# Salpe

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{{distinguish|Salpe (surname)}}
'''Salpe''' was an ancient Greek [midwife](/source/midwife) cited by [Pliny the Elder](/source/Pliny_the_Elder), and a writer of a work called the ''Paignia'' mentioned in [Athenaeus](/source/Athenaeus)' ''[Deipnosophistae](/source/Deipnosophistae)''.  It is uncertain whether Athenaeus and Pliny discuss the same person, or whether they were two distinct people.

==Pliny==
[Pliny](/source/Pliny_the_Elder) cites Salpe six times in his ''[Natural History](/source/Natural_History_(Pliny))''.{{sfn|Davidson|1995|p=591}}  She is described by him as an ''obstetrix'',{{sfn|Davidson|1995|p=590}} though he ascribes general remedies to her, not simply those concerned with women's health.{{sfn|Flemming|2007|p=271}}  Her remedies only survive in Pliny's references to them, not in her own words.{{sfn|Plant|2004|p=115}}  She uses both herbal and magical remedies to cure a variety of ailments including sunburn, stiff or numbed limbs, and dog bites.{{sfn|Plant|2004|p=115}}

==Athenaeus==
In the ''[Deipnosophistae](/source/Deipnosophistae)'', [Athenaeus](/source/Athenaeus) mentions a Salpe as the writer of ''Paignia''.{{sfn|Davidson|1995|p=590}}  He cites Nymphodorus of Syracuse, probably writing in the third century BC, as claiming that Salpe, the writer of the ''Paignia'', was not a nickname for a Mnaseas, but was a woman from Lesbos.{{sfn|Davidson|1995|p=590}}

The ''Paignia'' is generally considered to have been a work of pornographic or erotic literature.{{sfn|Davidson|1995|pp=590–1}}  Athenaeus associates the work with Botrys of Messana, a fifth-century author described as a "shameful writer" by [Timaeus](/source/Timaeus_(historian)).{{sfn|Flemming|2007|p=273}}  Botrys' work was apparently similar to the pornographic sex-manual attributed to [Philaenis](/source/Philaenis).{{sfn|Plant|2004|p=115}}  The work was probably written in prose, as Botrys' earlier ''paignia'' had been.{{sfn|Bain|1998|p=265}}

James Davidson argues that the Salpe mentioned by Athenaeus and the one cited by Pliny are likely to have been the same person.{{sfn|Davidson|1995|p=592}}  David Bain has argued against Davidson's suggestion,{{sfn|Bain|1998}} and I. M. Plant distinguishes between the two in his anthology of ancient women writers.{{sfn|Plant|2004|p=115}}  More recently, Rebecca Flemming writes that "despite Bain's objections it remains tempting" to link Pliny's and Athenaeus' Salpe; she suggests that the original ''Paignia'' referred to by Athenaeus was the original source of Pliny's recipes, though he would have read them second-hand (or "more probably third- or fourth-hand").{{sfn|Flemming|2007|p=274}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Works cited==
* {{cite journal|last=Bain|first=David|title=Salpe's ΠΑΙΓΝΙΑ: Athenaeus 332A and Plin. H. N. 28.38|journal=The Classical Quarterly|volume=48|issue=1|year=1998|doi=10.1093/cq/48.1.262}}
* {{cite journal|last=Davidson|first=James N.|title=Don't Try This at Home: Pliny's Salpe, Salpe's Paignia and Magic|journal=The Classical Quarterly|volume=45|issue=2|year=1995|pages=590–592|doi=10.1017/S000983880004372X|s2cid=170720854 }}
* {{cite journal|last=Flemming|first=Rebecca|title=Women, Writing and Medicine in the Classical World|journal=The Classical Quarterly|volume=57|issue=1|year=2007|pages=257–279|doi=10.1017/S0009838807000225|s2cid=171045159|doi-access=free}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Plant|editor-first=I. M.|title=Woman Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: An Anthology|year=2004|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|location=Norman}}

Category:Ancient gynaecologists
Category:Ancient Greek women writers
Category:Ancient Greek women medical doctors
Category:Greek erotica writers
Category:People from ancient Lesbos
Category:Women erotica writers

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Salpe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salpe) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salpe?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.