Are C-Sections Really Named After Julius Caesar?
They are indeed. It is said that Julius’ mother died in childbirth and they cut into her to try and save the child. They did! I cannot upload pics on this site at the moment, so go to this page for a medieval representation of the birth of Julius caesar. http://www.imagesonline.bl.uk/…
Wikipedia has this to say: The earliest attested usages of the English word in an obstetric context date from the seventeenth century.[1] There are three theories about the origin of the name: 1. In the English language, the name for the procedure is said to derive from a Roman legal code called Lex Caesarea, which allegedly contained a law prescribing that the baby be cut out of its mother’s womb in case she dies before giving birth.[2] (The Merriam-Webster dictionary is unable to trace any such law; but “Lex Caesarea” might mean simply “imperial law” rather than a specific statute of Julius Caesar.) 2. The derivation of the name is also often attributed to an ancient story, told in the first century A.D. by Pliny the Elder, which claims that Caesar’s ancestor was delivered thus.[3] Whether or not the story is true, it may have been widely enough believed to give its name to the operation. (The reverse view, that the name “Caesar” was derived from the operation, is clearly indefensibl
