title: Conception, complicated pregnancy, and labour of gods and heroes in Greek mythology.
abstract: Pregnancy and labour are holy moments in a woman's life. Even in Greek mythology we can find descriptions of them. We searched in the Greek myths to find descriptions of labours of ancient heroes and gods. We identified descriptions of extracorporeal fertilization, superfecundation, ectopic pregnancy, preterm labour, prolonged pregnancy and Caesarean section. The use of imagination could help the reader to find similarities in present or future developments in the field of obstetrics. It could be concluded that various aspects of modern obstetrical practice are described in Greek mythology.
authors.affiliation: Alfa Institute of Biomedical Sciences (AIBS), Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Iavazzo
authors.forename: Constantinos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Trompoukis
authors.forename: Thalia
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sardi
authors.forename: Matthew E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Falagas
mesh_terms: D002585:Cesarean Section / Q000266:history*; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization; D000076145:Greece, Ancient; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D007743:Labor, Obstetric / Q000266:history*; D009229:Mythology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000266:history; D011271:Pregnancy, Ectopic / Q000266:history; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D014930:Women / Q000266:history*