What did people know about conception 2000 years ago?

Hellrider

This is taken from a "new" scroll, discovered in the middle east in the 70s. It is believed to be a Dead Sea Scroll, or a scroll connected to the Essenes. It`s believed to be from the 1st century, and is referred to as "the Angel Scroll". I don`t think the translation is finished yet. Anyway, here`s a part from it:

"And the Angel Pnimea said to me: "And son of man, lift up your eyes and see all the secrets...that are in the fourth gate which is the gate of birth. And I saw, and it was like the womb and the chambers of the stomach, and its waters gush and roar like the breakers of the sea on the wall of the cave, which cannot withstand its fury. And here is a seed of life in the water emanating from the seed of man and from the seed of the woman for male and female that He created. And the seed that is joined from the two seeds is not like a clean slate. It is written inside and outside and it has within knowledge and understanding before its creation and before its creation in the womb. And the beginning of the child is not in the birth or in conception nor is its end in death."

Isn`t that just amazing? And how beatiful it is written! I was taught (when I studied) that at this time, people knew very, very little about what happens in the womb during conception. The "knowledge" at this time was still the theories of Aristotle, who basically believed that all the woman contributed with, was the physical matter, while the soul, the intelectual capabilities, the personality etc, came from the man. He also believed that a woman was a "deformed man", that when a baby girl was born, something went wrong during the conception. He had all sorts of (by todays standards) wacky and sexist theories (of course, influenced by the time he lived in). Anyway, he was very far from the pretty detailed description in the Angel Scroll. So, what`s this? Did people 2000 years ago have more knowledge on this than I thought?

Any thoughts?

(and I love that last sentence in the quote from the scroll)

silentWatcher

well, didn't Onan get in trouble for "spilling his seed on the ground" (pulling out) because he didn't want to father a child. So obviously whoever fabricated Genesis knew this basic part of where babies came from.

-silent

EAGLE-1

Humans a long time ago concerned themselves only with food,fighting,and (you know).I am sure with practice and a lot of spare time they would figure these thing out.Sex equals baby,food equals nourishment,and fighting ( or running like hell ) which equals staying alive for at least one more day of sex and food.Basic instincts we still have.The ancients I guess wanted it to be more poetic and dramatic.But its still just plain old body fluids.