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 »
Shown here are Doctors Pear Kendrick and Grace Eldering, and together they developed the first successful vaccine against the childhood disease pertussis, or Whooping Cough.Whooping Cough is of course characterized by the sound of the hollow, forced, and unremitting chest cough that mostly younger people endured until the 20th-century development of a vaccine: it killed
Doctors Pear Kendrick and Grace Eldering Read More »
I hope yunz’ all can appreciate baby-killing demon-goddesses as much as I do. They appear in so many cultures, and explain so much about women’s fears (like being the worst sort of woman — a) one who murdered children and b) hadn’t been able to manage her love affairs with a man in socially-acceptable ways.).
Protection from Lilith in Traditional Jewish History 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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
For part of its history, the Byzantine Empire carried out an unusual tradition for selecting the women who would marry the emperors. These were the imperial “bride-shows,” in which the young emperor’s parents would have a variety of noblewomen who showed great beauty and moral character compete for the hand of the leader of the
Ancient Byzantine Marriage Read More »
So it’s still Women’s History Month, and since I adore history and science, I wanted to do this entry about the American astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, whose contributions to our knowledge about the physical makeup of the universe were relatively unknown for much of the 20th century.Here you see Cecilia Payne’s portrait by artist Patricia Watwood,
Astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Read More »
Why I had never heard of Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825-1875) before this week seems crazy to me: he is one of the most fascinating people in American history. So that you, dear readers, also cease to abide in similar ignorance, might I introduce this man?.Randolph was descended on his father’s side from the white Virginia
The Life of Paschal Beverly Randolph Read More »
Here you see an image from around 1800 of one Chloe Russell, the purported author of _The Complete Fortune Teller and Dream Book_. Only a handful of copies exist today, but they provide a tantalizing glimpse into the tastes of some Americans for the occult, and an association of black Americans having access to magical
Purported Author Chloe Russell Read More »
You are looking at the most expensive Easter egg ever made: the famed “Winter” Fabergé egg created by Alma Pihl, the only woman designer of the iconic Russian jeweled eggs.Alma (slide two) was brought into the Fabergé workshop because her father had been its leading jeweler. Since 1885, the company of Peter Carl Fabergé had
Alma Pihl’s “Winter” Faberge Egg Design Read More »
In the ancient world if you were worried about your health you might travel to a religious temple of a healing deity to seek treatment. The God-hero Asclepius had at least 700 structures dedicated to him alone. The Ancients ascribed healing to the effects of prayer, supernatural rituals, or medicine — often these treatments
Ancient Healing Deity Remedies Read More »
The column pictured here is a Sati Stone from the 18th century, now housed in the British Museum. To us, it is a hideous and grim memorial, but it was envisioned to be a sacred monument and tribute commemorating a woman who had performed Sati (also Suttee) — self-immolation upon her deceased husband’s funeral pyre.The
18th Century Sati Stone Read More »
Betcha never studied this Ancient Greek Goddess back in school. Might I introduce to you Baubo, the female deity of bawdy sex jokes?.Baubo’s mythology, as told by the horrified Church fathers Clemens of Alexandria and Arnobius from the third century CE, centers on the critical role that Baubo played in the story of Demeter. When
Ancient Greek Goddess Baubo Read More »
This marble plaque from the Ancient Roman port city Ostia Antiqua shows a birthing scene, and you will no doubt notice that no men are present. Although the medical profession in Ancient Greece and Rome required extensive training and usually eliminated women from being doctors, enormous exceptions were made when it came to the treatment
Ancient Roman Women in Medicine Read More »
In 1985, scientist, Katalin Karikó left her native Hungary for the United States with her husband and two-year old daughter. The University of Szeged, where she had earned her degree and was working as a postdoctorate fellow, had run out of funding. So the family — who had to sew cash into their daughter’s stuffed
I have a good story for this Mother’s Day in the U.S.. It comes from a Hindu myth found in a sacred text called _The Bhagavata Purana_ (8th-10th c), which tells the story of the maternal love of Yasoda for her foster son, the God Krishna.Yasoda had no idea that she was raising a divine
Yasoda and Her Foster Son God Krishna Read More »
