Weekly Roundup of History, Archaeology and Writing Wisdom Dec 5-11

Here are some posts from around the web that I enjoyed this week:

A medieval herbarium with illustrations of female doctors, mythical animals and practical everyday medicine of the period. The manuscript is at Trinity College Library, Cambridge, beautifully up in digital form. When I return to writing Briseis, I’ll refer to it. Despite its much later time period than my 1250 BCE, I find the herbariums useful sources to extrapolate what plants and animals might have been used as cures. For the Hittites, we often have a detailed description of the rite and procedure with the ingredients, plant and otherwise, listed, but we don’t have a way to know what plants etc the signs refer to. So I have to make educated guesses. Fortunately such herbal practices tend to stay in use over time, so it’s not such a stretch. Click here for Trinity College Library Cambridge online Gales Herbarium 

Understanding modern politics through the lens of Homer’s Iliad. The Conversation website analyses David Cameron’s debate about the Syrian airstrikes in light of Achilles and the other epic heroes. What do you think? Does Homer enlighten us in the current international mess? Click here for The Conversation “What Homer Might have thought of the Syrian Debate”

My kind of life: a good cartoon for those of us who think a good book and a glass of wine is the best end to a day. Click here for Janet Rudolph’s Mystery Fanfare website Cartoon of the Day

I love this. The Field Museum is advertising its Greek exhibit by building a Trojan Horse around the subway stop. I want this at my house. I wonder what they are doing with it when they take it down? Click here for the Pappas Post “You Won’t Believe how Chicago’s Field Museum is Promoting their Latest Greek Exhibit”