VAKALOUDI ANASTASIA
contraception and abortion from antiquity to Byzantium
<ANT. STAMOULIS Publications, Thessaloniki 2003>
ISBN 960-8353-04-1
SUMMARY
A
woman's life in Byzantium didn't differ too much from that of a woman in ancient
Athens. In both cases the social restrictions, the deprivation of civil rights,
the judicious limitations were compulsory. Marriage, children and household
were the mere proper destination for a woman, her firm duties and interests as
well. However, both in ancient Greece and Byzantium contraception and abortion
were also ordinary phenomena. Yet, unlike the most loose beliefs of the
antiquity, contraception and abortion in Byzantium were considered as a crime
against life.
