Summary Here comes the parade, want some beads? Okay, so carnival is a prelude to Lent, which is an extremely solemn time in Catholic tradition. So why is it the way that it is in so many places? Let’s talk about it. Notes 1/ It’s late, but it’s up before the end of Lent. lol …

Continue reading "Episode 77: Carnival and Lent"

Synopsis If you’re one of those people who thinks about the Roman Empire a lot because aqueducts are really cool, you’re going to love this. Join Em and Jesse as they discuss the irrigation of the Chengdu Plain, the plumbing of Tenochtitlan, and water management at Machu Picchu. Then we round out our “the middle …

Continue reading "Episode 76: Pipe Dreams"

Summary After a brief discussion of how people brushed their teeth, we move on to the question of where the water they used came from. And yeah, Rome had aqueducts–but so did a lot of places! And the Romans didn’t even build the aqueducts they did have–they took them from the Etruscans! Who may have …

Continue reading "Episode 75: Plumb as in Full of Lead"

Summary When Em was a kid, she was told that knights in shining armor didn’t bathe, that Elizabeth I had bathed only three times in her life, and various other assertions. But we know that soap is not a modern invention–the word itself comes from the Latin, and no less than Pliny the Elder discusses …

Continue reading "Episode 74: Bath House (in the Middle of the Street)"

Synopsis Are you travelling for Thanksgiving? Believe it or not, “travel” as a thing is not a modern creation. In the middle ages, people visited many remote and far-flung places and brought back notes (and delicious noodles). Join Em and Jesse for travel talk, including Lord Elgin, Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo, Zheng He, Margery Kemp, …

Continue reading "Episode 73: I’m a Ramblin’ Man"

Synopsis We’ve all seen that scene in Indiana Jones where he’s clutching an artifact and shouting, “It belongs in a museum!” But nowadays in 2023, we tend to temper that idea–museums are fun, but who gets to hold a particular object, why, and for how long is a point of contention. Join Em and Jesse …

Continue reading "Episode 72: Does It Belong in a Museum?"

Synopsis Em and Jesse talk about Italian sumptuary laws, which unlike the British ones, were more aimed at women. Then they talk about fashion “dos” of the middle ages. Notes 1/ So, the difference between having a title and being part of the peerage is this. In America, when you earn a lot of money, …

Continue reading "Episode 71: Fashion (Turn to the Left)"

Synopsis Just in time for Paris Fashion Week, join Em and Jesse for an exciting discussion of sumptuary laws and the medieval origins of prohibitions against wearing white, as well as a few digressions about John Waters films and Blackadder. Notes 0/ Rainbow Space Magic Con: https://www.rainbowspacemagic.org/ 1/ Serial Mom: (warning for violence) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnGHB-kI2ZM 2/ …

Continue reading "Episode 70: White After Labor Day"

Synopsis What got written illicitly on the walls back before 79 CE? It turns out a lot of stuff! Join Em and Jesse as they discuss the graffiti of Pompeii and also stuff Vikings wrote their names on. Em’s book: Amazon, all other sites. Notes Books! Ancient Graffiti in Context ed. Baird and Taylor: https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Graffiti-Context-Routledge-Studies-ebook/dp/B004OBZWDG …

Continue reading "Episode 69: Virgil Was Here"

Summary Let’s talk about psychedelics in ritual practice. From Hunter S. Thompson’s pilgrimage across the desert to the human sacrifices of the Incan empire in the sixteenth century to the use of opium during the late bronze age, people have been altering their mental states in religious contexts almost since the dawn of civilization. Join …

Continue reading "Episode 68: Bat Country (Drugs, pt 2)"