Agnodice is a half-mythical figure from third-century BCE Athens. This is a story of her struggle to receive a medical education and legal status in patriarchal Greece, when the practice of medicine and even midwifery, a traditionally female occupation, had been gradually denied to women by the all-male school of the followers of Hippocrates.
The myth portrays not only Agnodice’s struggle but also that of contemporary Greek women, who were extremely reluctant to have male doctors examine their bodies. It is likely that they, understandably, found a man’s wish to become a midwife strange and unnatural.
Agnodice’s story incorporates ancient female religious rituals, such as using the sight of genitals as a powerful healing symbol. The legend also vividly foretells the now-familiar tale of the union of tyranny and profit. Aided by lies and official persecution, this drama, performed throughout human history, has never changed its plot. The women who created the myth of Agnodice enjoyed only a transitory victory.
A certain maiden, named Agnodice, desired to learn medicine, so she cut her hair, donned male clothing, and became a student of Herophilos. After completing her studies, she went to the assistance of a woman crying out in the course of labour. The woman, thinking Agnodice was a man, refused her help, but Agnodice lifted up her clothes and revealed her true sex and was thus able to treat her patient.
When the male doctors found that their services were not wanted by women, they blamed Agnodice, saying that he had seduced the women and accusing the women of feigning illness in order to be treated by her. Agnodice was brought before the law and condemned by the male doctors.
Once again Agnodice lifted her tunic to show that she was indeed a woman. The doctors accused her even more vehemently for disregarding the law that prohibits women from studying medicine. At this point, the wives of prominent citizens intervened, saying, "You men are not spouses but enemies since you are condemning her who discovered health for us."
Then, the Athenians emended the law so that freeborn women could study medicine.
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