Notes
Artemisia
Used today for various ailments, including common colds and stomach pains, the genus of artemisia plants has a long history of being used to help with various medical issues.[1] There are no scientific studies to back claims of what ailments artemisia can help with. Still, history tells the story of a plant that was commonly found and commonly prescribed to help with pains, especially related to childbirth.[3]
Description: Member of the Artemisia genus, Sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua).
Source: Britannica [6]
Both Soranus and Dioscorides prescribed Artemisia or wormwood, a member of the genus of plants Artemisia, as an antifertility drug.[4] Wormwood and, by extension, the artemisia plant genus continued to be seen as abortifacients throughout history. There are records of artemisia being discussed as an abortifacient by herbalist writers in the Middle Ages, when, due to the Christian churches' opposition to abortion, there are very few documents written at that time that discuss abortion and how to enact one.[4]
Description: Artemisia cina (Levant wormseed)
Source: 1897 illustration from Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen. Accessed through Wikipedia Commons.[7]
Traveling back to the ancient world, artemisia is believed to have received its name from the Greek goddess Artemis. Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, animals, and nature, but she is also the goddess of women and a protector of childbirth, as well as one of the maiden goddesses.[5] Besides Artemis, artemisia might have been named after Queen Artemisia II of Caria. Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist and author, wrote that artemisia had been named after Queen Artemisia II, reflecting her activities as a botanist and medical researcher in the fourth century BCE, in his book Natural History in 77 CE. [2]
Description: The Diana of Versailles, a Roman copy of a Greek sculpture by Leochares
Source: Located in the Louvre Museum. Accessed through Wikipedia Commons. [8]
Sources:
[1] Bos, Gerrit, and Guido Mensching. “Macer Floridus: A Middle Hebrew Fragment with Romance
Elements.” The Jewish Quarterly Review 91, no. 1/2 (2000): 17–51.
https://doi.org/10.2307/1454786.
[2] Pliny, The Elder, Johann Emerich, and Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection. Historia Naturalis. [Venice, Johannes
de Spira before 18 Sept, 1469] PDF. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,
[3] Riddle, John M., J. Worth Estes, and Josiah C. Russell. “Ever Since Eve... Birth Control in the
Ancient World.” Archaeology 47, no. 2 (1994): 29–35.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41770706.
[4] Riddle, John M. “Chapter 3 - Soranus on Antifertility Agents.” Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient
World to the Renaissance. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1994, pp. 25-30,
hdl.handle.net/2027/heb01463.0001.001. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.
[5] Riddle, John M., and J. Worth Estes. “Oral Contraceptives in Ancient and Medieval Times.” American Scientist,
vol. 80, no. 3, 1992, pp. 226–33. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29774642. Accessed 1 May 2025.
Image Sources:
[6] “Artemisia | Plant | Britannica.” www.britannica.com, www.britannica.com/plant/artemisia-plant.
[7] “Artemisia Cina.” Wikipedia, 6 Feb. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_cina.
[8] “Diana of Versailles.” Wikipedia, 11 Feb. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_of_Versailles.