List: Forms of contraception and abortion available during Cleopatra’s lifetime, according to Stacy Schiff’s ‘Cleopatra’
By Claire ZulkeyList: Forms of contraception and abortion available during Cleopatra’s lifetime, according to Stacy Schiff’s ‘Cleopatra’
By Claire Zulkey
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Jump up and down, neatly touching your heels to your buttocks seven times to induce miscarriage
A spider’s egg, attached to the body with deer hide before sunrise (prevents contraception for twelve months)
Attaching a cat liver to one’s left foot
Sneezing during sex
Crocodile dung (for contraception)
Mule’s kidney + eunuch’s urine (for contraception)
Salt, mouse excrement, honey and resin (as a “morning-after pill”)
The smell of a freshly extinguished lamp to induce miscarriage
White poplar, juniper berries and giant fennel (for contraception)
Vinegar, alum and olive oil (for contraception)
Wool moistened with honey and oil (used as a diaphram)