Jennifer Irving

Restituta: The Training of the Female Physician

The Restituta inscription

The ‘Restituta Inscription’, IG XVI 1751, is a unique inscription dedicated by a

woman, Restituta, to her professor and patron Claudius Alcimus, who was also a
doctor of Caesar.1 The inscription is unique because it is the only excavated epigraph
that documents the relationship between a female physician and her male teacher.
The content alone makes the ‘Restituta Inscription’ significant to understanding the
role played by women in the medical profession of first-century-CE Rome. The pur-
pose of this paper is to place the ‘Restituta Inscription’ within its historical context
and to interpret its content in terms of both the dedicator’s connection to the medi-
cal profession as well as the interaction between males and females within that pro-
fession. Supplementary inscriptions and literary evidence will assist in this analysis.

The ‘Restituta Inscription’ falls into the category of evidence about professional
women which has generally been neglected by contemporary scholarship due to a
lack of evidence in the ancient literature.2 Alongside other inscriptions that detail

1
  IG XIV 1751 is also known as CIG 6604, IGRR I.283 and IGUR II 675. I refer to it as the ‘Resti-
tuta Inscription’ henceforth. The identity of the Caesar mentioned here is unknown due to questions
concerning the date of the inscription. This article was originally presented as a paper at the AM-
PHORAE Conference at Macquarie University, Sydney, 30 September 2011. I would like to acknowl-
edge the advice of both Dr. Ian Plant and Dr. Peter Keegan concerning the writing of this paper.
2
  The history of ancient women in general has been limited by the sources pertaining to women
being few in comparison to men. This is not surprising considering that texts of the ancient world
were almost exclusively written for men by men. Modern theories and interpretations have also a
limited value as the scholars are influenced by their own comprehension of the place of the woman
in ancient communities. We must also remember that studies of women and healing traditions in the
first century CE are Athenian, masculine focused and often ambiguous. Once we have accepted these

44 melbourne historical journal | vol. 40 issue 2 | the amphora issue (2012): 44–56 © melbourne historical journal
the working lives of women, Restituta is subject to the typical failings of previous
studies. These studies acknowledge that questions concerning the involvement of
women in the medical tradition exist but do not attempt to answer them.3 F.P. Re-
tief, for example, notes that it would be particularly interesting if a study were to
be undertaken into the topic of the instruction of female medical practitioners, and
yet, beyond expressing this sentiment, he makes no attempt to do so.4 Ancient lit-
erary sources always assert that medicine in the Greek and Roman worlds was a
male-based profession. As a result, the reception of women who belonged to heal-
ing traditions in these sources is decidedly negative. Owing to the introduction of
naturalistic theories and the advent of the Hippocratic schools of thought, women
are generally assumed to have been excluded from the healing profession.5 More-
over, it is also thought that, because of their greater educational opportunities and
social dominance, males were in a better position to learn and practice medicine.
The Restituta and other inscriptions will be discussed in later sections to show that,
while medicine was a male dominated profession, women could also become and be
received as professional healers under certain circumstances.

The inscription, uncovered in Rome and dated to the first century CE, reads
‘Τι(βερίῳ) ∙ Κλαυδίῳ Ἀλκίμῳ ∙ ἰατρῷ Καίσαρος ∙ ἐποίησε Ῥεστιτοῦτα ∙ πάτρωνι ∙
καὶ ∙ καθηγητῇ ἀγαθῷ καὶ ἀξίῳ ἔζη(σε) ἔτη πβ’ (‘For Tiberius Claudius Alcimus,

limitations of the modern scholarship we can begin to interpret the evidence in a light more fitting to
the contemporary ideas of the ancients themselves.
3
  A. Kosmopoulou, ‘Working Women: Female Professionals on Classical Attic Gravestones’, The
Annual of the British School at Athens 96 (2001): 281–319; P. McKechnie and P. Guillaume, Ptolemy II
Philadelphus and his World, (Leiden, Brill, 2008). In particular the following sources allude to the topic
of training women as doctors but lack subsequent discussion: Rebecca Flemming, Medicine and the
Making of Roman Women: Gender, Nature, and Authority from Celsus to Galen (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2000); I.E. Drabkin, ‘Medical Education in Ancient Greece and Rome’, Journal of Medical Ed-
ucation 32.4 (1957): 286–296; Holt N. Parker, ‘Women Doctors in Greece, Rome, and the Byzantine
Empire’, in Women Healers and Physicians: Climbing a Long Hill, ed. Lilian R. Furst, (Kentucky: The
University Press of Kentucky, 1997), 131–150; Vivian Nutton, Ancient Medicine (London: Routledge,
2004); Jakka Korpela, Das Medizinalpersonal im Antiken Rom: Eine sozialgeschichtliche Untersuchung (Hel-
sinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1987), 166; Herman Gummerus, ‘Der Ärztestand im römischen
Reiche I. Die westliche Reichshälfte’, Societas Scientiarum Fennica. Commentaiones Humanarum Littera-
rum 3.6 (1932): 43.
4
  F.P. Retief, ‘The Healing Hand: The Role of Women in Ancient Medicine’, Acta Theologica Supple-
mentum 7 (2005): 179.
5
  S. Blundell, Women in Ancient Greece (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1995), 100; R. Finneg-
an, ‘The Professional Careers: Women Pioneers and the Male Image Seduction’, Classics Ireland 2
(1995): 1–3.

Restituta: The Training of the Female Physician 45

Doctor of Caesar. Made by Restituta, for her patron and professor, good and wor-
thy, he lived 82 years!’).6 The text explicitly provides an example of the education
of a woman in the male-dominated medical profession that does not involve a male
relation. This indicates that some women were educated in medical matters not
only by laymen but also by men of some repute who, like Claudius Alcimus, were
recognised for the teaching of their remedial knowledge. This shows that there were
first-century-CE communities whose attitudes accommodated the education of
women as healers and who valued their subsequent work as medical professionals.

Hellenistic and Eastern cultures held a combined influence on Roman society in the
first century CE and existed alongside the more traditional Roman ideals.7 Restitu-
ta is presented to us from within this context as the student of a doctor, although
she is not named as a doctor herself. Alongside the evidence that Restituta was a
female doctor or assistant, the Hellenistic and Eastern influences within Rome are
significant for analysing this inscription, as we will see below. It will be argued that
evidence for Restituta’s role as a student of medicine can be drawn from other in-
scriptions relating to medicae and Greek-influenced female doctors which have been
found in Rome and the Eastern Empire.

Identity and ethnicity

The name Restituta is telling because it stands alone and is a typical slave name,
which usually described a person’s role. Restituta means ‘restored’, which could re-
late to her role in the household to which she belonged upon first arriving in Rome.
Based on the name of the individuals involved and their place in the household
of Caesar, Herman Gummerus, among the original publications of the ‘Restituta
Inscription’, concludes that Restituta is Claudius Alcimus’ freedwomen.8 Jakka Kor-
pela expresses strong doubt about this but does not further explain his doubt.9 That
Restituta was indeed a freedwoman is suggested by her position as the student of a

6
  All translations are my own except where indicated.
7
  For a comprehensive study of change in the Hellenistic period in relation to Eastern influences
see P. Loman, Mobility of Hellenistic Women (Nottingham: University of Nottingham, 2004); R. Van
Bremen, The Limits of Participation: Women and Civic Life in the Greek East in the Hellenistic and Roman
Periods (Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben Publishers, 1996).
8
  Gummerus, ‘Der Ärztestand im römischen Reiche I’, 43.
9
  Korpela, Das Medizinalpersonal im Antiken Rom, 166.

46 Jennifer Irving
doctor to Caesar as well as her name. However, the reason why she was personally
responsible for this inscription requires further discussion because the occurrence
is unique and outside the common formulations of epitaphs. There is evidence for
the name Restituta among freeborn Roman women. There are five instances in the
Pompeian corpus of informal inscriptions where Restituta is believed to be a prosti-
tute and one from Beneventum in which Crispia Restituta, a wealthy free woman, is
described as setting up an alimentary program in 11 CE.10 In addition to her activi-
ties, the difference between the higher status of Crispia Restituta and the prostitutes
of Pompeii lies primarily in the praenomen ‘Crisipia’. The praenomen is only seen in
the names of freeborn Romans, particularly of Patrician status, and was bestowed
on Roman children on the dies lustricus. The Restituta of IG XVI 1751 parallels the
examples from the Pompeian corpus in standing alone and is a possible indication
of her low status. The Pompeian Restitutae can safely be said to be prostitutes judg-
ing from the content of the various inscriptions, such as Restitutus (dicit): Restituta
pone tunica; rogo, redes pilosa co(nnum) (‘Restitutus says: Restituta, take off that dress;
come on, give us your hairy cunt.’).11 The relationship between the name Restituta
and the lower status roles suggests that the Restituta of IG XVI 1751 was indeed a
slave or freedwoman of Claudius Alcimus.

Claudius Alcimus is not only Restituta’s patron and professor but also a ‘Physician
to Caesar’, which suggests that his status was higher than the average physician.
This is especially possible because this title is used in place of the typical nomencla-
ture describing whose freedman he is. It seems likely that Claudius Alcimus was a
Greek freedman. The argument that he is a freedman is supported by elements of
his name alongside the use of foreigners and slaves in medical matters. ‘Alcimus’
is a Greek name and is accompanied by the traditional praenomina suggestive of
freedman status (Tiberius Claudius). The lack of a paternal nomen suggests that
he was personally freed rather than coming from a freed family. Claudius Alcimus’
position was as high as a ‘Physician to Caesar’, but evidence suggests that he may
have been one of many. Augustus in Suetonius is recorded as having many medical
staff whom he could easily spare on a permanent basis.12 It is difficult because of this

10
  CIL IV. 1374, 1361, 1665 (Restituta. cum Secundo domno suo), 2202 and 3951 and ILS 6675.
11
  CIL IV 3951; translation from Antonio Varone, Erotica Pompeiana: Love Inscriptions on the Walls of
Pompeii (Rome: l’Erma di Bretschneider, 2002), 98.
12
  Suet. Calig. 8.4: mitto paeterea cum eo ex seruis meis medicum, quem scripsi Germanico si uellet ut retiner-

Restituta: The Training of the Female Physician 47

evidence to pin point the status and attitude towards physicians like Restituta and
Claudius Alcimus; what is easier to interpret is the educational association between
them.

In the first century CE, there was an abundance of skilled slaves in large and impe-
rial households like that of which Restituta and Claudius Alcimus were part. Livia,
for example, in the first century CE, is known to have owned a huge contingent of
slaves for all manner of tasks.13 The large number of slaves was partly the result of
the introduction of skilled slaves through conquest. Slaves and freedmen were often
trained as physicians, and we have records of valetudinaria (‘infirmaries for slaves’)
where slave physicians may have looked after other slaves.14 But P.A. Baker argues
that the evidence for military valetudinaria has been over-interpreted in the past,
noting that we have even less information for civilian valetudinaria who may have
worked with or been treated by them, since only Aulus Cornelius Celsus mentions
them.15 Rome’s higher social classes perceived involvement in the medical profes-
sion to be beneath their dignity but Restituta, as a freedwoman associated with a
large household, was in a position to study a healing profession. Wealthy Romans
hired well-trained doctors and midwives from the Graeco-Roman East where the
professions were more highly esteemed. That Claudius Alcimus might have been
chosen for his existing medical skills is suggested by the Greek origin of ‘Alcimus’.
We can also assert that Restituta may have originated in the East or was a student of
Greek medicine through Claudius Alcimus, although this cannot be definitely deter-
mined. This is suggested by the Roman habit of bringing in skilled persons from the
East and the Roman view that scientific medicine was a decidedly Greek skill. The
educated and literate ἰατρίνη (‘female doctor’) had an established existence in the
Graeco-Roman East in the first centuries, where the reception of women in healing

et (‘I send with him besides one of my slaves who is a physician, and I have written to Germanicus to
keep him is he wishes.’), trans. C. Edwards, Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, (Oxford: Oxford Univer-
sity Press, 2008). Note that Augustus can readily spare this doctor permanently; surely this implies
that there were a number of others on the staff: ‘Throughout the city in this period the doctors were
ordinarily slaves …’, Christopher A. Forbes, ‘Supplementary Paper: The Education and Training of
Slaves in Antiquity’, Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 86 (1955): 345.
13
  S. Treggiari, ‘Jobs in the Household of Livia’, Papers of the British School at Rome 43 (1975):
48–77.
14
  Forbes, ‘Supplementary Paper’, 345
15
  P.A. Baker, ‘Archaeological Remains as a Source of Evidence for Roman Medicine’, Medicina
Antiqua 27 (2009). Celsus, Med., praef. 65.

48 Jennifer Irving
roles was positive because of the long standing regional traditions which equated
women with natural healing techniques.16 The literate female physician is seen in
Eastern Greek epigraphy in the form of women like Mousa, who is depicted on an
epitaph of the first century BCE with a book-roll in her hand as a sign of education
and named in the inscription as a female doctor.17 However, Restituta’s role as the
student of Claudius Alcimus indicates that she was trained by him in Rome and was
not herself necessarily directly of Eastern traditions.

Restituta’s dedication suggests that she was personally affected by Claudius Alci-
mus’ death and that she was of a status that allowed her to dedicate an elaborate
epitaph in the absence of the deceased’s family. We can determine that Restituta her-
self was not a family member of Claudius Alcimus because the inscription does not
follow the standard formula by citing the relationship between the two characters.
In the majority of other inscriptions related to female doctors, we see a mention of
a familial relationship: between the woman and the man, husband and wife, father
and daughter or sometimes mother and son. Pleket 12 of Antiochis of Tlos and the
reference to an Antiochis by Heraclides of Taras exemplify the fact that the familial
connection was mentioned. The female doctor Antiochis is praised as an individual
of high standing but is still associated with her father, Diodotus of Tlos.18 Domnina
of Pleket 26 is both connected to her husband in the text and is also recognised in
her own right for her contribution to the fatherland by saving its population from
a ‘terrible malady’.19 Consequently we can argue that Restituta was not related by
blood to Claudius Alcimus, because Greek inscriptions typically express such a con-
nection when describing a female character. Additionally these inscriptions show

16
  For more information on the feminine relationship to Eastern traditions see G. Leick, A Dictio-
nary of Near Eastern Mythology (London: Routledge, 1998): especially 77, 102, 133; R.T. Marchese,
‘Comparative Medical Approaches in Ancient Greece and the Near East: Societal Perceptions of the
Physician as Healer’, Journal of Popular Culture 19.2 (1985): 1–14.
17
  Istanbul Museum no. 5029; IK Byzantion 128; SEG 24.811. The inscription dates to the first
or second century BCE and reads Μοῦσα Ἀγαθοκλέους ἰατρείνη (‘Mousa, daughter of Agathokleos,
a female doctor’). For further information and reconstructions see F.P. Retief, ‘The Healing Hand’,
165-188; N. Firatli, Les Steles Funeraires de Byzance Greco-Romaine (Paris: A. Maisonneuve, 1964); E.
Pfuhl, Die ostgriechischen Grabreliefs, vol. 1 (Mainz: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, 1977), 151; F.
Bertholet, A. B. Sánchez, et al., Egypte, Grèce, Rome: les différents visages des femmes antiques: travaux et
colloques du séminaire d’épigraphie grecque et latine de l’IASA 2002-2006, (Michigan: University of Michi-
gan, 2008).
18
  H.W. Pleket, Epigraphica Vol. II: Texts on the Social History of the Greek World (Leiden: Brill, 1969).
19
  Pleket, Epigraphica Vol. II, no. 26.

Restituta: The Training of the Female Physician 49

that a female doctor, the ἰατρίνη, could hold a prominent position and profession
in the Graeco-Roman world of the first century CE, since both inscriptions, to An-
tiochis and to Domnina, date to this period. The respect that some female physi-
cians received parallels the more personal level of respect that is indicated between
Claudius Alcimus and Restituta through the latter’s dedication.

In the ‘Restituta Inscription’ it is apparent that Restituta and Claudius Alcimus hold
the roles of professor and student which conform to the popularised method of
instruction that overtook the traditional master and apprentice relationship in the
first century CE. Restituta’s choice of the term καθηγητής (‘professor’) is particularly
illustrative of these roles. This professor and student affiliation was increasingly con-
sidered the best type of medical education because it made use of the theoretical side
of medical practice in addition to the practical. The professor and student relation-
ship was increasingly preferred from the Early Hellenistic period onward because
of the teaching techniques undertaken by the likes of Erasistratus and Herophilus.20

The apprenticeship form of education was available to females in the first and sec-
ond centuries CE around the Graeco-Roman world. This is seen in Graeco-Egyp-
tian contracts that record female slaves who were entrusted to weavers for training.
One papyrus from 150 CE records that the slave-girl Taorsenuphis was given by
her mistress to the weaver Pausiris for a fourteen-month apprenticeship so that the
girl could be ‘taught in the craft just as he knows it himself ’.21 Forbes asserts that
in the case of girls, the only apprentices are slaves since free girls were traditionally
excluded from the money-earning industries.22 The ‘Restituta Inscription’ indicates
that apprenticeship instruction was available to women in Rome of a low status who
were not as restricted by societal ideals.

Feminisation of traditionally male nouns

Restituta is not given a title within the inscription, but, considering the use of the

20
  Drabkin, ‘Medical Education’, 291.
21
  Forbes, ‘Supplementary Paper’, 331; Carl Wessely, Studien zur Paläographie und Papyruskunde,
(Leipzig: E. Avenarius, 1922) no. 40.
22
  Forbes, ‘Supplementary Paper’, 330.

50 Jennifer Irving
term ἰατρός to describe Claudius Alcimus and the teacher-student relationship be-
tween the two characters, it is probable that Restituta was herself an ἰατρίνη (‘female
doctor’) or a σώτειρα (‘helper’). The fact that Restituta could afford and was afforded
the opportunity to dedicate this detailed inscription to Claudius Alcimus suggests
that she was the higher of the two forms, an ἰατρίνη, which was accompanied by
some respect as we have seen with Domnina and Antiochis.

The terms ἰατρός and ἰατρίνη attribute a theoretical knowledge to the role of healer
in addition to practical duties. The connection between the professor and student
in the ‘Restituta Inscription’ also indicates that these terms could be applied in a
case where a theoretical and practical knowledge was being taught. That the term
ἰατρίνη can be connected to Restituta is demonstrated by other epigraphical evi-
dence that attests to women who hold this same title alongside their described roles
and associations. The term ἰατρίνη has distinctly medical and theoretical associ-
ations. It is the feminine form of the term ἰατρός, which means ‘one who heals’
or ‘physician/surgeon’. This meaning is seen in Homer and Herodotus.23 It is also
attested in the feminine to mean doctor in Diogenes as ‘of Artemis’ and ‘of Aphro-
dite’ in Plutarch.24 Helen King asserts that the ἰατρίνη may have had a healing role
that extended beyond that of a midwife’s duties.25 The association of the term with
medical art suggests that a ἰατρίνη was more than just a midwife and that this term
signified a woman skilled in many avenues of the medical profession.26

The use of the term καθηγητής in the ‘Restituta Inscription’ is indicative of a re-
lationship between the theoretical and practical. Plato had argued that a medical
apprenticeship based only on experience was impersonal in comparison to those
practitioners who strived to understand the nature of their art.27 This indicates that
Restituta, as a healing professional, was trained in a way deemed superior to the

23
 Hom. Il. 16.28; Hdt. 3.130.
24
  Diogenes Athen. fr. 1.5 in B. Snell, Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, vol.1, (Göttigen: Vanden-
hoeck & Ruprecht, 1971), 185; Plut. Mor. Conjugalia Praecepta, 2.143d.
25
  Helen King, Hippocrates Women: Reading the Female Body in Ancient Greece, (London: Routledge,
1998), 178–79.
26
  Nutton, however, argues that anyone could claim to be a physician with some healers calling
themselves ἰατρός while only having a very limited theoretical knowledge: Vivian Nutton, ‘Murders
and Miracles: Lay attitudes towards medicine in classical antiquity’ in Patients and Practitioners, ed.
Roy Porter (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1985), 23–53.
27
  Pl. Leg. 720b.

Restituta: The Training of the Female Physician 51

learned mind, gaining experience through practice and theory. The application of
the term καθηγητής suggests that both sides of the medical tradition were being
explored and practiced.

The medical woman in the Graeco-Roman world: associations with

men

Working relationships between male and female doctors like that of Restituta and
Claudius Alcimus are also seen in Pleket 27 from Cilicia Trachea, which dates to
the second century CE.28 It records the names of another medical couple, Obrimos
the doctor and his wife Ammein the helper. Although Ammein, like Restituta, is not
called an ἰατρίνη, I argue that there is value in R. Merkelbach and J. Strauber’s as-
sertion that Ammein was a midwife or a female physician.29 The fact that Ammein
was recorded as a helper to her husband Obrimos suggests that it may have been an
apprentice and teacher relationship in addition to a professional working associa-
tion, in which Ammein could have treated the women and Obrimos the men. Thus,
I argue that it was a complimentary association similar to that of Claudius Alcimus
and Restituta.

Two inscriptions, which also record medical couples, provide evidence of a daugh-
ter who was trained and inspired by her father. Pleket 12, mentioned above, dates
to the first century CE and records that Antiochis was the daughter of Diodotus of
Tlos.30 It reads Ἀντιοχὶς Διοδότου̣ Τλωὶς μαρτυρηθεῖσα ὑπὸ τῆς Τλωέων βουλῆς
καὶ τοῦ δήμου ἐπὶ τῇ περὶ τὴν ἰατρικὴν τέχνην ἐνπειρίᾳ ἔστησεν τὸν ἀνδριάντα
ἑαυτῆς (‘Antiochis, daughter of Diodotus of Tlos, awarded special recognition by
the council and the people of Tlos have set up this statue of her for her experience in
the healing art’). Modern scholars regard the Diodotus of Tlos referred to in this in-
scription to be the same Diodotus mentioned by Dioscorides in his first-century-CE
Materia Medica.31 This is indicative of a father and daughter or family profession,

28
  Pleket, Epigraphica Vol. II, no. 27
29
  R. Merkelbach, and J. Stauber. Die Südküste Kleinasiens, Syrien und Palaestina, (Leipzig: Walter de
Gruyter, 2002), 181.
30
  Pleket, Epigraphica Vol. II, no.12.
31
  Dioscorides, De Materia Medica, pref. 5; J. Scarborough and V. Nutton, ‘The Preface of Dis-
corides’ Materia Medica: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary’, Transactions and Studies of the
College of Physicians of Philadelphia 4 (1982): 187–227.

52 Jennifer Irving
through which Antiochis likely learnt her skills from her father. Dioscorides explains
that he is not completely in agreement with writers such as Niger and Diodotus,
who are followers of Asclepiades, because they describe commonplace information
instead of considering the real value of their personal experience.32 The letter from
the Empiricist Heraclides of Taras mentions a female doctor by the name of An-
tiochis, which indicates that she was well-known and respected in her time and that
she was an authority in medical theory.33 The inscription, and accompanying statue,
offers special recognition of Antiochis by the council and the people of Tlos for her
experience in the healing art. The reference to Antiochis’ medical skill is indicative
of a theoretical education in addition to practical experience, the sort of which is
described by Herodotus and Plato.

Pleket 20 is a respectful, intimate description of and farewell to the lady Panthia

from her husband Glykon.34 As in the case of the Restituta and Antiochis inscrip-
tions, Panthia is praised for her common fame in healing. The inscription comments
that, although a woman, she was not behind her husband in skill. This indicates
that both she and her husband were in the medical profession and worked together.
Panthia is not just an important example of a professional female healer but also of
a woman who practiced healing as part of her wifely duties. She is a respected indi-
vidual amongst her peers and within her community, which is indicated by the term
‘common fame’. Pleket 20 is accompanied by a subsequent inscription dedicated by
the same Glykon for Panthia’s father Philadelphus, who was also a physician, which

32
  K. Sprengal, ed., Dioscorides. De Materia Medica, (Lipsiae: Knobloch, 1829), viii.
33
  Gossen, s.v. ‘Heraclides of Tarentum’, RE vol. 8, 493–496, no. 54.
34
  Pleket, Epigraphica Vol. II, no.20: χαῖρε, γύναι Πάνθεια, παρ’ ἀνέρος, ὃς μετὰ μοῖραν / σὴν ὀλοοῦ
θανάτου πένθος ἄλαστον ἔχω. / οὐ γάρ πω τοίην ἄλοχον ζυγίη{ν} ἴδεν Ἥρη / εἶδος καὶ πινυτὴν ἠδὲ
σαοφροσύνην. / αὐτή μοι καὶ παῖδας ἐγείναο πάντας ὁμοίους, / αὐτὴ καὶ γαμέτου κήδεο καὶ τεκέων / καὶ
βιοτῆς οἴακα καθευθύνεσκες ἐν οἴκῳ / καὶ κλέος ὕψωσας ξυνὸν ἰητορίης, / οὐδὲ γυν<ή> περἐοῦσα ἐμῆς
ἀπολείπεο τέχνης. / τοὔνεκά σοι τύμβον τεῦξε Γλύκων γαμέτης, / ὅς γε καὶ ἀθ[ανά]τοιο δέμας κεύθει
Φιλαδέλ[φου], / [ἔ]νθ̣[α] κα̣ὶ αὐτὸς ἐγὼ κείσομ̣[αι], αἴ κε θά[νω], / ὡς̣ [ἀγλα]ϊσμὸν̣ [ζῶν]σοι ἐκοινώνησα
κατ̣’ α[ἶσ]α̣ν, / ὧδε δὲ κα<ὶ ξ>υνὴν {ην} γαῖαν ἐφε[σ]σάμενος. (‘Farewell, lady Panthia, from your
husband. After your departure, I keep up my lasting grief for your cruel death. Hera, goddess of
marriage, never saw such a wife: your beauty, your wisdom, your chastity. You bore me children com-
pletely like myself; you cared for your bridegroom and your children; you guided straight the rudder
of life in our home and raised high our common fame in healing – though you were a woman you
were not behind me in skill. In recognition of this your bridegroom Glycon built this tomb for you.
I also buried here the body of [my father] immortal Philadelphus, and I myself will lie here when I
die, since with you alone I shared my bed when I was alive, so may I cover myself in ground that we
share’).

Restituta: The Training of the Female Physician 53

indicates a father and daughter training relationship. This father-daughter progres-
sion of a family career was not only isolated to the medical profession and is also
seen in relation to professional female artists who were trained by their fathers. Most
of the evidence for female artists indicates that they were daughters of famous male
artists who influenced and trained their daughters in similar career paths.35

The examples quoted above positively depict the relationship between male and
female healers and show that it was not the rule that the sexes remained segregated
in the first and second centuries CE; Restituta worked and trained with Claudius Al-
cimus just as Panthia worked alongside her husband and possibly her father too. If it
was the case that women lived segregated lives, it would not be possible for women
to claim, or to be attributed, fame for professional skills such as art or medicine. If
the male and female interaction was frowned upon it is unlikely that we would have
epitaphs claiming a common fame, such as the inscription concerning Panthia and
her husband Glykon. Moreover, a woman’s skill would not have been worthy of ven-
eration such as that shown to Domnina, who is praised for the saving of her people.

During the first century CE, the instruction of women like Restituta in professions
was certainly not unique, even if the recording of it was rare. The philosophical
schools contain abundant evidence for educated women in the Graeco-Roman
world. Many philosophical schools were closely linked to medical schools in this
period, and they may, therefore, illustrate a similar attitude towards the training of
women in medical matters. Pythagorean essays by female authors are attested to
in the Hellenistic corpus, but there is some debate concerning whether they were
women or men using female pseudonyms. The Pythagorean School, however, cer-
tainly did include educated females, and Pythagoras’ own wife Theano was a known
follower among many other women. In the third century BCE, the Stoic Diodorus
Cronus is also said to have had five daughters who were educated and skilled logi-
cians. These women illustrate that females of philosophical and artistic backgrounds
were trained in theoretical professions or pastimes. The five daughters of Diodorus
Cronus (Argeia, Theognis, Menexene, Pantacleia and Artemisia) and the daughters
of Pythagoras (Myia, Damo and Arignote) show us that the passing of knowledge

35
  For instance, Timarete, daughter of Micon the Younger, painted an Archaic style Artemis at
Ephesus. Sarah B. Pomeroy, ‘Technikai and Mousikai: The Education of Women in the Fourth Cen-
tury and in the Hellenistic Period’, American Journal of History 2 (1977): 53.

54 Jennifer Irving
from father to daughter in male-orientated professions was practised and accepted
in some communities from an early period.

Medicine and women have a long-standing tradition in both Greece and Rome. The
training of women as midwives is particularly relevant to the idea of the professional
women as it illustrates a specialised skill for women. While the women discussed
thus far are considered doctors, midwifery offers an important comparison, showing
that women could act in multiple areas of healing professions. In his explanation
of the ideal midwife, Soranus explains that she should possess theoretical and liter-
ary knowledge as well as practical experience. These are skills that all the most re-
nowned healing professionals ideally held. Restituta, Panthia and Antiochis would
have gained these skills in order to perform the role of a healer woman or helpers to
an ἰατρός.

The training of midwives in the first century CE is considered more evident than the
training strategies of female physicians because mothers trained their daughters and
apprenticeships were common in this female-based profession. There is evidence
from Latin inscriptions, dating to the same period and location as the ‘Restituta In-
scription’, that young women, who were unlikely to have much personal experience
in childbearing, were trained as midwives in apprenticeship positions. CIL 6.9723 of
Poblicia the Obstetrix records that she died at the age of 21, long before she would
have been past childbearing age herself. While Restituta was likely a female doctor,
the midwife inscriptions provide further evidence that women could be involved in
healing professions from a young age through apprenticeship positions.

Fazit

The Restituta Inscription is important and useful to the overall understanding of

how professional women were received in the first century CE. It also confirms our
understanding of the education of women in the first century CE as revealed by
other inscriptions. Furthermore, it provides insight into the nature of interaction be-
tween male and female professionals. What is particularly explicit in the epigraphic
evidence that we have encountered is that the interaction between male and female
healers could be complementary: husbands and wives might share the same profes-

Restituta: The Training of the Female Physician 55

sion, wives might assist their husbands and professions might be passed down from
father to daughter and not just from father to son. Women are sometimes thought
to have been segregated in first-century-CE Greece, but such inscriptional evidence
indicates otherwise; evidently there was opportunity for a woman to gain respect as
a medical professional and work alongside men. The identification of Restituta and
other women in inscriptions as female physicians plays a major part in demonstrat-
ing that these women were skilled in both theoretical and practical knowledge. In
acknowledging this, we see that women were able to become valued professionals,
holding roles that modern scholarship sometimes attributes to men. Female doctors
and midwives are represented in these inscriptions as interacting with and comple-
menting the work of male doctors, and the inscriptions show that they were received
as helpers or even near equals. Restituta’s ability and desire to dedicate an epitaph to
her professor also highlights that respect and cooperation existed between the sexes.
In Rome, Restituta is likely to have been a freedwoman, but she represents a tradi-
tion of female doctors and slaves with professional backgrounds who contributed
significantly to the economy and health of the community in which they lived. IG
XVI 1751 is a unique inscription, but it attests to a long-standing practice of women
working in healing traditions and is significant to the understanding of medical and
female traditions in the first century CE.

Jennifer Irving
Macquarie University

56 Jennifer Irving