Ancient Egyptian Deity Bes
The Ancient Egyptian deity Bes had an ugly face, bowed legs, and dwarfism. Yet he inspired the opposite of revulsion, and was a beloved protector of women and children.
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Ancient History
Babylon Epic of Gilgamesh Tablet
This 4,000 year old tablet from Ancient Babylon has part of the _Epic of Gilgamesh_ on it. There is a great English rendition by Stephen Mitchell. It’s so cool that the first recorded story deals with the fundamental source of human concern – the inevitability of death.
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Hobbit Peoples Skull
Catch up on how historical geneticists are unveiling fascinating new discoveries about early human history ( example- new discussion about the so-called “Hobbit” peoples from the Indonesia area). _Who We Are and How We Got Here_ is a great read!
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The Antikythera Mechanism
The Antikythera Mechanism from Ancient Greece had over 30 gears, and could predict when eclipses would happen, track the irregular orbit of the stars, and figure out when the Olympic games would happen!
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Latin Etymology of Rx
The symbol you see here that means “prescription” comes from an abbreviation of the Latin word “recipe” meaning “take”, as in the command form of the verb recipere, which means “to hold or contain.” It doesn’t come from a joining of the letters R and x, but rather the slashed line through the “R” was
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Ancient Roman Swords Discovered in Cave in Israel
Lookit these super bitchin’ swords! This past week (Sept 6, 2023), archaeologists working in Israel announced their discovery of four Ancient Roman swords and the head of a javelin (called a pilum), found in amazingly preserved condition in a cave near the Dead Sea in Israel. Three of the swords were of a kind known
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Clio the Ancient Muse of History
Clio was the Ancient muse of history, and this painting by the 17th-century Dutch artist Johannes Moreelse has the saucy expression that comes from being a Time Lord (or Lady).
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Ancient Roman Holiday Dedicated to the God of Mildew
This 3rd-century CE mosaic illustrates the month of April in the Ancient Roman world, which was then, as now, a time when sun and rains could be expected as part of the spring season. It was during this month that the religious feast devoted to the deity of mildew was celebrated. The Ancient Romans
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Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac Painting
This is a wall painting from the Dura-Europos synagogue of the Biblical foundational character Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac — you can see his soul going up to heaven (mid third-century CE). But wait — everyone knows that in the Bible (Genesis 22), God prevented Abraham at the last minute from killing his beloved son,
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Whore of Babylon
It’s really difficult for me, dear readers, not to love the Whore of Babylon, the metaphor and shibboleth from the New Testament Book of Revelations. As a reminder, here are some lines from that apocalyptic book: “‘Come, I will show you the judgement of the great whore who is seated on many waters, with whom
Masculine Aging in Ancient Rome
“But think of the many endless ills old age is full of!”, writes the early second-century Roman satirist Juvenal. In his usual style, he cruelly remarks, “Take a look, first if all at its (old age’s) ugly face — repulsive/ And wholly altered, with an ugly hide in place of/ Smooth skin, the drooping jowls,
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Buddhist Statue in Christian Ancient Egypt
What makes this statue of Buddha so different from any others? Location, location, location: it was recently unearthed in Egypt, where it had been buried at an ancient temple at the seaport city of Berenice Troglodytica. The state dates to the second century CE from the Roman occupation of Egypt, and showcases the far-flung trading
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Garum, Ancient Rome’s Favorite Flavor
Any gastro-historians out there? This post is about a favorite component of Ancient Roman cooking that likely was as pervasive as kimchee in modern Korean cuisine, and I am talking about garum, a sauce and made out of decaying, briny fish. The picture you see here is of a garum-producing factory in the Ancient city
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Ancient Egyptian Men Were among the Earliest to Practice Circumcision
Do clearer drawings of this image appear on the interwebs? They might, but I deliberately selected this one because the scene it depicts is maybe not one that a casual scroller would want to see — it’s widely considered one of the first extant depictions of a male circumcision surgery. The practice of male circumcision
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Ancient Roman Focaccia?
Just a reminder — since 2017, the Ancient Roman city of Pompeii (which was infamously buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE) has undergone extensive excavations in several new areas. And in “Regio IX” this week, the first scholarly analysis of this painting appeared, and the interwebs are all a-flutter as to
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Ancient Roman Necromancy in Te’omim Cave
These are oil lamps found in a mountain cave called Te’omim, (“cave of the twins” in Hebrew), located about 15 miles west of Jerusalem. Archaeologists have studied the place for years, finding ruins from many points of human history. But in a paper published this month in _Harvard Theological Review_, a team of archaeologists argues
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Ancient Roman Perfume
Using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, scientists were for the first time able to figure out the source of an ingredient in an actual Ancient Roman perfume: and it was patchouli. In 2019, archaeologists digging in the burial grounds of the once-active Roman site in Spain called Carmina discovered an oval lead case holding a
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Queen Zenobia of Rome
“Now all shame is exhausted. . . For in the weakened state of the [Roman] commonwealth, things came to such a pass that . . . A foreigner, Zenobia by name, proceeded to cast about her shoulders the imperial mantle, [and was] ruling longer than could be endured from one of the female sex .
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Potty Training in Ancient Greece
Humans take so darn long to learn how to potty-train. For many early peoples, we must use guesswork to assume how the process went, but we actually have a relatively large body of evidence from the Ancient Greek world on this issue. (Issue. Get it? Groan . . .). Shown on the first and second
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Priapus
IN CASE you were wondering whether Ancient Romans worshipped a God of genitalia, the answer is yes, yes they most certainly did. Let me introduce you to the deity Priapus. He is really not difficult to miss. Priapus was originally introduced to the Romans via the Greeks, as per usual. His gigantic erection was a