The Victorians loved themselves a good Ancient Egyptian mummy, but it turns out that 16th and 17th century Europeans did too — as ingestible medicine. But let me not get ahead of myself.First, one must acknowledge the enormous usage of mummies that Victorians did indeed employ. Starting in the 16th century, “mummy brown” became prized […]
Victorian Mummy Consumption Read More »
“Worked up to desperation, he applied the wires of the battery and put the apparatus in motion, whilst a demonic laugh of derision appeared to ring in his ears, and the surrounding mummies seemed starting from their places and dancing in unearthly merriment . . . .” These are the first words in English to
Jane Loudon’s “The Mummy” Read More »
Many, many places have I loved in London, but Highgate Cemetery has a special place in my heart. Construction began on this Victorian burial ground in 1839, when the city had long outgrown real estate for the dead. Only the very wealthy afforded tombs and mausoleums there. Tourists today can seek out the graves of
London’s Highgate Cemetery Read More »
This is one of my favorite illustrations from Medieval history, from _The Book of the Queen_, and shows Christine de Pizan (1364-1431) — the first woman professional writer in French — standing in a celestial sphere surrounded by the sun, moon, and stars. The miniature features a scene from an allegorical tale by de Pizan
Christine de Pizan and the Path of Long Study Read More »
You are looking at one of Ancient Rome’s worst enemies, the ruler of the wealthy Kingdom of Pontus in Asia Minor, Mithridates the Great, aka Mithridates VI Eupator (135-63 BCE). He took the Roman empire into wars that exposed the weaknesses of the Republic, which collapsed in cataclysmic civil wars in just a generation after
Mithridates the Great and the Massacre of 88 BCE Read More »
Located in downtown Philadelphia’s iconic South Street, Philly’s Magic Gardens is an artistic spectacle. It’s a dazzling outdoor-and-indoor labyrinth crammed from top to bottom and all around with the mosaics of local artist Isaiah Zagar. If you walk around South Street, you will no doubt see other mosaics by Zagar, who has made it his
The Magic Gardens in Philadelphia Read More »
Humorous, whimsical, profound, and thought-provoking — these are some of the major reactions to viewers exploring the 42 acre Seward Johnson “Grounds for Sculpture.” Seward Johnson founded the open-air museum in 1992 as a way to promote contemporary sculpture to the general public. Seward, part of the Johnson & Johnson family, never cottoned onto the
Seward Johnson “Grounds for Sculpture” Read More »
Today I got to tour the Barnes Museum, which houses an amazing collection of art with particular highlights of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and Modernist works. The paintings reside in a relatively recent (2012) building in Philadelphia. The museum’s decor is spacious and allows for a great deal of outside lighting and comfortable seating in a glass-and-cement
The Barnes Museum of Philadelphia Read More »
This is the frontispiece of John Milton’s (of _Paradise Lost_ fame) _Areopagitica_, a treatise promoting free speech by arguing against licensing, aka mandating that publications must have official government/religious approval. Published in 1644, Milton’s world was not one that guaranteed the right to free expression. Instead, both in England and in the nascent colonies, there
_Areopagitica_, Milton, and Free Speach Read More »
This Ancient scientist was championed by intellectuals across time, and by the 1600s was known in Europe as one of the most important alchemists of Ancient history: Cleopatra “Chrysopoeia” the Alchemist (aka not the Pharaoh). Thought to have been active in the third century BCE, Cleopatra was praised in the early 1600s as being one
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Last on a series of posts on Victorian Egyptomania. One of the ways Victorians enjoyed themselves a good mummy was from the mummy unwrapping parties that became popular, beginning in 1821 when a man named Giovanni Belzoni did a highly publicized event near Piccadilly Circus that attracted over 2000 people. The fad took off from
Victorian Egyptomania Read More »
Behold an example of a fabled Griffin claw, said to neutralize poisons and once collected as prized objects by Medieval kings. The upper image is of a purported Griffin claw, with a silver band inscribed with the Latin: “GRYPHI UNGUIS DIVO CUTHBERTO DUNELMENSI SACER” (“the claw of a Griffin sacred to the blessed Cuthbert of
Medieval Griffin Claw Read More »
Conrad Beissel (1691-1768) was the founding leader of a monastic group of dissident Christians in Ephrata. The cloister he set up in this remote location at one point held 80 celibate followers, both men and women. His final home, featured here, was a much larger space than many of Ephrata’s members, and yet it still
Conrad Beissel and the Ephrata Cloister Read More »
This is King Charles II of England and Scotland (d. 1685), dressed in very fancy clothes which made him look very civilized and not at all the sort of person who would consume crushed human skull as part of his medical regimen. But there you are, because, as it turns out, 17th-century English folks did
“The King’s Drops” of King Charles II Read More »
In the most remote parts of central Pennsylvania there are a string of state game lands that go by the name of “St Anthony’s Wilderness”. And on a mountain ridge, accessible only by hiking in, are the ruins of a small coal-mining community around the village known as Yellow Springs. An identifying sign along the
Dore Gustave’s “Garden of Eden” Engraving Read More »
Here’s a reconstruction of the oldest European mummy, called Ötzi, named for a region where he was found in the Alps back in 1991. His body had been preserved by his glacial environment for 5,300 years, and has been extensively studied by scientists who have put together a fascinating picture of the Iceman and his
By the end of this post, you are likely to know more than you ever thought you would about an extremely coveted medical treatment popularized in Early Modern Europe: Human Skull Moss, aka “usnea”.It was made up of exactly what it sounds like — you can see an example here from the Berlin Botanical Museum.
Human Skull Moss – “Usnea” Read More »
In the most remote parts of central Pennsylvania there are a string of state game lands that go by the name of “St Anthony’s Wilderness”. And on a mountain ridge, accessible only by hiking in, are the ruins of a small coal-mining community around the village known as Yellow Springs. An identifying sign along the
Yellow Springs – Mining Town Read More »
This Greek tablet from the seventh century BCE shows slaves in a mine, surely one of the worst expressions of forced labor in human history. For Ancient Greek history, the most well-known group of forced laborers were the helots of Sparta. Outnumbering the Spartan citizens by a ratio of at least 5:1, the helots were
Slavery and Helots in Ancient Sparta Read More »
This small bronze figure comes from 5th-century BCE Sparta, when the Ancient Greek polis was at the height of its power. Contemporaries and later Ancients had much to report on the education of Spartan boys at this time, which was infamously brutal and unique. Starting at age 7, boys were grouped into “herds” — the
Ancient Spartan Education of Boys Read More »
