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[Metamorphosis of the uterus from Hippocrates to Ambroise Pare]
Gesnerus
|February 18, 2003
Abstract:
The treatise Des monstres et prodiges (1579, 1585) by Ambroise Paré includes a vignette depicting a monstrous embryo in the form of a human head surrounded by snakes. This picture belongs to the iconographic tradition relating to the Graeco-Roman mythology of sexuality and procreation. It derives from the belief in the womb's animal nature, illustrated on magic Graeco-Roman and Byzantine gemstones, where the uterus is shown in turn as a cupping vessel, a scarab-beetle, an octopus or the head of Gorgo.
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On the ovarian surface, a layer of cuboidal...
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