BORZOUYEH, AN ANCIENT PERSIAN PHYSICIAN WHO FIRST REPORTED UTERINE CONTRACTIONS IN NORMAL VAGINAL DELIVERY

Abstract

During the final hours of pregnancy, uterine contractions cause the foetus to move through the birth canal and leave the mother’s body. Haly Abbas (died 982-994 CE), is believed to be the first writer to explain the role of these contractions. However, this concept had in fact been described in the text titled Bab-e-Borzouyeh, written four centuries earlier by the physician Borzouyeh (Perzoes in Latin) as a prologue to his translation of the Indian collection of fables known as the Panchatantra. Because Haly Abbas probably had access to ancient Persian medical texts,

Key words: History of medicine; ancient era; Persian medicine; Borzouyeh; obstetric, uterine contractions