Toward a Revision of Metrodora’s Treatise: Evidence from Newly Examined Manuscripts

Abstract

The work attributed to Metrodora, known until now from the manuscript Laur. Plut. 75.3 under the title: From the Works of Metrodora: On the Female Diseases of the Womb (Ἐκ τῶν Μητροδώρας· περὶ τῶν γυναικείων παθῶν τῆς μήτρας), must now be re-evaluated. After many years of research, it has been established that the manuscript Vat. gr. 299, together with its copy Ambr. Mss. S 3 sup., as well as Voss. gr. F 25 along with its copy in Vat. gr. 1902, preserve a significantly more extensive version of the text, which includes a much larger number of chapters. Moreover, Vat. gr. 299 preserves for the first time the title of the work: Metrodora, female physician, On Women’s  (Μητροδώρας ἰατρίνας, Γυναικείων). These manuscripts introduce an entirely new dimension to the study of the treatise. On Women’s appears, on the basis of an indirect reference in Vat. gr. 299, to belong chronologically to the early Byzantine period (4th–5th centuries AD). The text fits within a broader tradition of gynecological treatises with similar titles, shared vocabulary, recipes, and therapeutic instructions, indicating that these texts functioned as medical and pharmaceutical manuals, which were often assembled into collections, sometimes extensive and sometimes concise.