Breastfeeding in Roman Literature: The Effects of Breast Milk on The Physical and Mental Development of The Infant

Abstract

Roman literary sources indicated that there was a consensus of opinion that breast milk had an important effect on the physical and mental development of the newborn. Hence it had been advised that infants should be nursed by their own mothers and a wet nurse should be hired only if the mother had a health problem and in that case the wet nurse should be chosen with a great diligence. But it is observed that the use of wet nurses was very common especially among the upper classes and it became a personal choice beginning from the last years of the Republic. In this study examining Latin literary sources about breastfeeding, rst the effect of breast milk on the newborn will be investigated and then the attitude of wealthy families about this issue and the critiques directed towards them will be discussed. In this way the contrast between the ideal thought which was promoted especially by the authors concerned about oratory and the tendency of the society will be demonstrated. At the end of the study, on account of being an example of the attitude of wealthy Roman mothers about breastfeeding and the critiques directed towards them, the Turkish translation of the philosopher Favorinus' (c. AD 80-160) oration which was translated to Latin from Greek by the Roman author Aulus Gellius (c. AD 123-170) is presented as well.

Keywords

• Roma
• Anne Sütü
• Emzirme
• Sütanne
• Favorinus