Notes on the history of Caesarean section

Abstract

As far back as mythological times one can find references to this operation, In the writings of the Egyptians, the Romans (among them Pliny), and the Greeks, it is never mentioned as being performed on the living mother. As regards the Greeks, the birth of Aesculpius might well have been the first Caesarian Section ever performed. According to legend Caronis, Aesculpius's mother, had betrayed her husband Apollo, who avenged himself by burning her on the funeral pyre, after taking the premature infant from her uterus. Other authorities assert that Aesculpius was born before his mother died of puerperal sepsis, and thus he could not have been possibly born by Caesarean Section, as the Greeks performed this operation only on dead mothers to save the baby for the state.