Third in my series of chroniclers who regaled their readers with narratives of the horrific deaths of rulers is the story of the demise of King Edward II of England. Edward, who had earned the enmity of powerful aristocrats as well as his wife, had been forced to abdicate his throne and was imprisoned when […]
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The Rio Grande is just a dry riverbed this time of year at La Llorona park in Las Cruces, New Mexico.The area is named for an old Latinx legend common throughout Mexico and the American Southwest: La Llorona or “the Weeping Woman” usually tells of a beautiful woman with dark flowing hair wearing white robes
The “Weeping Woman” of the Rio Grande Read More »
These ruins stand in solitude at the western foothills of New Mexico’s Organ Mountain range. Constructed in the late 1800s, they were part of a resort complex called “Van Patten’s Mountain Camp.” Even though it takes a while for hikers to pack into this area now, the buildings were isolated even when they were in
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The Ancient Maya idea of beauty differed radically from our own, as evidence from art and human bones show. Shown here is medical anthropologist Vera Tiesler, who has examined thousands of bones from the Maya Classical Era (250-900 CE) and found fascinating patterns in the practice of skull-shaping.The Maya used stiff boards to flatten their
Ancient Mayan Skull Shaping Read More »
Oh those crazy Ancient Maya . . . They sure knew how to have a good time. In these two photos we see a terracotta figurine and a sculpture in relief, respectively, showing people happily getting enemas. The first statuette shows a woman giving herself one: she twists her face upwards, smiling in delight. The
Ancient Mayans Love of Enemas Read More »
Christmas traditions have a great many manifestations, and one of the most unusual is a practice from southern Wales surrounding the macabre figure of the Mari Lwyd, which is a horse skull decorated with glass eyes and bows, held up on a pole by a man under a white canvas sheet. (The first photo gives
Mari Lwyd and Traditional Christmas Customs of Southern Wales Read More »
My topic for the turn of the year is the history of naming ceremonies. Such traditions have been important parts of human culture at least as long as recorded history, and this makes sense: naming children marks them as part of their communities, and much about a society can be understood from how folks went
Aztec Goddess Cihuacoatl and Naming Ceremonies Read More »
No surprise, much more documentation survives regarding naming ceremonies for the wealthy versus regular people in Ancient and Medieval societies. This is certainly the case with Japanese history. Isn’t it fantastic, though, that amidst the paucity of evidence — I mean, we know *so* little about Japanese childbirth and naming practices — we at least
Japan’s “Scroll of the Hungry Ghosts” Read More »
It is easy to dramatize the callousness of Ancient Roman fathers who controlled whether their infants were to be killed through exposure. As the tenderness of the gaze from adult to child carved on this marble statue shows, Roman fathers certainly could have loving affection for their children.The purification rituals surrounding Ancient Roman births were
Ancient Roman “Lustratio” Birthing Ceremonies Read More »
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 »
We are inseparable from our environment, and we change with our surroundings whether we are aware of it or not. You are looking at a photo of some of the skulls of the approximately 800,000 Tutsis killed by their Hutu neighbors in the 1994 genocide. It is easy to pretend that the inner workings of
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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 »
Queen Elizabeth I of England (d. 1603) ruled her country for decades through an era of extreme religious strife and against the will of many who thought, as the Protestant leader John Knox, that “It is more than a monstre in nature that a Woman shall reigne and have Empire above a Man . .
Queen Elizabeth I and Her “Queen’s Touch” 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 »
Today begins the Chinese New Year for 2021, when many rituals and celebrations welcome in the future in hopes that it will bring happiness, health, and prosperity. One of the traditions is shown in the image here: the drinking of a sort of wine called “Tusu.” Of course, it was specially important for the Emperor
Chinese New Year and Drinking “Tusu” 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 »
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 »
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 »
