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 »
Last week on February 18, 2021, NASA’s Rover “Perseverance” landed safely on Mars. If you got a chance to watch the event unfold at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, you no doubt were moved by the atmosphere of tense but hopeful expectation held by all scientists in the room. The hush as the
The Lucky Peanuts of NASA Read More »
These pottery remains might not look like much to the untrained eye, but they are in fact recently discovered elements from what may be the world’s oldest beer factory.Located in the ancient Egyptian burial ground of Abydos, the collection of enormous units of pottery basins that heated the mixture of water and grains to make
Ancient Egypt’s Oldest Beer Factories Read More »
Here is Terry Jones of Monty Python fame in one of the very best comedic moments in film IMHO — he’s performing as a desert hermit whose vows of silence and harsh lifestyle are broken after the man called Brian accidentally leads a crowd of people to the shallow pit he had been dwelling in
Monty Python and Symeon the Stylite Read More »
This February 27, 2021, the discovery of the first Ancient Roman ceremonial chariot found in Italy was announced. Even though ruins from the city of Pompeii were found way back in 1748 (after the volcanic eruption had buried it in 79 CE), archaeologists are still unearthing amazing treasures around the area. This chariot survived with
Finding the First Ancient Roman Ceremonial Chariot Read More »
In the Eastern Roman Empire of Byzantium, disputes over proper religious beliefs polarized the state for centuries, giving fodder to the fourth-century pagan chronicler Ammianus Marcellinus’ claim that “no wild beasts are as ferocious as Christians are to each other”.To us the disputes seem ridiculous: should holy images/icons be allowed? Does Jesus have one or
Byzantine Empire Battles Over Religious Beliefs Read More »
You are looking at a coin of Julian “the Apostate,” the last pagan emperor of Rome (r. 361-363). It’s easy to gloss over the features because so many appear similar to others of the ancient world, but indulge me a moment. The side profile of Julian shows him with a beard. The flip side of
Ancient Roman Pagan Coin of Emperor Julian Read More »
Check out this recently discovered mummy with a gold-foil tongue — It’s about 2,000 years old and comes from the Ancient Egyptian city of Taposiris Magna. Scholars believe the special tongue was to be able to speak in the afterlife — maybe to answer to Osiris, the divine judge of the dead.News of this discovery
Golden-Foil Tongues in Ancient Egyptian Mummies Read More »
When is it almost like Christmas even though it’s not Christmas? Why, It’s when you get a chance to learn that there is an actual Icelandic legend about necropants, of course!.Those zany Icelandic peoples had it hard in the 17th century — most of society was desperately poor and without recourse to making their lives
Necropants of Icelandic History Read More »
Chinese folklore has many accounts of female ghosts — the one featured here is the Nü gui, a terrifying vengeful spirit of a woman who committed suicide because of a crime against her, often rape. Such spirits might appear as beautiful ladies who sexually seduce their male prey and drain their “Yang” life-force essence.This type
Chinese Folklore the Nu Gui Ghost Read More »
“Are you not entertained?” chides the gladiator Maximus to the crowds watching him in the 2000 film by Ridley Scott. The question teases all of us humans, because of our penchant for being attracted to drama — sports, scandal, and story.In Byzantine history this penchant for the dishy reached an acme with the author Procopius,
Author Procopius and the Chariot Sports Team Blues Read More »
In the late 1980’s, the country of South Africa was perched on the edge of civil war. The white Afrikaner minority population had enforced a brutal range of policies under its apartheid system. Whites were to live in the wealthy areas, blacks were legally sequestered to the poor lands. Only the pro-apartheid National Party was
de Klerk and Mandela Avoid a Civil War Read More »
My historical fields of interest lie in the distant past — but for me, it seems almost ancient history to realize that a year ago today on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization decreed that COVID-19 was indeed a pandemic, and the world changed utterly.That was before the deaths of nearly 530,000 Americans (so
Jason McLellan and his Research on SARS-COV2 Read More »
Beauty standards across time vary enormously, as does the degree to which they emphasize qualities that never appear in nature. For instance, in recent decades in American culture, having perfectly straight and dazzling white teeth have signified health and high social status. In much of Japan’s history, it was the exact opposite.Here you see an
Beauty Standards in Ancient Japanese History Read More »
Just last week (12 March 2021) a team of scholars that included a mathematician, a physicist, and a clockmaker (among others) unveiled an answer to one of the greatest puzzles in history — how the famed “Antikythera Mechanism” worked.Since 1901, when a diver off the coast of Greece (Antikythera, to be exact) found an unusual
The Inner-Workings of the “Antikythera Mechanism” Read More »
All pandemics are horrible, but no two are alike. Certainly this is true for those who have suffered from the bubonic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia Pestis.These poor victims pictures here died of the pandemic that raged across western Eurasia during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian and after (from 541- the following
The Justinianic Plague Read More »
