History of the Breast: a Cross-Cultural and Interdisciplinary Approach

Introduction

Abstract

  The present book explores the history of the breast and of breastfeeding from Antiquity to the Renaissance. Consulting a large range of sources – including medical sources, literary testimonia, sculptural and painting representations – the contributors look at the breast and breastfeeding from sacred, religious, erotic, psychological and scientific perspectives. This interdisciplinary approach is also socio-anthropological in the sense that the authors offer new culturalhistorical interpretations that enrich our knowledge of the female breast as a symbol of beauty, fertility and femininity. In addition, the contributors provide a study of the socio-cultural aspects of breastfeeding practices.