Three children who died too young: what can they tell us about how we frame and then answer our questions about the past?
Why should academics blog?
"Around 400 B.C., writers from the Hippocrates school discussed a contraceptive similar to the intrauterine device (IUD) of today. This particular apparatus was a hollow tube filled with mutton-fat..." Really??
‘Her body was masculinized (τό τε σῶμα ἠνδρώθη)’. This is one aspect of the description of Phaethousa of Abdera, who features in one of the Hippocratic ‘case histories’ from probably the fourth century BC. When her husband leaves, or goes into exile, this previously fecund woman stops menstruating and experiences a range of symptoms, including… Continue reading Gendered flesh, prolapse and ‘sex change’: the case of Phaethousa
How can you work out past societies' awareness of risk, before stats come along to help? How was risk handled in ancient Greece?