Pennhurst asylum and school – formally called the Eastern Pennsylvania Institution for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic — ran for the better part of the 20th century as a home for people with mental and physical disabilities, but it was forcibly shut down after exposures of patient abuse and decades of litigation. Pennhurst’s cases of horrific
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So this lady looks unusually serene, especially in light of the fact that she’s using the blood of her own severed foot (!!!!) to write a letter to her husband. This is the heroine Hypermnestra, and in the Roman poet Ovid’s rendition of her tale, she pleads with her husband to come save her from
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Ghost stories have been an important part of China’s culture for centuries. As shown from this 14th-century Yuan Dynasty tomb, beliefs about ghosts can be seen in the visual arts, as well as in written sources. One of the most prominent types of undead spirits were the “Jiang Shi,” which were zombie-like reanimated beings. The
Jiang Shi Spirits from Chinese Culture Read More »
What drives us to learn? Are people with unusual intellectual capabilities also predisposed to want to use them? The case of Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718-1799) raises these questions, because she possessed a rarified mind in an era when women of her social class were expected to marry and attend to domestic affairs rather than academic
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This is Mary Grace Quackenbos, a.k.a. “Mrs. Sherlock Holmes,” and she was a good apple. Born in 1869, she came into a large estate in her youth and enrolled in law school. She used her fortune to help the poor and powerless, starting up “The People’s Law Firm”in 1905. When a young Italian immigrant headed
Mary Grace Quackenbos – “Mrs. Sherlock Holmes” Read More »
Yesterday (November 5) in the U.S. was voting day, but in the U.K. many people lit bonfires and threw in effigies of “the Guy” for Guy Fawkes Day. In fact, our slang word “guy” comes from the person who became the most well-known architect of the Gunpowder Plot. In 1605, Guy Fawkes, a discontent Roman
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In the Late Middle Ages, one chemical became a driving force in the economy, even forming the source of a cartel by the Papacy. Potash Alum [KAl (SO4)2] is a chemical compound that occurs naturally as crystals in some encrustacions (see second photo). It enables cell walls to harden – it can give a dill
Potash Alum and Medieval Italy’s Wool Industry Read More »
In our current social climate, it can seem that confidence in the scientific method and trust in the expertise of professionals are being challenged for the first time. Is it good news or bad, then, to realize that this is not the case? Strap in, ladies and gents, as I introduce you to _The Cellular
Cyrus Tweed’s “The Earth a Concave Sphere” Read More »
The scratchings you see on this picture are not my students’ writings, which makes me glad for two reasons. First, they are written in Ancient Romano-British Latin. Second, the lead tablet shown here records a ritualistic curse — it is a type of item found widespread in the Ancient world. 130 examples alone, dating from
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You are looking at a late 3rd-c. CE Tauroctony, the sacred scene from the Roman Cult of Mithras. Frequently compared with the emerging religion of Christianity, Mithraism featured a savior deity who came down from the stars to save his adherents. Worshippers of this cult were all men, and they met in chambers that resembled
Tauroctony From The Roman Cult of Mithras Read More »
This is an ink portrait of the famed Chinese demon-hunter Zhong Kui. It was done by the Shunzhi Emperor Fulin in the mid 17th-century, and the fact that a Chinese ruler would find such a hero compelling enough to paint testifies to the importance of Zhong Kui’s legends. In myths stretching back as far as
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In the background you are hearing the 15th-century English Christmas “Boar’s-Head Carol,” and looking at a closeup of a boar hunt from the month of December in the lavishly illustrated _Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry_ (circa 1440). In my home state of Pennsylvania, deer rifle season is heralded by hunters as an important
Boar Hunting in “Tres Riches Heures du Duc be Berry” Read More »
She looks lovely, doesn’t she? Well, if not lovely, certainly fancy. But turn to the next slide, and you’ll get a very different view. This two-sided ivory pendant of an aristocratic woman was carved in the Netherlands around 1500, and perfectly represents a Late Medieval artistic motif called “momento mori,” or “remembrance of death.” In
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The Ancient Romans atttibuted the Goddess Vesta with the power to keep Rome safe and prosperous, and they conceived of these qualities with the symbols of fire, penises, and female chastity. Vesta’s ancient temple (third slide) in the city of Rome had sacred fires, tended to by full-time priestesses whose ritual care preserved the integrity
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Medieval people from every social status played games, but wealthy ladies and gentlemen had the resources for specialer ones. The first image you see here is the earliest intact deck of playing cards, known as the “Flemish Hunting Deck.” Made up of fifty-two hand-painted cards, the deck was created about 1480, and used real gold
Medieval Table Games Read More »
In Early Medieval Europe, to have a book meant you were fantastically wealthy. But to commission a book such as the one featured here meant you were at the pinnacle of society. This manuscript is the _Codex Argenteus_, and it is among the most important human-made objects created in sixth-century Europe. Parchment was expensive and
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We are approaching that holiday time of the year again: Saturnalia is almost upon us! The Ancient Romans celebrated this winter solstice festival for several days in late December. Although it was a religious festival, Romans thought of it as a fun, carnival time, when gifts were exchanged and lots of food consumed. The fifth-century
Ancient Roman Celebration of Saturnalia Read More »
Each year, I write historically themed Christmas Carols, and this year’s is about the society of the Early Medieval epic poem _Beowulf_. Enjoy! “Hwaet! Gear-Dagum (Sings the poet)” to the tune of “Deck the Halls (with Boughs of Holly)” “Hwaet! Gear-Dagum,” sings the poet./ Gather ’round and hear/ The tale I tell.// Danish thegns win
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Here you see a ginormous “Foo Dog,” as the guardian lions of Chinese architecture are known in the West. These statues began to flank the entrances to homes of the elite during the Ming and Qing Dynasties (14th-20th c). Standing for strength and power, they appear in pairs, with the left lioness (as indicated by
Foo Dogs and Protection of Ancient Chinese Elite Homes Read More »
About two months ago, in my small town of south-central Pennsylvania, people gathered for a municipal board hearing to debate whether we should stop putting fluoride in our public water supply as a preventative measure against tooth decay. Loads of scientific evidence is easily available for the critical reader to make up her mind on
Struggles of Relieving Medieval Tooth Aches and Decay Read More »
