discussing and creating solutions to fertility management. In early modern England this knowledge was no longer present in medical texts, but women still found ways to share and access it.
Bronze pessary, Roman, 200 BCE-400 CE. Credit: Science Museum, London.
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Ancient Greece is known for its distinct culture and innovations that influenced other empires. One such innovation was the discovery of giant fennel and its fertility management benefits. Silphium, a variety of giant fennel, was only found in the hills near the city of Cyrene in modern Libya and quickly became the city’s most notable feature.1 The coins of Cyrene were minted to feature a woman’s figure pointing to both her womb and to a likeness of giant fennel above her;2 a clear allusion to the plants use. The seeds of the plant were processed into a juice which women drank once a month for preventative purposes. Alternatively, the leaves of the plant were mashed and mixed with wool and inserted after sex as an emergency contraceptive.3 Eventually, due to over harvesting and the failure to cultivate it successfully elsewhere, giant fennel became extinct.4 The use of the seeds in the application of giant fennel likely contributed to its eventual extinction as cultivation of the plant was already very difficult and attempts to plant giant fennel in other areas always failed.
