Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: belly button

  • Omphalos

    Margaret NowaczykHamilton, Ontario, Canada Once, I linked you to the woman who gave birth to you: for forty weeks, a twisted pearly cord, pulsing with two syncopated heartbeats, bound you two together. It fed you and gave you oxygen. It attached you to life. In Greek mythology, the omphalos is the center of the universe,…

  • The trouble with the belly button

    Tonse N. K. RajuGaithersburg, Maryland, United States It is a simple dimple in the mid-abdomen. Yet for medieval artists, it caused mighty headaches while painting portraits of Adam and Eve. Painting the dimple as a natural anatomic feature could be construed as sacrilegious, implying that Adam and Eve were connected by umbilical cords to their…