Healing Arts: Medicine in History, Culture and the Arts

It may come as a surprise to students of Ancient Greece and its patently misogynistic customs and beliefs, that the most powerful symbol of the Hellenic civilization, the most influential and revered person in religious, domestic and even military matters, was a woman. Or rather, a series of women.

The Oracle at Delphi

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Legends and Symbols Series

Where did the well-known symbol for the medical profession actually come from?

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While Christie’s work includes a fair amount of violent murder methods, including stabbings, shootings, blunt force trauma, etc, she is perhaps best known for her use of poison. Nearly thirty novels see the hapless victims dispatched via poisons of many kinds, and even more include non-fatal poisons or sleeping draughts as part of the plot.

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Why does medicine use so many fifty-cent words? And where do they come from?

Join me on a deep dive into medicalese.

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Unnatural Death? Series

Did Vincent Van Gogh really commit suicide? Compelling evidence suggests otherwise...

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Healing Arts Podcast - Tudor Troubles Series

When Queen Mary I of England, daughter of Henry VIII, announced that she was with child, her subjects were overjoyed…and bewildered. Many were skeptical, due to her age and the recency of her marriage, and some were outright convinced she was either mistaken or delusional…because as they suspected, no royal baby ever appeared. 

The Queen’s Quickening: The Phantom Pregnancies of Mary I. First published in the Journal of Medical Humanities, by the Hektoen Institute of Medicine in Chicago, 2022 . 

Did you know the ancient Egyptians performed surgery? Or that the Oracle of Delphi was hallucinating due to noxious gasses? Did you know what the 'madness' of King George III might have actually been about?

Welcome to the Healing Arts Podcast, all about the many fascinating ways medicine intersects with history, culture and the arts. I'll explore topics on the history of medicine, how medical terminology developed and influenced our language, and explore the close connection between medicine and the Greek and Roman pantheon. I'll also look at music, art, and classic literature.

Medicine has informed our fine art, literature, language and culture in so many ways. So if you like healing and the arts, then let's jump in.

Categories

Jane's Afflictions - Health and healing in Jane Austen’s Books and the Regency period in general

Tudor Troubles - Medicine, misdeeds and mysteries in the time of Henry VIII

Novel Treatment: Depictions of health and disease in literature

Body Language - Medical terminology and language

The Ancient World - The earliest medical discoveries and beliefs from around the far past.

Myths, Legends and Symbols - the origin of everyday symbols, terms and legends. 

Art and ailments - depictions of medical conditions in classic art.

Music, madness and maladies - how health matters affected our greatest composers and performers. 

Unnatural Death? A true-crime like investigation into medical mysteries in history, the art world and more.

A Medical Miscellany: Medicine in history, literature and modern life.

A Medical Humanities Moment: A Quick Look at the Myths, Legends and Symbols of Modern Medicine.

Even if you’ve never had a shave and a haircut at a grooming salon for men - in other words, a barber shop - you’ve certainly seen the commonplace symbol that appears outside many of these establishments: the barber’s pole. Typically around half a meter, or a foot and a half in length, these cylindrical signs feature a helix of red, white and sometimes blue bands that twist up the column, and in some case, actually rotate. There’s usually a round globe or light at the top, and sometimes a thick base at the bottom. It’s the universal barbershop symbol, telling passersby at a glance that this is the place for gents to get that new hairdo.

So what does it have to do with medicine? Turns out, much more than you might think.

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In the summer of 1890, Vincent Van Gogh committed suicide by shooting himself in the abdomen.

Or did he?

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Elizabeth Tudor, Queen Elizabeth I of England, is perhaps one of the most famous monarchs in all of history. She reigned for forty-five years during a time of tumultuous religious and political upheaval, survived several assassination attempts, and famously addressed her army with the proclamation that she had the ‘heart and stomach of a king’. 

But in spite of her many accomplishments, even in spite of famously  — or infamously — ordering the death of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I is primarily known for one particular thing: her virginity. 

Please note - this episode features mild references to sexuality.

Error - I misspoke in this recording and referred to Lettice Knollys' husband as Robert Devereaux, when it should have been Robert Dudley.

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