The Pee Test: Pregnancy and Childbirth in Ancient Egypt

12/19/24 • 56 min

Dr. Ada Nifosì tells us about the gymnastics of ancient Egyptian birth, why Egyptian women ate donkey balls and their cats ate penis cakes, and why the god Seth should be avoided at all costs.

Childbirth was a scary time for women, and that desire for safety and comfort is reflected in their stories about their gods. The most important goddess, Isis, was enshrined in Egyptian mythology as giving birth in dangerous circumstances. Women turned to amulets, charms, midwives and wise women, their families, for assurance.
Access transcript and episode show notes: www.womenwhowentbefore.com/episodes/the-pee-test
Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Emily Chesley and Rebekah Haigh.
This episode was fact-checked by Emily G. Smith-Sangster.
Podcast theme music is composed and produced by Moses Sun.
This podcast is sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Stanley J. Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Committtee for the Study of Late Antiquity at Princeton University.
Views expressed on the podcast are solely those of the individuals, and do not represent Princeton University.

Dr. Ada Nifosì tells us about the gymnastics of ancient Egyptian birth, why Egyptian women ate donkey balls and their cats ate penis cakes, and why the god Seth should be avoided at all costs.

Previous Episode

Blemished Brides: Women’s Bodies and Disability in Ancient Judaism

Dr. Julia Watts Belser talks about ancient prenups, dancing at weddings, and what the rabbis had to say about beauty. We meet an Etruscan woman named Seianti Hanunia, an Egyptian Jewish woman Tapamet, and hear the (sometimes damaging) ideas of sages Shammai and Hillel. Paying attention to disability matters because it’s noticing a person’s full human experience.
Access transcript and episode show notes: www.womenwhowentbefore.com/episodes/blemished-brides
Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Emily Chesley and Rebekah Haigh.
Podcast theme music is composed and produced by Moses Sun.
This podcast is sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Stanley J. Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Committtee for the Study of Late Antiquity at Princeton University.
Views expressed on the podcast are solely those of the individuals, and do not represent Princeton University.

Next Episode

Bad Blood: The Period Talk in Rabbinic Judaism and Zoroastrianism

We talk with Dr. Shai Secunda about the Babylonian rabbis’ science of blood, breaking taboos through sex education, and menstruation as a cure for rabies.

Today, taboos about menstruation keep thousands of girls from attending school. For Jewish sages in late antique Persia, such beliefs led to laws that required women to stay away from their husbands during their periods and to wash at prescribed times. (Whether women followed these laws is another question!) Blood could pollute, yet it could also purify. And practices around menstruation may have helped religious communities define their identity.

Access transcript and episode show notes: www.womenwhowentbefore.com/episodes/bad-blood
Women Who Went Before is written, produced, and edited by Rebekah Haigh and Emily Chesley.
Podcast theme music is composed and produced by Moses Sun.
This podcast is sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Stanley J. Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Committtee for the Study of Late Antiquity at Princeton University.
Views expressed on the podcast are solely those of the individuals, and do not represent Princeton University.