ABSTRACT
Midwives, recognised as skilful and valued professionals, appear in two more Biblical stories. The unusual case of the birth of Tamar’s twins is one such story. The Jewish Talmud makes numerous references to childbearing and to midwives as specialists in normal birth who only called in the doctor for difficult cases. It mentions that the mode of giving birth was in the sitting or squatting position. The Egyptian people, even before the flowering of their civilisation, had invented the wheel, the plough and the sail. This elementary technology, together with their relative immunity from invasion because of their favoured geographical position, enabled them to advance their culture both artistically and academically. Midwives and labouring women would without doubt seek help from Thoueris, Hathor and Meskhent and other appropriate deities for safe deliverance. Seclusion of Muslim women precluded men physicians from attending them, particularly in childbirth, and therefore care at this time was almost exclusively in the hands of midwives.
