096: Hellenistic Science - Medicine and the Healing Arts

In our first episode on science and technology, we cover the study of medicine during the Hellenistic period. From dissection to OBGYN to royal poisoners, there's bound to be something squeamish.

tinyurl.com/bdeskubw

Supplemental 20: What's a franc? The Siècle history podcast David H. Montgomery

Everything you ever wanted to know about francs and sous, centimes and louis d’or, and the bewildering array of 19th Century French c... hpbl.uk/yourls/2k1

I love this podcast but supplemental episodes like this are my catnip. I know I’ll be repeatedly revisiting this episode like the one he did on the French economy.

NEW EPISODE: If you read 19th Century French novelists, you'll find a dizzying array of currencies — francs and écus, sous and louis d'or. Let me break down what all these coins are, how much they're worth, and how Charlemagne ties everything together: thesiecle.com/supplemental20/

Merry Sièclemas, everyone!

Okay so I’m slow to post lately, but new episodes are still coming out every other Sunday, just like they have been for the last 5 years. This week come and join us as Washington and company evict the British from Boston. I hope you all enjoy!

player.captivate.fm/episode/e49362…

Friday was the 200th anniversary of Lord Byron's death in Greece, due to some combination of illness & aggressive bloodletting by his doctors.

Find out more about the Greek War of Independence Byron and other 'philhellenes' came to fight in Episode 30! thesiecle.com/episode30/

An amusing anecdote, but it’s definitely not Wellington - the tone is all wrong. W’s sarcasm was subtler & more biting.

Which shows two things:

1) it’s very hard to match W’s tone - he had an unique way with words
2) people want to believe this sort of thing is true of W
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Good question!

But fundamentally, every victory Napoleon won after 1812 just made his enemies more determined to beat him, and often spurred them to close ranks and paper over the cracks in their coalition. Waterloo would have been no different

“start”

French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville reaches Antarctica in 1838. Along the way, his ships almost got trapped in the ice of Weddell Sea. This is in part 5 of our series on d'Urville. explorerspodcast.com/jules-dumont-d…

A new episode is, and has been a few days now, up. This week join us and learn how the colonial press made people in South Carolina care about what was happening a thousand miles to their north in Canada. I hope you all enjoy.

player.captivate.fm/episode/d1055a…

More than 10,000 people were killed on the field of Waterloo, but archaeologists have only exhumed 2 bodies there. Why?

'There were two sugar factories within a few kilometers of the battlefield. The filtration process required burned bone—lots of it.'

science.org/content/articl…

Episode 40 of The Siècle is going to be a little delayed. But if you're missing the sound of my voice, check out that time I played a stilt-walking zealot (the ground is obviously sinful) in an Easter-themed D&D adventure!