Coins have always conveyed a message and, helpfully for historians, they are anchored to a specific time and space. Rome’s emperors used coins to push their political agendas.
A bird house on an exterior wall of the Yeni Valide mosque in Istanbul.
Christiane Gruber / Anurag Papolu
The mosque is where men and women and children go to pray. But, according to art historian Christiane Gruber, some make room for other, non-human creatures too.
In this 1470 illustration, the radical priest John Ball galvanizes the rebels.
The British Library
With the plague decimating the ranks of laborers, surviving workers started pining for higher wages. When the monarchy responded by enacting taxes and restrictive labor laws, the peasants rebelled.
The reality of the second world war is different from the two myths that continue to be employed today.
Imperial War Museums
From Brexit to coroanvirus, Britain keeps looking to the second world war and its spirit as a way to get through. However, the ideas of the period are not so close to the truth.
Chaucer commended those who followed their societal roles and condemned those who didn’t.
Morphart Creation/Shutterstock
Poets and the wealthy were angered by those who saw their opportunity to rise above their station after the plague.
The archaeological site of the Parliament House in Namur on 15 April 2020.
Agent du Patrimoine en Péril, le groupe pour la défense des agents de l'Agence wallonne du Patrimoine (AWaP)
In Namur, Belgium, archaeological excavations were almost buried for good under the cover of lockdown. The incident draws attention to weaknesses in archaeological heritage protection systems.
Tarot readers have been cast as swindlers and diviners of the future. The history of the cards suggests they are much more.
Photology1971/Shutterstock
People are turning to tarot while in lockdown as they search for clarity about love, work and life in such uncertain times.
Faithful in many religions, including Islam, may turn to healing amulets like necklaces and other small objects in difficult times.
Yawar Nazir/Getty Images
From magic bowls to holy shirts, Muslim cultures used various devices to protect the user from harm starting in the 11th century. Many of these objects were beautifully designed, too.
Model of Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli, Italy showing the poikilé, the large four-sided portico enclosing a garden with central pool.
Carole Raddato/Wikimedia
Fun fact: the term ‘influenza’ comes from the premodern belief stars influenced disease. Before epidemiologists, there were astrologers.
The biblical book of Ezekiel describes a vision of the divine that medieval philosophers understood as revealing the connection between religion and science.
By Matthaeus Merian (1593-1650)
Those experiencing stress and uncertainty amid the coronavirus may find guidance in medieval responses to plagues, which relied on both medicine and prayer.
Many home cooks have taken to baking sourdough as a show that they are OK in lockdown.
With hand-washing top of mind, soap is an integral part of keeping clean. But people through the ages relied on earlier forms of soap more for cleaning objects than for personal hygiene.
President and Mrs. Roosevelt enjoying after-luncheon conversation with patients of the Warm Springs Foundation.
Bettmann/Contributor via Getty Images
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s personal battle with polio, and his steady hand while overseeing a national eradication campaign, highlights decisive leadership against a virus that terrified America.
Florence Nightingale, who would have turned 200 today, might be remembered for her work during the Crimean War. But that’s ignoring the 54 years afterwards she spent writing, analysing and agitating.
On the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, we take a look at how her monumental efforts helped shape the way we model health care and disease outbreak data today.