Tag: Greek mythology
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Ancient “achoo”: The photic sneeze response in Greek mythology
Saty Satya-MurtiSanta Maria, California, United States Sneezing, or “sternutation,” has deep roots in mythology and culture. Often associated with life and health but also with death, various cultures have considered sneezing a good or bad omen. Blessing the sneezer with a long life after they sneeze has long been a familiar, worldwide practice. Depending on…
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The wounds of Christ and Prometheus – two of a kind?
Julia van Rosmalen Thomas van Gulik Amsterdam, Netherlands Fig. 1. Peter Paul Rubens, Prometheus Bound, 1611-1612. The eagle has buried its claws into the face and leg of Prometheus and uses its beak to tear out part of his liver that it has extracted through the right side of his chest. In the lower…
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The snake, the staff, and the healer
Simon Wein Petach Tikvah, Israel The Rod of Asclepius, graphite on paper, by Daniel Wein, 2021. Introduction In some ancient cultures, especially around the Near East, the snake was involved in healing. Today this seems counterintuitive. There are as many as 130,000 deaths from snake bites worldwide each year and three times that number…
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Ancient Greek plague and coronavirus
Patrick Bell Belfast, Northern Ireland Plague in an Ancient City by Michael Sweerts, ca 1650. Credit Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Introduction Homer’s Iliad, Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, and Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War have been termed “the three earliest, and arguably most influential, representations of the plague in Western narrative.”1 This…
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Medicine in Greek mythology
JMS Pearce Hull, England, UK Fig. 1 Caduceus and Asclepian single serpent Some of the earliest ideas about health and disease lie in Greek mythology. The Greeks of prehistory told, retold, and often remoulded their tales of immortal gods and goddesses that were imaginative, symbolic creations. Stories of the gods probably started with Minoan and…