Laudatio Turiae
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36399/6bnazk06Keywords:
Laudatio Turiae, ancient medicine, classical Rome, women, infertilityAbstract
This piece is based on the Laudatio Turiae, a tombstone inscription from classical Rome from a husband to his wife. This short piece tells the wife's story when she is distraught that it seems she cannot bear children for her husband, and seeks out Rome's physicians, eventually leading her to the Greek physician, Asclepiades.
References
Being Roman with Mary Beard. (n.d.). Episode 2: The vengeance of Turia [Audio podcast episode]. In Being Roman with Mary Beard. BBC Sounds. Retrieved July 8, 2025, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001sctb
Brady, F. A., & Kelly, B. D. (2023). Asclepiades of Bithynia: Greek physician and medical reformer. Irish Journal of Medical Science, 192(4), 1775–1778. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-022-03216-2
Flemming, R. (2013). The invention of infertility in the classical Greek world: Medicine, divinity, and gender. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 87(4), 565–590. https://doi.org/10.1353/bhm.2013.0064
Flemming, R. (2021). Fertility control in ancient Rome. Women’s History Review, 30(6), 896–914. https://doi.org/10.1080/09612025.2020.1833491
Horsfall, N. (1983). Some problems in the Laudatio Turiae. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies(30), 85–98.
Laudatio Turiae: The English translation of the inscription used. (n.d.). Retrieved July 8, 2025, from https://droitromain.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/Anglica/Laudatio_Turiae_Wistrand.htm
Lucretius. (1924). On the nature of things (W. H. D. Rouse, Trans.; M. F. Smith, Rev.; Loeb Classical Library No. 181). Harvard University Press. (Original work published ca. 50 BCE)
Rooney, K. L., & Domar, A. D. (2018). The relationship between stress and infertility. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 20(1), 41–47. https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2018.20.1/klrooney
