Eastern Europe
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Animal Trials
Yes, I know that sounds crazy but this actually happened and it occurred enough to find several instances of animals being put on trial. These Animal Trials are recorded as having taken place in Europe from the thirteenth century until the eighteenth. They ranged from horses kicking their owners all the way to insects damaging crops. The earliest record of an animal trial is the execution of a pig in 1266 at Fontenay-aux-Roses. Such trials remained part of several legal systems until the 18th century. Animal defendants appeared before both church and secular courts, and the offenses alleged against them ranged from murder to criminal damage. Human witnesses were often…
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Tiresias
It seems like every Greek myth has a seer that must peer into the darkness of the future or the underworld or something to put the hero on his path to destiny. The go-to seer for many myths was Tiresias. It seemed like he was so good at his job, they couldn’t even let him alone when he was dead. Someone was always going into the underworld to bring him up for a prophecy of some kind. Tiresias was born to the nymph Chariclo and a shepherd, Everes. Chariclo was a favorite of Athena, and in one myth Tiresias got his power of prophecy from Athena. He was said to…
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Quarantine
A quarantine is used to prevent diseases spreading to people or animals by isolating those infected. The word “quarantine” originates from the Venetian dialect form of the Italian quaranta giorni, meaning ‘forty days’. Between 1348 and 1359, the Black Death wiped out an estimated 30% of Europe’s population, and a significant percentage of Asia’s population. In order ro prevent the spread of the disease ships and people were isolated for 40-days before they could enter the city of Dubrovnik in Croatia. Original documents from 1377, which are kept in the Archives of Dubrovnik, state that before entering the city, newcomers had to spend 30 days (a trentine) in a restricted…
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The Date of Christmas
“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” Luke 2:8. This is a part of the infancy gospels that are very familiar to us. The shepherds out in the fields with their flocks and being visited by the Heavenly Host and told to go find the Christ child. If this is indeed true, then this throws the date of December 25 as the date of Christ’s birth into shadow. The flocks were kept in corrals unwatched at night every season but lambing time, which took place in the spring. Only during lambing times were shepherds in the fields with…
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On This Day in History, September 9th AD 9 | Teutoburg Forest
You’ve heard of the “Teutoburg disaster”, right? It’s kinda infamous if you like brushing up on your history stuff, particularly so if you are pro- or anti- Roman. It’s so touted as an example of anti-Roman rule, that it can be somewhat overdone. Or, to quote one Roman-o-phile I know; “I’m sick of hearing about bloody Teutoburg.” And I kind of understand that, particularly the tendency to then fall into college schoolboy speak: “yeah, boyeee, we kicked yo asses right outta Germany, bitch! YEAH!” *chestbump* But let’s tell the true story here, let’s take ourselves back to Ancient Rome and the newly acquired province of Germania. Yes, “Germania.” This was…
