Metrodora

On the Diseases and Cures of Women is a medical text preserved as part of a miscellany on a single manuscript, codex 75.3 from the Laurentian Library.

[1] The manuscript dates to the late tenth or early eleventh century,[2] is authored by three different hands,[3] and was probably compiled in southern Italy.

[4] Storti identifies three possibilities:[6] Along with Cleopatra the Physician, Metrodora is one of only two ancient women to have a surviving medical text attributed to her.

[14] Kousis and Giorgiou del Guerra both date Metrodora to the sixth century, on the basis of the extracts from Alexander of Tralles at the end of the Laurentian manuscript.

[8] Irene Calà and Giulia Maria Chesi argue that Metrodora was active in the earlier part of this period, and suggest that she worked in Alexandria.

[18] Starting with Kousis' initial publication, many scholars have suggested that it derives from the Greek word metra (μήτρα), meaning "womb".

[22] A mural outside the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona which depicts women scientists from history includes Metrodora.