# Romans had contraceptive herb - any truth?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romans-had-contraceptive-herb-any-truth/295714>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 22, 2005, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romans-had-contraceptive-herb-any-truth/295714 "2005-03-22T14:52:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2005, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romans-had-contraceptive-herb-any-truth/295714/1 "2005-03-22T14:52:40Z")

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Last night a friend of mine claimed that the Romans had a medicinal herb that was a nearly 100% effective contraceptive when taken daily, and that this herb was in such great demand that it became extinct. This seems unlikely to me, especially since the friend in question has a tendancy to spread wildly implausible urban legends.

Is there any truth to her claim? Anyone ever hear this one before?

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**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romans-had-contraceptive-herb-any-truth/295714/2 "2005-03-22T15:07:48Z")

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Silphium or Pennyroyal:  
[Birth Control in Antiquity](http://www.uic.edu/classes/osci/osci590/13_2%20Birth%20Control%20in%20Antiquity.htm)

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**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romans-had-contraceptive-herb-any-truth/295714/3 "2005-03-22T15:12:58Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> The demand for the plant was so great that by the third or fourth centuries, Silphium was extinct.

Whodathunkit. She was right this time. You learn something new every day.

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**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romans-had-contraceptive-herb-any-truth/295714/4 "2005-03-22T15:15:18Z")

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Not sure about a herb driven to extinction, but herbal contraceptives and abortificants have been around a while.

[http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/previous/taking\_herbs.asp](http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/previous/taking_herbs.asp)  
It’s also interesting to note that our current hormonal contraceptive pill orignally derived from the Mexican yam.

[http://www.mexconnect.com/mex\_/travel/tonysarticles/tbdid0103.html](http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/travel/tonysarticles/tbdid0103.html)