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Stories

  • Book extract

Naked, not nude

Classicist Caroline Vout argues that it’s time to take the dust covers off the Ancient Greeks and Romans, and to encounter their bodies not nude, but naked.

  • Book extract

The castration effect

Discover how testosterone – or the lack of it – affects the male body, from eunuch slaves to castrato singers, and on to hormone reduction in modern prostate cancer treatment.

  • Article

The cures and demons of sleep paralysis

Discover the murky past of sleep paralysis, the terrifying disorder once associated with demonic possession

  • Article

Living with less for spiritual gain

Today, a minimalist lifestyle is trumpeted as a route to happiness. Find out what religious ascetics from history and modern proponents of the spartan-looking home can teach us.

All stories (5)

Images

  • Statue of Aesculapius from the Grecian part of Roman Empire
  • A portable chair belonging to Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, ca. 1545. Photograph, ca. 1900.
  • A woman enthroned under an oak tree, holding a book, a sword and the coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire; next to her is a crown; the whole framed by medallions with portraits of artists; representing the rule of the Holy Roman Empire. Lithograph.
  • The emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in council with kings, dukes, earls and others. Etching by J. Amman, 1579.
  • A Gallic druid is using a mallet to remove a ring which hemmed in a globe inscribed "Gaul"; he is assisted by two Roman soldiers and surrounded by female allegorical figures, a sickle and fasces, while the Olympian gods look on from above; representing the opening of Gaul to the Roman Empire. Etching.
  • The double-headed eagle, representing the Holy Roman Empire, stands on a bobbin holding in its wings the outer sphere of the universe showing the elements of time from which the world is made: months, days, planets, signs of the zodiac, etc. Engraving by P. Miotte.
  • Zenobia, ruler of the Palmyrene empire, is besieged in Antioch by the Roman emperor Aurelian, and gives orders for the moving of her treasure: a man carrying a large vessel filled with coins carries it past the tomb of Odenathus. Line engraving by Charles Etienne Gaucher, 1789, after J. Werner.
  • Carolus der Sechste von Gottes Genaden Erwöhlter Römischer Kayser zu allen Zeiten Mehrer deß Reichs, König in Spanien, Hungarn un Böhaimb etc. : Entbieten allen und jeden Unseren Hof-Raths-Praesidenten, Vitzthumben ... Unseren Gruß und Gnad zuvor und fügen denselben zuwissen, demnach bekandt, was gestalten vor einem Jahr in dem Königreich Hungaren sich eine gefährliche Seuche gezaigt, welche anheur auch in dem Ertz-Hertzogthumb Under-Österreich under einigen Persohnen verspürret würdet ... München den 18 Monats-Tag Augusti, Anno 1713.
  • Saint Roch and an angel. Woodcut, c. 1518.
  • Balneology: Roman bath house; hot and cold steam baths
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