Temple of Athena the Savior

This topic comes up pretty frequently, so I’m going to make a post about it that hopefully covers everything in the best ways possible:

Boeotian vase painting with Artemis Long story short, it’s actually been concluded that ?while unusual for the Mediterranean in ancient times? the ancient Hellenes didn’t appear to consider menstruation as a producer of miasma, in and of itself. In fact, there are very few mentions of menstruation at all, outside of medical texts ? one of which even suggests sex during menstruation to aid erratic periods (and while this may have nothing to do with irregular periods, many doctors now suggest that sexual intercourse, or at least masturbation during a woman’s period may relieve cramping). In fact, some regions even had a girl’s coming-of-age rites to include sacrificing her first menstrual towels to Artemis.

Now, that said, some women have incredibly painful periods, and that…