Email this article I Greci e l'aborto fra teoria politica e prassi medica. Per una rilettura di Platone, Aristotele e Ippocrate
Abstract
This paper focuses on Plato and Aristotle’s views about the abortion. It firstly reviews Plato’s reflections on this topic starting from his philosophical works about the ideal state; it secondly analyses Aristotle’s biological thought, with particular attention to embryology. Another issue considered is the importance of eugenetic criterion in connection of family planning and ancient Greek demography. It also evaluates Hippocrates and hippocratic physicians’ assessments of the risks involved as a reflection of communis opinio on this topic.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
J. Adam (ed.), The Republic of Plato, I, Cambridge 1963.
S. Adam, L’avortement dans l’antiquité grecque, in A. Biscardi (επιμ.), ΜΝΗΜΗ Γεωργίου Ἀ. Πετροπούλου (1897-1964), t. Α΄, Ἀθῆναι 1984, 141-153.
L.R. Angeletti, Le concept de vie dans la Grece antique et le serment d’Hippocrate, RPhL 90 (1992), 156-179.
J. Baiter - H. Sauppe (ed.), Oratores Attici Minores, Zurich 1837.
R. Balestrini, Aborto, infanticidio ed esposizione d’infante, Torino 1888.
V. Barras, La naissance et ses recettes en médecine antique, in V. Dasen (éd.), Naissance et petite enfance dans l’Antiquité, Actes du Colloque de Fribourg, 28 novembre, 1 décembre 2001, Göttingen 2004, 93-102.
R. Bernier, Embryogenese et avortement chez les auteurs hippocratiques, in P. Potter - G. Maloney - J. Desautels (éds.), La maladie et les maladies dans la collection hippocratique. Actes du VI Colloque International Hippocratique (Québec, du 28 septembre au 3 octobre 1987), Québec 1990, 363-380.
S. Blundell, Women in Ancient Greece, London 1995.
H. Bolkenstein, The Exposure of Children at Athens and the ἐγχυτρίστριαι, CPh 17 (1922), 222-239.
A. Bresson, Démographie grecque ancienne et modeles statistiques, RELO 21 (1985), 7-34.
R. Brock, How to Be a Citizen in Ancient Greece, Journal of Classics Teaching 8 (2006), 5-9.
E.J. Buis, Los limites de la ΓΡΑΦΗ ΑΜΒΛΩΣΕΩΣ: la (i)licitud del aborto en el derecho ateniense, Argos 27 (2003), 41-62.
E. Caillemer, Ambloseos graphé, in C. Daremberg - E. Saglio (éds.), Dictionnaire des Antiquités grecques et romaines d’apres les textes et les monuments, Paris 1877, 224-225.
A. Cameron, The Exposure of Children and Greek Ethics, CR 46 (1932), 105-114.
S. Campese, Madre materia: donna, casa, citta nell’antropologia di Aristotele, in S. Campese - G. Sissa - P. Manuli (a cura di), Madre materia: sociologia e biologia della donna greca, Torino 1983, 15-79.
E. Cantarella, Fathers and Sons in Athenian Law and Society, in G. Thür (hrsg.), Symposion 2009. Vorträge zur grieschischen und hellenistischen Rechtsgeschichte (Seggau, 25-30 August 2009), Wien 2010, 1-13.
J. Capriglione, È necessario che la cura del corpo preceda quella dell’anima, in M. Vegetti - S. Gastaldi (a cura di), Studi di storia della medicina antica e medievale, in memoria di Paola Manuli, Firenze 1996, 34-48.
P. Carrick, Medical Ethics in Ancient World, Washington (DC) 2001.
M.H. Congourdeau, A propos d’un chapitre des «Éphodia»: l’avortement chez les médecins grecs, REByz 55 (1997), 261-277.
L. Cova, Prius animal quam homo. Aspetti dell’embriologia tommasiana, in C. Crisciani - R. Lambertini - R. Martorelli Vico (a cura di), Parva Naturalia. Saperi Medievali, Natura e Vita. Atti dell’XI Convegno della Societa Italiana per lo studio del pensiero medievale, Macerata, 7-9 dicembre 2001, Macerata 2004, 357-378.
R. Crahay, Les moralistes anciens et l’avortement, AC 10 (1941), 9-23.
V. Dasen, Multiple Births in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, OJA 16 (1997), 49-63.
L. Demaitre - A. Travill, Lo sviluppo dell’embriologia umana nelle opere di Alberto Magno, in J.A. Weisheipl (a cura di), Alberto Magno e le scienze, Bologna 1994, 433-470.
N. Demand, Birth, Death, and Motherhood in classical Greece, Baltimore - London 1994.
W. Den Boer, Private Morality in Greece and Rome. Some Historical Aspects (Mnemosyne Suppl. 57), Leiden 1979.
D. Dobbs, Natural Right and the Problem of Aristotle’s Defense of Slavery, Journal of Politics 56 (1994), 69-94.
M. Dodero Paz, La joven espartana y su participacion en la ciudad lacedemonia, Antesteria 1 (2012), 19-28.
J. Ducatillon, Le serment d’Hippocrate, problemes et interpretations, Bulletin de l’Association Guillaume Budé 1 (2001), 34-61.
L. Edelstein, The Hippocratic Oath, Baltimore 1943.
D. Engels, The Problem of Female Infanticide in the Graeco-Roman World, CPh 75 (1980), 112-120.
D. Engels, The Use of Demography in Ancient History, CQ 34 (1984), 386-393.
R. Étienne, La conscience médicale antique et la vie des enfants, in Annales de Demographie Historique, numéro spécial Enfants et Sociétés (1973), 15-46.
E. Eyben, Family Planning in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, Anc-Soc 11-12 (1980-1981), 5-81.
G. Fasso, Ancora sul procurato aborto nel mondo grecoromano, RTDPC 26 (1972), 799-802.
R.H. Feen, Abortion and Exposure in Ancient Greece: Assessing the Status of the Fetus and Newborn from Classical Source, in W.B. Bondeson - H.T. Engelhardt - S.F. Spicker - D.H. Winship (eds.), Abortion and the Status of the Fetus, Dordrecht 1983, 283-300.
R.H. Feen, Keeping the Balance: Ancient Greek Philosophical Concerns with Population and Environment, Population and Environment 17 (1996), 447-458.
Platone, Le leggi, a cura di F. Ferrari, Milano 20072.
N.M. Ford, When Did I Begin? Conception of the Human Individual in History, Philosophy and Science, Cambridge 1988.
Platone, Teeteto, a cura di L. Fulci, Roma 2012.
G. Galeotti, Storia dell’aborto, Bologna 2003.
T.W. Gallant, Risk and Survival in Ancient Greece, Cambridge 1991.
R. Garland, The Greek Way of Life from Conception to Old Age, Ithaca - New York 1990.
S. Gastaldi, Storia del pensiero politico antico, Roma - Bari 1998.
L.R.F. Germain, Aspects du droit d’exposition en Grece, RD 47 (1969), 177-197.
Lysias, Discours, Tome II (XVI-XXXV et Fragments), éd. par L. Gernet - M. Bizos, Paris 19895.
G. Glotz, La solidarité de la famille dans le droit criminal en Grece, Paris 1904.
M. Golden, Demography and the Exposure of Girls at Athens, Phoenix 35 (1981), 316-331.
M.P. Golding - N.H. Golding, Population Policy in Plato and Aristotle: Some Values Issue, Arethusa 8 (1975), 345-358.
M.H. Hansen, The Shotgun Method. The Demography of the Ancient Greek City-State Culture, Columbia - London 2006.
A.E. Hanson, «Paidopoiia»: Metaphors for Conception, Abortion, and Gestation in the Hippocratic Corpus, in P.J. Van der Eijk - H.F. Horstmanshoff - P.H. Schrijvers (eds.), Ancient Medicine in its Socio-cultural Context, Amsterdam - Atlanta 1995, 291-307.
P. Harms, Physician-Assisted Suicide in Antiquity, Mouseion 8 (2008), 25-38.
W.V. Harris, The Theoretical Possibility of Extensive Infanticide in the Graeco-Roman World, CQ 32 (1982), 114-116.
A.R.W. Harrison, The Law of Athens. The Family and Property, Oxford 1968.
M. Isnardi Parente (a cura di), Sezione XI: La Politica, in E. Zeller - R. Mondolfo, La filosofia dei Greci nel suo sviluppo storico. Parte II. Da Socrate ad Aristotele, III.2, Firenze 1974.
W.H.S. Jones, The Doctor’s Oath: an Essay in the History of Medicine, Cambridge 1924.
J. Jouanna, Ippocrate, Torino 1994 (ed. orig. Hippocrate, Paris 1992).
K. Kapparis, The Abortion in Ancient World, London 2002.
Aristotle, Politics, Books VII and VIII, ed. by R. Kraut, Oxford 1997.
W.A. Krenkel, Erotica I. Der Abortus in der Antike, WZ Rostock 20 (1971), 443-452.
H.W. Laale, Abortion in Greek Antiquity: Solon to Aristotle, 1, CML 13 (1992-1993), 157-166.
H.W. Laale, Abortion in Greek Antiquity: Solon to Aristotle, 2, CML 13 (1992-1993), 191-202.
W.K. Lacey, The Family in Classical Greece, London 1968.
Ippocrate, Opere, a cura di G. Lanata, Torino 1961.
Arisotele, Opere biologiche, a cura di D. Lanza - M. Vegetti, Torino 19972.
C. Lécrivain, Notes de droit pénal grec. I: La Bouleusis, II: L’avortement, in Mélanges Gustave Glotz II, Paris 1932, 527-533.
P. Liddel, Civic Obligation and Individual Liberty in Ancient Athens, Oxford 2007.
G.E.R. Lloyd, Scienza, Folclore, Ideologia: le scienze della vita nell’antica Grecia, Torino 1987 (ed. orig. Science, Folklore, and Ideology: Studies in the Life Sciences in ancient Greece, Cambridge 1983).
G.E.R. Lloyd, Metodi e problemi della scienza greca, Roma - Bari 1993 ((ed. orig. Methods and Problems in Greek Science, Cambridge 1991).
P. Manuli, Donne mascoline, femmine sterili, vergini perpetue: la ginecologia greca tra Ippocrate e Sorano, in S. Campese - G. Sissa - P. Manuli (a cura di), Madre materia: sociologia e biologia della donna greca, 149-192, Torino 1983.
R. Mayhew, Aristotle’s Criticism of Plato’s Republic, Lanham (MD) 1997.
V. Mehl, Le temps venu de la maternité, in L. Bodiou - V. Mehl (éds.), La religion des femmes en Grece ancienne, Rennes 2009, 193-206.
D.R. Miller, The Third Kind in Plato’s Timaeus (Hypomnemata 145), Göttingen 2003.
M. Moissides, Contribution a l’étude de l’avortement dans l’antiquité grecque, Janus 26 (1922), 5-85.
K.R. Moore, Sex and the Second-Best City. Sex and Society in the Laws of Plato, New York 2005.
J. Moreau, Les théories démographiques dans l’Antiquité grecque, Population 4 (1949), 597-614.
P.M. Morel, Aristote contre Démocrite. Sur l’embryon, in L. Brisson - M.H. Congourdeau - J.L. Solere (éds.), L’Embryon. Formation et Animation. Antiquité grecque et latine, traditions hébraique, chrétienne et islamique, Paris 2008, 43-57.
G. Morrow, Plato’s Cretan City, Oxford 19932.
R. Motomura, The Practice of Exposing Infants and its Effects on the Development of Slavery in the Ancient World, in T. Yuge - M. Doi (eds.), Forms of Control and Subordination in Antiquity, Leiden - New York - Kobenhavn - Köln 1988, 410-415.
J.J. Mulhern, Population and Plato’s Republic, Arethusa 8 (1975), 265-281.
J.S. Murray, The Alleged Prohibition of Abortion in the Hippocratic Oath, EMC 35 (1991), 293-311.
D.B. Nagle, The Household as the Foundation of Aristotle’s Polis, Cambridge 2006.
E. Nardi, Il procurato aborto nel mondo greco romano, Milano 1971.
J. Needham, History of Embryology, Cambridge 1959.
W.L. Newman, The «Politics» of Aristotle, III, Oxford 1950.
J.T. Noonan, Abortion and the Catholic Church: A Summary History, Natural Law Forum 12 (1967), 85-131.
J. Ober, Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens. Rhetoric, Ideology, and the Power of the People, Princeton 1989.
J. Oppenheimer, When Sense and Life Begin: Background for a Remark in Aristotle’s Politics (1335 b 24), Arethusa 8 (1975), 331-343.
R. Parker, Miasma. Pollution and Purification in Early Greek Religion, Oxford 1983.
C. Patterson, Not Worth to Rearing: The Cause of Infant Exposure in Ancient Greece, TAPhA 115 (1985), 103-123.
L. Pepe, Pregnancy and Childbirth, or the Right of the Father. Some Reflections on Motherhood and Fatherhood in Ancient Greece, RDE 2 (2012), 255-274.
P.L. Phillips Simpson, A Philosophical Commentary on the Politics of Aristotle, Chapel Hill - London 1998.
L. Piccirilli, Lo stratego, il censo, l’eta, RFIC 116 (1988), 174-184.
M. Piérart, Platon et la cité grecque: théorie and réalité dans la constitution des Lois, Paris 2008.
S. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves. Women in Classical Antiquity, New York 1975.
B. Pouderon, L’influence d’Aristote dans la doctrine de la procréation des premiers Peres et ses implications théologiques, in L. Brisson - M.H. Congourdeau - J.L. Solere (éds.), L’embryon. Formation et animation. Antiquité grecque et latine, traditions hébraique, chrétienne et islamique, Paris 2008, 157-183.
A. Preus, Biomedical Techniques for Influencing Human Reproduction in the Fourth Century B.C., Arethusa 8 (1975), 237-263.
H.D. Rankin, Plato and the Individual, London 1964.
H.D. Rankin, Plato’s Eugenic ΕΥΦΗΜΙΑ and ΑΠΟΘΕΣΙΣ in Republic, Book V, Hermes 93 (1965), 407-420.
Platone, Tutti gli scritti, a cura di G. Reale, Milano 1991.
P.J. Rhodes, A Commentary on the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia, Oxford 1981.
J.M. Riddle, Contraceptions and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance, Cambridge (Mass.) 1992.
S. Roux, Les conditions de la meilleure constitution dans le livre VII des «Politiques»: Aristote critique de Platon, in E. Bermon - V. Laurand - J. Terrel (éds.), Politique d’Aristote: famille, régimes, education, Bordeaux 2011, 139-154.
G. Seveso, Paternita e vita familiare nella Grecia antica, Roma 2010.
S. Todd, Lysia on Abortion, in G. Thür - F.J. Fernandez Nieto (hrsgg.), Symposion 1999. Vorträge zur griechischen und hellenistischen Rechtsgeschichte (Pazo de Marcinana, La Coruna, 6-9 September 1999), Köln 2003, 235-256.
L.M.V. Totelin, Hippocratic Recipes. Oral and Written Transmission of Pharmacological Knowledge in Fifth- and Fourth-Century Greece, Leiden - Boston 2009.
E. Van de Walle, Pour une histoire démographique de l’avortement, Population 1-2 (1998), 273-290.
L.R. Van Hook, The Exposure of Infants at Athens, TAPhA 51 (1920), 134-145.
Platone, La Repubblica, vol. II. Libri II e III, a cura di M. Vegetti, Napoli 1998.
Platone, La Repubblica, vol. IV. Libro V, a cura di M. Vegetti, Napoli 2000.
C. Veloso, La relation entre les liens familiaux et les constitution politique, in E. Bermon - V. Laurand - J. Terrel (éds.), Politique d’Aristote: famille, régimes, education, Bordeaux 2011, 23-39.
C.A. Viano, Politica e Costituzione di Atene di Aristotele, Torino 1992.
J. Wilgaux, De la naturalité des relations de parenté: incest et échange matrimonial dans les Politiques d’Aristote, in E. Bermon - V. Laurand - J. Terrel (éds.), Politique d’Aristote: famille, régimes, education, Bordeaux 2011, 41-53.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7358/erga-2013-002-lodd
Copyright (©) 2014 Erga-Logoi. Rivista di storia, letteratura, diritto e culture dell'antichità – Editorial format and Graphical layout: copyright (©) LED Edizioni Universitarie
Announcements
Erga/Logoi accepts books for review
The books are to be sent to the Executive Editor
Call for papers Vol. 13 (2025)
Authors have to read through the Information for Authors and the Author guidelines carefully before beginning the submission process.
Erga-Logoi. Rivista di storia, letteratura, diritto e culture dell'antichità
Registered by Tribunale di Milano (20/09/2012 n. 353)
Online ISSN 2282-3212 - Print ISSN 2280-9678
Executive Editor: Cinzia Bearzot
Editorial Staff: Paolo A. Tuci (Coordinator) - Marcello Bertoli - Livia De Martinis - Laura Loddo - Annabella Oranges - Alessandra Valentini
Editorial Board: Gaetano Arena - Ralf Behrwald - Margherita Cassia - Paolo Cesaretti - Bernard Eck - Michele Faraguna - Massimo Gioseffi - Dominique Lenfant - Lauretta Maganzani - Roberto Nicolai - Giovanni Parmeggiani - Marina Polito - Umberto Roberto - Francesca Rohr - Marco Sannazaro - Stefan Schorn - Paolo A. Tuci - Gianpaolo Urso - José Vela Tejada - Robert Wallace
Emeritus Editorial Board: Serena Bianchetti - Giovannella Cresci - Lia Raffaella Cresci - Ugo Fantasia - Franca Landucci - Rosalia Marino - Riccardo Vattuone
© 2001 LED Edizioni Universitarie di Lettere Economia Diritto