Helen King (classicist)

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Helen King
Ancient medicine
InstitutionsUniversity of Reading
Open University

Helen King (born 1957) is a British classical scholar and advocate for the medical humanities.[1] She is Professor Emerita of Classical Studies at the Open University.[2] She was previously Professor of the History of Classical Medicine and Head of the Department of Classics at the University of Reading.[3]

Early life and education

King was born in 1957. She completed her first degree at

Sarah C. (Sally) Humphreys.[4] Her thesis was entitled From 'parthenos' to 'gyne': the Dynamics of Category.[5]

Academic career

Helen King delivering her keynote lecture, Cardiff University, 2016

Having completed her doctorate, King held research fellowships at the universities of

Peninsula Medical School in Truro. She moved to the Open University to assume the role of Professor of Classical Studies in 2011. She retired in January 2017 and took up the position of Robert E. and Susan T. Rydell Visiting Professor 2017–2018 at Gustavus Adolphus College, St Peter, MN.[6]

King was a Women's Studies Area Advisor to the

The Hippocratic Oath.[11]

Research interests

Her book Hippocrates' Woman: Reading the Female Body in Ancient Greece (1998)[12] analyses the practice and theory of ancient medicine as relating to women and how it continues to influence thought to the present day.

In her 2007 book, Midwifery, Obstetrics and the Rise of Gynaecology: The Uses of a Sixteenth-Century Compendium, she examined the uses of ancient medicine in a collection of ancient and medieval works on gynecology produced in three editions, the last being in 1597 by Israel Spach, and the different interpretations of this collection up to James Young Simpson in the nineteenth century.[13]

She has also published on the myths of

Tithonos,[14] on mermaids,[15] and on the myth/fable of Agnodice, "the first midwife".[16] She has investigated how this story was used to give authority to women in medical roles in various historical periods.[17]

Church of England

King was a member of the General Synod of the Church of England from 1985 to 1993 and from 2021 to 2026.[18] As part of the 'Historical' thematic working group, she contributed to the Church's 2020 teaching document on human sexuality.[19][20] She supports same-sex marriage.[21]

She has also spoken about the history of Christianity in a podcast for the Historical Association.[22]

Select publications

See also

References

  1. ^ "Dr. Helen King 'Us And Them, Then And Now: Moving Beyond Difference In The History Of The Female Body'". Wisconsin Public Radio. Retrieved 31 March 2021.[dead link]
  2. ^ a b "Professor Helen King". Open University people profiles. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  3. ISBN 978-1-4051-3150-6
    .
  4. ^ King, Helen (15 August 2016). "My Classics Career". Women's Classical Committee.
  5. ^ King, Helen (1985). From 'parthenos' to 'gyne': the dynamics of category. PhD Thesis, University of London. p. 5.
  6. ^ "Nobel Conference 2017 Program" (PDF). 3 October 2017.
  7. ^ "Käthe-Leichter-GastprofessorInnen ab 1999". Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  8. ^ "Provost's Distinguished Women Lecturers".
  9. ^ "Helen King". IMDb. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  10. ^ "In Our Time, Galen". Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  11. ^ "In Our Time, The Hippocratic Oath". Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  12. ISBN 978-1-134-77220-9
    .
  13. PMC 2766157
    .
  14. ISBN 978-0-375-50516-4
    .
  15. ISBN 978-0-375-75872-0
    .
  16. ^ "Agnodice: reading the story". 18 October 2017.
  17. ISBN 9781138247628
    .
  18. ^ "Oxford Diocese: governance". 12 October 2021. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022.
  19. ^ "Membership of the Episcopal Teaching Document and Pastoral Advisory Group". Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  20. ^ "Living in Love and Faith: Doing history". Modern Church. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  21. ^ "Questions to Candidates: Professor Helen King" (PDF). Diocese of Oxford. November 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 November 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  22. ^ "Christianity in imperial Rome". Historical Association. 11 April 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  23. ^ "Review of 'Hippocrates' Woman: Reading the Female Body in Ancient Greece'". Bryn Mawr Classical Review. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  24. S2CID 71848716
    .
  25. ^ "Review of 'Health in Antiquity'". Bryn Mawr Classical Review. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  26. ^ "Review of 'Blood, Sweat and Tears: The Changing Concepts of Physiology from Antiquity into Early Modern Europe'". Bryn Mawr Classical Review. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  27. ^ "Review of 'The One-Sex Body on Trial: The Classical and Early Modern Evidence'". Bryn Mawr Classical Review. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  28. ^ "Bloomsbury Classical Press". 9 July 2019.

External links

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