Page "Midwifery" Paragraph 22

The services of a midwife were not inexpensive ; this fact that suggests poorer women who could not afford the services of a professional midwife often had to make do with female relatives.

Many wealthier families had their own midwives.

However, the vast majority of women in the Greco-Roman world very likely received their maternity care from hired midwives.

They may have been highly trained or only possessed a rudimentary knowledge of obstetrics.

Also, many families had a choice of whether or not they wanted to employ a midwife who practiced the traditional folk medicine or the newer methods of professional parturition.

Like a lot of other factors in antiquity, quality gynecological care often depended heavily on the socioeconomic status of the patient.