The genesis of medieval Hebrew gynaecology: A preliminary assessment

Abstract

This paper is a preliminary account of the progress of my work on the early stages of the reception and accommodation in Hebrew of literature and theories on female anatomy, physiology, and disease by medieval Jewish authors and translators. While the first steps of my research on the medieval Hebrew corpus of literature devoted to the care of women’s health led me to specifically address the textual production and transmission of the later Middle Ages, in the course of my enquiry I have become progressively, and inevitably, interested in the beginning of these processes, and in the factors that prompted the production and dissemination of this type of literature.