This paper looks at the practice whereby women would fast before imbibing a particular beverage (kykeon) in order to restore fertility as part of certain Greek religious rituals (the women-only Thesmophoria festivals, and EleusinianMysteries festivals). It draws on comparisons between poetic writings that provide insight into the theological background and Hippocrates’ medical treatises on women, in which the practice is medically prescribed by men as a precondition for a fruitful sexual union.