Pregnant in Peloponnese
Storyboard Text
- PREGNANT IN PELOPONNESUS
- Aristotle, Pythias has something to tell you...
- Dad, I'm Pregnant!
- See Aristotle's Oeconomica
- Congratulations! You have honoured your husband in the highest manner. "And what could be more divine than this, or more desired by a man of sound mind, than to beget by a noble and honored wife children who shall be the most loyal supporters and discreet guardians of their parents in old age, and the preservers of the whole house?"
- Dad, stop quoting your writing. You sound ridiculous.
- How goes the pregnancy? Have you been hot and dry?
- Ugggh... this is why I never tell you anything
- I’m just saying, I’d love to have a grandson… of course a girl would be fine, but if you’ve been warm and dry lately then we can be sure you’re expecting a boy.
- LATER AT THE ACROPOLIS...
- Some exciting news! Pythias the Younger is expecting her first child with Metrodorus.
- See Hippocrates' Aphorisms 5-59
- Ah, third times the charm! Must be a relief to know she wasn’t the one incapable of producing a child. My test never fails: "If a woman does not conceive and you wish to know if she will conceive, cover her round with wraps and bum perfumes underneath. If the smell seems to pass through the body to the mouth and nostrils, be assured that the woman is not barren through her own physical fault”
- telegony: a theory of heredity proposed by Aristotle that stated offspring can inherit the characteristics of a the mother's previous sexual partners
- Thank you for your assistance. Her mother and I were really beginning to worry. It is indeed a relief… Nicanor was a man-child and quite frankly I’m relieved that Spartan Procles didn’t stick around… But three husbands is far too many. Worried to see what a telegonous mess this child turns out to be. If this child should bear the resemblance of Nicanor or Procles in appearance orvirtue, it would be a shame.
- Metrodorus is a physician as well, is he not? You should invite him down sometime. Could be fun to debate with him.
- I’ve been debating enough with Pythias… you know how she is with her ideas. I swore the encyclopedia we compiled on our honeymoon on Mytilene would be the last project we worked on together before she settled down to raise our children. You know how that turned out.
- Some honeymoon… Women are meant to bear children. They stay barren to long and their womb becomes unsettled and the woman becomes hysterical.
- She’s hardly hysterical, just strong-willed. Though it is the men that give their children a soul, is does make me wonder sometimes how much my daughter resembles her mother in spirit.
- “If it appears that they differ only in just this respect that the female bears and the male begets, we shall say that no proof has yet been produced that thewoman differs from the man for our purposes.”
- The critical role of the mother is that of the receptacle. This cannot be fulfilled by a man, though I don’t think we can say the woman offers nothing of her spirit to the child.
- See Aristotle's The Generation of Animals
- I’m sure my wife and daughter would agree with your progressive thought… but I stand by my work. “The male is that which has the power to generate in another... while the female is that which can generate in itself… that out of which the generated offspring, which is present in the generator, comes into being.”
- A child is begotten from their father. It is the heat from the male seed which makes the generation of a form possible.
- The female a just a mutilated form of the male. It is the combination of both the male semen and female menstrual blood that creates the embryo, but it can only be than man who gives his offspring both form and a soul.
- See Hippocrates' Diseases of Women
- I don't know that this is a debate we can settle with such limited dialogue, but I think we can all agree that this is good news. “If she becomes pregnant, she will become healthy.” Cheers to Pythias’ good health. You will have to let us know how the birth goes… Congratulations Aristotle!
- BACK AT HOME...
- Why would you tell them I was pregnant?? It was bad enough having Hippocrates shove a bunch of flowers by my crotch to see how long it took to smell through my nose. What was that suppose to prove anyways?
- Plato and Hippocrates wish you well!
- You’re no better... you agreed with him! Wandering womb? What a ridiculous idea. I swear you guys have contests to see who can come up with the most absurd theories.
- I know he’s got some crazy ideas… Thank you for humoring him.
- I was hoping pregnancy would settle your womb down again. But here you are letting your womb run your mouth again.
- It’s called a brain Dad...
- You really do sound like your mother... Maybe I should revisit my theory of heredity
- Get with the times Dad... Women are capable of independent thought!
- That's the womb talking again...
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Image Attributions
- 259585 - Pixabay - (License Free To Use / No Attribution Required / See https://www.pexels.com/license/ for what is not allowed )
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