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Free Course: Health and Wellbeing in the Ancient World


guy

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Here is an interesting course that begins in February concerning health in the ancient world. Anyone can sign up and it's free:

 

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/ancient-health

 

 

What did being healthy in ancient Rome or Greece look like? How can we tell what wellbeing meant in ancient times? This course will help you investigate the health of people in ancient Greece and Rome, using both literary and archaeological evidence to uncover details of real life in ancient societies.

 

On the course we’ll divide the body up into organs and systems, using each as a starting point to explore ancient theories of the structure and function of the human body, and other aspects of ancient life.

 

We’ll discover ancient Greece and Rome in full, from the public to the personal, and from army and urban life to the lived experience of women and children. Using the evidence on the hair and face, the eyes, the digestive system, the organs of reproduction and the feet you’ll explore topics with which our society still wrestles, including the location of the ‘self’; the relationship between mind and body; identity; food and drink; sanitation; sexuality, ageing and gender.

 

 

 

I am hopeful it will be interesting.

 

 

 

guy also known as gaius

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  • 3 weeks later...

One of the students in the course (Catharina N) shared this interesting link on Galen:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03c4dys

 

It is well worth a listen 

 

 

 

guy also known as gaius

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Here's an interesting image from week two of the course of an ancient makeup compact:

 

post-3665-0-45926200-1486922208_thumb.png

 

 

Mark Robinson, environmental archaeologist at Oxford University Museum of Natural History, found a scallop shell with makeup in a sewer of Herculaneum.

 

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-in-this-undated-photo-provided-20160907-004-photo.html

 

http://www.philstar.com/food-and-leisure/2014/11/15/1392066/latrines-sewers-show-varied-ancient-roman-diet

 

 

 

 

 

 

guy also known as gaius

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Here's a nice article of ancient Roman cosmetics:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1475792/Make-up-another-thing-the-Romans-did-for-us.html

 

 

post-3665-0-71250900-1487034363_thumb.jpg

 

Quote

London archaeologists found the cosmetic, complete with finger marks from the woman who used it, close to a temple complex in Southwark last year.

It was buried almost 2,000 years ago and was contained in an exquisitely made round tin box two inch wide hidden within a timber-lined Roman ditch.

The cream was remarkably well preserved, better than any other known examples of this age, though it gave off a bad-egg smell when the container was opened, making the archaeologists present step back for a moment.

Today, Prof Richard Evershed of the University of Bristol, with colleagues at the Museum of London, report in the journal Nature the first analysis of the rare cream, using a wide range of techniques.

 

 

guy also known as gaius

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Another interesting article from the course about the way Gallo-Roman physicians in Gaul treated their patients:

 

 

http://www.medicographia.com/2012/11/how-did-gallo-roman-physicians-treat-their-patients/

 

 

post-3665-0-56631700-1487133817_thumb.jpg

Four medicinal plants used by Gallo-Roman physicians.

Clockwise from top: Hypericum perforatum (Saint John’s wort) – © Steven Foster; Hyoscyamus
niger (henbane) – © Steve Klics/Corbis; berries of Lycium barbarum – © Steven Foster; Papaver somniferum (opium poppy) and seed pod – © Joe Petersburger/National Geographic Society/
Corbis

 

 

guy also known as gaius

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  • 4 weeks later...

 

In the course section "Girls Growing Up," this picture of an ancient Roman doll from the second century AD was presented.

 

This is the only information I could find about the image: 

Italy, Rome, Via Trionfale, Wooden doll from sarcophagus of Crepereia Tryphena

Italy, Rome, Archaeological Museum, Roman civilization, 2nd century a.d.

 

I am fascinated about the hair style and the movable joints of this "Ancient Roman Barbie."

Doll.thumb.jpg.e58da65b48726e9089259e653213060e.jpg

 

Here's an interesting video about the hair styles of that time.

 

guy also known as gaius

 

 

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