This week’s posts focus on the genesis of languages. Although languages develop over time, and are almost always (*thanks,* Esperanta) spoken before being written down, sometimes it is possible to identify singular moments in linguistic history when enormous change happens.Take the case of Korean, for instance. Historians are still in debate about whether it emerged
Genesis of the Korean Language Read More »
Killing in the name of God has been an unfortunate part of the legacy of Abrahamic religions, and we might wonder how people across the millennia have rationalized this. No need for much Biblical exegesis here, because I am hopeful that readers would all fall into the “no sh*t, Sherlock” camp at the mere suggestion
The Fourth Western European Crusade Read More »
This barber’s pole may look like a quaint form of advertisement, reminiscent of a candy cane. However, it’s got a pretty sick story behind it.You probably know that medicine in the Middle Ages was not informed by the scientific method, and that hygiene, anatomy, and physiology weren’t understood. A good reason for cutting open a
The Barber Pole and Medieval Times Read More »
Whenever a new leader assumes power, the transition sparks anxiety typical of human nature’s concern about the liminal, of boundaries and unpredictablity. One of the ways people have dealt with this unease is through the observance of rituals. Repeated ceremonies bring continuity, and are laden with symbolism that gives meaning to the authority of the
Byzantine Rituals During Transitions of Power Read More »
This disgusting, but hardly pornographic, illustration of a monk with open lesions on his penis is illustrative of the horrific pandemic of Syphilis that emerged in Europe in the late 15th century. Causing sores on genitalia in its first phase, the disease eventually results in ulcers, hair loss, and physical dismemberment among other things before
Epidemic of Syphilis in the 15th-Century Read More »
For centuries, Europeans’ #1 go-to treatment for the disease Syphilis was an administration of mercury. Physicians managed it via theraputic fumigation, through injections, and as topical creams – often in the form of mercurous chloride, called “sweet mercury” or “calomel”. As the 16th-century poem “Syphilis” notes: “All men concede that mercury’s the best/ Of agents that will
Medieval Syphilis Treatment (With Mercury) Read More »
What can anal fistula teach us about Medieval life? A great deal, tuns out.The first image you see here is a 15th-century illustration of one of the most important medical treatises of the Middle Ages, the “Practica of fistula in ano.” It is all about how to cure diseases of the colon and rectum, including
John of Arderne and Medieval Anal Fistulas Read More »
Yesterday I wrote about a certain physician, John of Arderne, who wrote an amazingly forward-thinking text about how to perform a surgery on anal fistula. Unique for his time in the 1300s, he emphasized the importance of hygiene and correct methods to prevent blood loss during the painful operation. Lest you think that anyone, even
The Zodiac Man and Medieval Surgery Read More »
Harry Potter fans might recognize this plant from a seveth-century Italian herbal: it is a mandrake, or in Latin, “mandragora.” So named because Ancient and Medieval Europeans thought the way that its root resembles a man (or a woman, see illustration three) was just so extra, the mandrake gained a reputation for producing effects far
The Mandrake Root in European History Read More »
Just how important is a single book? In the case of the one featured here, _De materia medica_, the answer is 1500 years: that’s how long this text dominated the genre of applied medical textbooks. The most important description of plants and their uses for over a millennia and a half, it wasn’t rediscovered in
Medicinally Used Plants in “De Materia Medica” Read More »
In these pandemic times, attention has justly been drawn to the critical role that hospitals and their staff have played in preventing social collapse by providing relief to millions of sufferers — those that manage to return to health, and those whose last days’ solace has been granted by weary health-care workers. We can thank
The Importance of Byzantine Xenon Hospitals Read More »
The Byzantine Empire had a good run, from the move of the Roman capital from Rome to Constantinople in 330 CE to the takeover of the illustrious city in 1453. The individual emperors, however, frequently were not as lucky in their reigns. Here you see an 11th-century manuscript showing the murder of Emperor Romanos III
Mutilations of Byzantine Emperors Read More »
If you wanted to get ahold of the most important book of magic in the Middle Ages — I mean, inspire-the-most-fantasy-Buffy-the-Vampiresque sorts of spells magic, replete with demons, charms, incantations, arcane use of astrology, etc., then you would have to look no further than the _Picatrix_.It sounds like the name of a Pokemon, but Picatrix
“Picatrix” the Middle Ages Book of Magic Read More »
What does it take to change a mind? Often the transition between one set of beliefs to another doesn’t happen radically — even if it seems so. The place of Christianity in the mind of the Emperor Constantine (d. 337) is a case in point. He and his contemporary biographers might have imagined a swift
The Religious Conversion of Emperor Constantine Read More »
If you can read this, you are not having a day as bad as the person here had, about 1,173 years ago, in the south of England. And we know this because of the multi-disciplinary approach to studying the Early Middle Ages. Scientists, archaeologists, and historians working together can tease out the stories of the
Face Mutilation of Young Women in the Early Middle Ages Read More »
To me, this is a comical picture showing a bunch of men climbing up a ladder while devils try to grab them or shoot them down — kind of like a *very* old-school Donkey Kong. To the 12th-century Byzantine artist who painted this icon, known as “the Ladder of Divine Ascent,” it was a true-to-life
Byzantine Painting “The Ladder of Divine Ascent” Read More »
You’re looking at a 700+ year-old heart, recovered from a Medieval autopsy of Saint Clare of Montefalco, and considered a miraculous relic demonstrating Clare’s special relationship to God. Also did I mention that this is an actual heart?When super holy people — I mean “athletes for God” holy– died, Ancient and Medieval Christians thought they
Saint Clare’s Medieval Heart Read More »
Whenever I think about Byzantine eunuchs (*as one does*), there’s just always so much to say. So here is a picture of the famed general Narses (d. 537), known as “the Hammer of the Goths” which was not a stage name but a moniker for this eunuch’s effectiveness at crushing the enemies of the Byzantine
Eunuch Narses, “The Hammer of the Goths” Read More »
Is it always the case that women who disguise their female sex are transgender? When we study the past, we need to think about how people doing the same actions in days of yore might have thought about their identities differently than us moderns. The transgendered monks of Byzantium are a case in point.There are
Transgendered Monks of Byzantium Read More »
This exquisite reverse of a Late Roman (c 400 CE) mirror is the closest object I could find that relates to one of the premier minds of antiquity, that of Anathemius of Tralles, who lived in the late 5th- mid 6th- centuries. He lived in the bustling capital city of Constantinople when it was at
Anathemius of Tralles the Comedian of Constantinople Read More »
