How Ancient Societies Handled Complicated Childbirth: 5 Historical Case Studies

-


Disclaimer:  This image is AI-generated for illustrative purposes and does not depict real people or events directly.


Introduction

Childbirth in the ancient world was a moment of both joy and danger.  

Before the emergence of hospitals, antibiotics, and modern surgical procedures, people from different cultures mixed practical knowledge and spiritual beliefs to face the unpredictable process of labor.

During childbirth, women went through unbearable pain and faced life threatening risks, especially during complicated deliveries. 

There was no access to modern tools or sterile environments; therefore they relied on what was available in the society, such as midwives, prayers, herbs, and rituals.


Common complications during labor included:

  • Breech births (where the baby came feet-first), 
  • Prolonged labor, 
  • heavy bleeding, 
  • Infections,
  • Stillbirths and 
  • Retained placentas.

Here are five historical examples showing how different societies tried to save mothers and babies during childbirth.


1. Ancient Egypt (c. 1500 BCE): Spells, Midwives, and Birth Bricks.

In ancient Egypt, childbirth was both a spiritual and practical event. Midwives played an important role, using both natural remedies and sacred rituals to help mothers during labor.

The Ebers Papyrus is one of the oldest medical texts in history. It mentions treatments like honey, dates soaked in wine, and herbs such as frankincense, which were inserted into the birth canal to provide relief from pain or induce contractions.

Women gave birth while squatting on rectangular clay “birthing bricks,” which were decorated with protective spiritual symbols, believed to protect the mother and child from harm.

Protective amulets were worn and invocations to Hathor, the goddess of fertility and childbirth, were also performed. 

Stillbirths and maternal deaths were blamed on evil spirits, and sometimes incantations were recited to drive them away.


2. Ancient Greece (c. 400 BCE): Manual Turning and Herbal Relief.

During this period, the Greek physicians like Hippocrates were already observing the causes of difficult births and experimenting with an early kind of obstetric technique.

One known complication was when a baby was positioned sideways in the womb, a transverse lie. Midwives attempted to solve this by gently repositioning the fetus, using olive oil to aid the process.

Greek women in labor were encouraged to squat or sit upright.

Pain relief included wine, opium derivatives, or herbs like mandrake.


3. Ancient India (c. 300 BCE): Surgical Solutions in the Sushruta Samhita.

Ancient Indian medicine, as described in the Sushruta Samhita, demonstrated a good understanding of childbirth challenges.

Sushruta was a famous physician of that time. He wrote detailed descriptions of surgical procedures to remove a dead fetus when natural birth was impossible, with the aim to save the mother’s life.

He outlined specific tools, curved knives, forceps, and cauterizing instruments, which were reportedly sterilized using fire or alcohol. 

Herbal anesthetics, such as cannabis or wine infusions, were used to dull the pain.

Although full cesarean sections were rare, surgical extraction of the fetus was practiced.

This shows that early Indian practitioners valued maternal survival and were ready to intervene surgically when needed.


4. The Banyoro of Uganda (1879): A Precolonial Cesarean That Shocked Europe.

One of the most surprising examples of advanced childbirth care comes from 19th-century East Africa.

In 1879, a Scottish doctor named Robert Felkin witnessed a cesarean section performed by the Banyoro people of Uganda. 

To his surprise, the mother remained conscious, was given banana wine as anesthetic, and survived the operation, along with her baby.

The abdomen was sterilized with banana alcohol, and after the baby was delivered, the wound was stitched using iron needles and plant fibers. 

The midwives even massaged the uterus to help it contract, a technique still used today.

At that time, cesarean sections in Europe mostly ended in death. Felkin’s detailed account proved Western assumptions wrong about African medicine. 

The procedure he observed was clean, careful, and effective, suggesting that surgical knowledge in precolonial Africa was more advanced than many Europeans believed.


5. Medieval Europe (12th–15th Century): When Prayer Replaced Surgery.

In medieval Europe, childbirth was approached from a religious perspective.

Due to the absence of reliable medical instruments and safe surgical procedures, complications were frequently regarded as spiritual trials rather than medical conditions.

Midwives relied on prayers, relics, and saintly intervention. Saint Margaret of Antioch, who was believed to protect women in labor, was invoked. 

Some mothers would place their hands on images of the saint or listen to her legend being read aloud during labor. 

In one account, a woman reportedly delivered safely after such a ritual. Her survival was credited to divine help.

Medical interventions like cesarean sections were rare, and almost never performed on living women. 

Religious and cultural taboos forbade such surgical procedures. However, in cases where a mother died during labor, a post-mortem cesarean was attempted, not to save her life, but to baptize the infant and ensure the salvation of its soul."

Conclusion

These stories show that ancient people were not ignorant in the field of midwifery. They used the tools and knowledge they had, like natural herbs, hands-on techniques, or spiritual beliefs to try to save lives.

Modern midwifery has its foundations in these early acts of courage, care, and innovation.


Related topics:

Ancient African innovations

https://historyforumtz.blogspot.com/2025/03/ancient-african-innovations-untold.html


Sources:

1. Ebers Papyrus (c. 1550 BCE), translated by Paul Ghalioungui, Cairo University Press.

2. Hippocrates. Hippocratic Writings. Penguin Classics, 1978.

3. Sushruta. Sushruta Samhita, trans. K.K. Bhishagratna, 1907.

4. Felkin, R.W. “Notes on Labour in Central Africa.” Edinburgh Medical Journal, 1884.

5. Green, Monica H. Making Women's Medicine Masculine. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Comments

Post a Comment

MUST READ

Draw a sketch map of East Africa showing the famous historical sites. Explain the importance of historical sites.

-
Image
Historical Sites in East Africa Historical sites are special places that preserve evidence of early human life. These include tools, fossils, structures, and other remains that help us to understand how ancient people lived. These sites are open to the public for educational purposes and tourism. In Tanzania, major historical sites include Isimila, Olduvai Gorge, Kondoa Irangi, Bagamoyo, Zanzibar, Kilwa, Mafia, Engaruka, and Kagera.  Uganda hosts sites like Nsongezi, Biggo, Ntubi, Rusinga Island, Magosi, and Ishago.  In Kenya, notable sites include Lake Turkana (formerly Lake Rudolf), Naivasha, Njoro, Olorgesailie, Lake Magadi, Lamu, Mombasa, and Mount Kenya. Importance of Historical Sites 1. Create employment for local communities (e.g., guides, caretakers). 2. Improve infrastructure such as roads and communication networks. 3. Offer educational resources and historical knowledge. 4. Attract tourists, bringing in foreign exchange. 5. Promote the development of schools and hea...
Read more

Show the Illegitimacy of the so called 'Legitimate trade'.

-
Image
Disclaimer:  This image is AI-generated for illustrative purposes and does not depict real people or events directly . Legitimate Trade in 19th Century Africa. After the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade in the 19th century, a new form of commerce emerged between Europeans and Africans known as ' legitimate trade'.  Legitimate trade was a kind of exchange that replaced slave trade and instead of selling human beings, people bought and sold object-commodities such as minerals like gold, silver and diamond, cash crops like cotton, cocoa, rubber and sisal and animal products like skins and ivory.  This trade was called 'legitimate', meaning legit or legal trade, replacing 'illegal trade',  The 'slave trade'. Items of the trade. African traders exported products like: Palm oil, Ivory, Peanuts, Cocoa, Gold. In return, European traders supplied: Textiles, Alcoholic beverages, Guns and Mirrors. Although it was termed " legitimate ," this trad...
Read more

Show the pattern of the colonial infrastructure and explain why the transport systems ran perpendicular from the interior to the coast.

-
Image
     Photo credit to original owner Introduction. After the African continent had been fully colonized by European powers, They established various socio-economic infrastructures such as industries, mines, roads, railways, ports, harbours, and telegraphs. Distribution-Pattern of Colonial Infrastructure When you are asked to show the " pattern ", you are supposed to explain where exactly these infrastructures were built and their direction. Colonial housing, water services, hospitals, schools, and electricity infrastructure were set near plantations, mines, and urban centers to ensure smooth production and provide comfortable accommodation for officials and laborers. Transport and communication infrastructuresuch as roads, railways, and telegraphs, were built starting from the coast (ports and harbours) and extended towards plantations and mining centers which were located into the interior. These routes passed through plantation zones and connected to labor reserve areas...
Read more

COLONIAL SOCIAL SERVICES

-
COLONIAL SOCIAL SERVICES IN AFRICA Colonial social services refer to the essential services introduced by European colonial powers during the colonial period in Africa.  These services, such as education, public health, housing, water, and electricity, were not primarily meant to benefit the African population, but rather to support colonial exploitation and improve the living conditions of European settlers and colonial administrators. Aims of Colonial Social Services 1. To facilitate the Exploitation of African Resources. Social services were introduced to ensure smooth extraction of raw materials and other economic benefits for the colonizing powers. 2. To support the European Settlers and Civil Servants. These services were mainly established in settler areas to improve the well-being of the few Europeans living in Africa. 3. To train a Small African Workforce. Few Africans were educated to serve as clerks, interpreters, and low-level administrators to assist in running the col...
Read more

ESTABLISHMENT OF COLONIALISM

-
TOPIC ONE  ESTABLISHMENT OF COLONIALISM IN AFRICA .   Colonialism can be defined as a situation whereby one powerful country dominates less powerful country in all spheres of life; economically, socially and politically with the aim of exploiting its resources.  By the second half of the 19th century, the imperialist powers from Europe established colonialism in Africa in order to meet their capitalist demands such as raw materials for their industries in Europe, new areas of investment where they could invest their capital, market areas for their manufactured merchandise (goods), cheap labor and areas to settle the surplus population which was increasing at a sharp pace especially soon after the industrial and demographic revolutions in Europe from the 1750s  STAGES OF COLONIZATION The colonization of Africa was not an overnight process, rather a slow process that was well organized. The process of colonialism was fundamentally of three (3) main st...
Read more

AFRICA AND EXTERNAL WORLD

-
  TOPIC 3: AFRICA AND EXTERNAL WORLD EARLY CONTACTS WITH MIDDLE EAST AND FAR EAST This was a period when people of east Africa began to interact with people from Middle East and Far East in the  200 BC.   These contacts were mostly developed through commercial activities. The early visitors were Persians, Syrians, Indians, Chinese, Lebanese, Burma and Arabians. The visitors managed to travel to the coast of East Africa through the use of Sea Vessels with the help of monsoon winds.  Trade contacts between East African coast and the Far and Middle East intensified between 8th and 10th Century when many traders from China, Indonesia, India, and Arab came to trade to African countries. Evidences of existence of the trade 1.  Archaeological findings such as China porcelains, coins, and foreigners tombs in areas like KilwaKisiwani and Old Bagamoyo. 2. Written documents; example The Christian Topography, Ptolemy's geography and the greek guide ...
Read more

The First World War was imperialistic war. Discuss.

-
Introduction . The first world war was a global fight that took place from 1914 to 1918 between the triple Alliance and the triple Entente. Nations like Britain, France, and Russia formed the Triple Entente which was enemy to the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.  It was called a World War because many nations from different continents were involved. Although the main battles took place in Europe, countries from Africa, Asia, and the Americas also participated, either directly or by supporting their colonial rulers. For example, colonial subjects from Asia and Africa were recruited or conscripted to fight for European powers. The United States joined the war in 1917 after Germany sank American ships supplying the Entente Powers, with food and weapons. The war concluded with the defeat of the Triple Alliance. In African colonies, the war also sparked local conflicts. Territories like Kenya (under British control) and Tanganyika (a former German colony) became b...
Read more

The current african underdevelopment is a historical phenomenon. Justify.

-
The Historical Causes of Africa’s Underdevelopment and the Path to Growth . The term ' underdevelopment ' doesn't mean the absence of developent but  a comparative term to compare the level of development between African, Asian and Latin American countries to developed countries like Britain, U.S.A, France and China. The developed countries are characterized by; heavy industries,  high technology,  high production,  good living standards and  high per capital income. The underdeveloped countries lag behind the developed countries in terms by having;   Few and poor industries,  Low rate of production,  Low life expectancy and  poor living standards. Therefore the African current underdevelopent should be traced as far back as from the 15th century when the outsiders started to cross the oceans while Africa was still unprepared for it. The following is a historical chronology on the African underdevelopent; 1. The unequal trade relatio...
Read more

Colonialism and Imperialism are the two sides of the same coin. Justify.

-
Colonialism and Imperialism: Two Sides of the Same Coin. Colonialism is a situation whereby a powerful nation dominates and controls a weaker nation politically, socially, and economically, establishing exploitative structures for its benefit. Imperialism, also known as monopoly capitalism, was the highest stage of capitalism in Europe. It was characterized by expansionism, where powerful nations extended their influence over weaker ones to increase power and maximize profits. In most cases, imperialism gave birth to colonialism. Although colonialism and imperialism differ slightly in approach, their features and impacts are largely the same. Imperialism involves conquering a weaker state and making it part of a stronger nation, effectively creating one expanded country. For example, Hitler’s expansion into Poland. But colonialism involves a powerful nation conquering a weaker, separate state and turning it into a colony, such as the British colonization of various Asian and African co...
Read more

mwanemutapa kingdom. "Master of conquered lands"

-
The Mwanemutapa Kingdom The Mwanemutapa Kingdom was established between the 14th and 16th centuries by the Karanga people of Mashonaland. The first leader of the kingdom was Mutota. Mutota grew powerful by conquering the Tawara and Tonga people of the Zambezi Valley. As a result of these victories, he earned the title Mwanemutapa, meaning "Master of the Conquered Lands." Reasons for Mutota’s Expansion; 1. Control of Gold and Trade Routes – Mutota aimed to control trade routes leading to the East African coast and access gold-producing areas. 2. Need for Land – He sought more land for farming and grazing to support his people. 3. Desire for Prestige – Mutota wanted recognition as a great leader ruling over many chiefs and their people. Succession and Division of the Kingdom Mutota died in 1450, and his son Matope succeeded him. Matope expanded the kingdom significantly, from the Zambezi River in the north to the Limpopo River and Kalahari in the south, reaching as far as the I...
Read more