The Sacred Bee of Ancient Greece
The honey bees are back out, buzzing their happy little working tune wherever they go. And why not? They are beloved by all the gods, and they usher in the...
The Common Cause
Thargelia: Festival of the Twin Gods
Happy Thargelia! Traditionally held on May 24 and 25 (the 6th and 7th of the Attic month Thargelion), Thargelia was an ancient Greek festival held in honor of the births...
Silphium and Common Ancient Medical Procedures
'In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (lines 208-210), for example, Demeter orders Meta- neira to mix barley and water with pennyroyal. Metaneira makes the potion (kykeon) and offers it to...
Floralia, the Festival of Blooms
"use life's beauty as it blooms" Ovid, Fasti, V.353 Floralia was an ancient Roman festival, a celebration for Flora, a goddess who had no Greek counterpart. As they did with...
Amare: So Much To Love
“I will show you a love potion without drugs, without herbs, without the spell of any witch: if you want to be loved, love.” (Epistle IX) Hecato of Rhodes I...
Daydream of Spring
I am so overjoyed to be met with our first semi-normal spring in two years. I am blissfully dreaming of human connection in the sunshine. Patio cocktails, shared meals, live...
Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons
The race of female warriors known as the Amazons are largely agreed to have dwelt in the Black Sea region, in what is present-day Ukraine. One of the most famous...
Peirene's Fountain
"I have heard people say that this spring and Peirene are the same, the water in the city flowing hence underground.” Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.5.1 The nymph Peirene was...
The Necklace of Harmonia
Get in ladies. We’re doing cursed objects this week. Peruse a creepy little antiques shop, wander through a pop up that seems, perhaps, a little too out of the way,...
