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Persephone's seeds: Abortifacients and contraceptives in Ancient Greek medicine and their recent scientific appraisal.

There is evidence from medical writings and other sources of antiquity that pennyroyal and other medicinal plants were used in Ancient Greece as anti-fertility agents. These agents which were administered orally or as vaginal suppositories may have functioned as early-term abortifacients and contraceptives in women. The present paper re-evaluates the thesis that contemporary science provides evidence for the efficacy of these ancient abortifacients and contraceptives. Beginning with a brief overview of the writings of Ancient Greek physicians in relations to key plants the author assesses the recent pharmacological and medical literature to determine what modes of action at the physiological level might contribute to the purported abortifacient or contraceptive effects. An additional assessment is used to determine whether extracts or key chemical constituents of the plants have broader toxic effects in humans such as hepatoxicity or neurotoxicity. In conclusion the author argues that recent scientific appraisal of the modes of action suggests that the plants may have had significant abortifacient and contraceptive effects in antiquity although critical questions remain in terms of extending the results of the experiments and analyses.