Cito, Longe, Tarde...

Leave quickly, go far away, and come back slowly!  This famous Latin phrase coined by Hippocrates and Galen in the mid-1300s during the Black Death.  Lets talk quarantine!

Did you know that the concept of a quarantine (quaranta giorni-40 days/Italian) can be traced back to medieval Italy?  The general idea was to protect coastal cities from epidemics.

From Eyewitness History

Ships arriving in Milan and Venice were require to sit at anchor for 40 days before landing.  This concept has been the cornerstone of disease-control and came about in an effort to avoid a second bubonic plaque epidemic with the first being in 1348.

New York Public Library

Genoese merchant ships going around Europe with supplies also held many, many rats which carried fleas and in turn the bacteria yersinia pestis ran rampant through the people, animals, and goods on the ships.  

At this point, not much was understood about what bacteria or a virus was, they just understood they had to do something to stop the spread.  

The initial quarantine time was 30 days but was soon extended to 40 days because they figured out the life cycle of a plaque was about 37 days with the carrier becoming contagious around the 12th day and showing symptoms around the 33rd day.  Ultimately, an additional 20 days would be added to any crew member who showed signs of continuation of infection.

While the measures they took were a step in the right direction, they had to improve on things a bit.  

By the time the second bubonic plaque hit Naples, Italy, in 1656, the death toll was nearly half of the residents.  This is when the concept of the "hazmat suit" of the bubonic plague doctors was fashioned. 

The Halloween costume-looking suit consisted of long waxed coats, gloves, goggles, a top hat, a long stick, and the ever famous bird-shaped beak face mask.  The beak was lined with cleansing herbs to clear the air of toxins but still allow for plenty of room to breath while wearing it.  

An interesting thing to note is that these "plague doctors" were either new graduates, shady doctors, or knowledge-deficient doctors but no one seemed to care.  Another problem was that these doctors were sent out by the government to basically take notes, keep details, witness will signings, and attend autopsies.  They were not sent out to cure anyone.

Another innovative idea from Italy was the introduction of a quarantine station-lazaretto.  The first was in Venice in 1468 and was on a small island around the harbor.  Ships could anchor for 40 days to ensure there were no contagions.

Wiki

The ideas of quarantine safety measures and lazarettos were eventually implemented across Europe, Australia, Philadelphia, the Delaware River, and New York harbor-Liberty Island home of the Statue of Liberty.  Times change but it is fun to look back on history and see what we have learned, where we are, and where can we improve from here.  

This current pandemic has really kicked all of our butts.  We have obviously learned a lot of new techniques and prevention measures.  We don't know exactly when the next pandemic will hit but we certainly know as long as there are viruses and bacteria, there will be another pandemic at some point in the future.

Pick your poison, literally........

I had the weather channel on in the background the other day because there were a lot of storms cranking up nearby, and I heard them talking about an infamous poisonous garden located in Northumberland, England, and I had to find out more about this fascinating idea of a poisonous garden.

So it turns out that the poisonous garden in Northumberland is not the first of its kind.  The idea of a "deadly garden" was the concept of Catherine de'Medici.  I have blogged about her in other post during out Medieval studies which you can find here.

You may remember her for marrying in to the de Medici family--the "Godfathers of the Renaissance," the family who founded banks.  She was kidnapped when she was 11 years old, and married Henry II, the King of France when she was 14 years old and became Queen.  She was also mother-in-law to Mary Queen of Scots.

Any of that ring a bell?  At any rate, the de' Medici garden had numerous poisonous plants growing, and it is said that Catherine had a private room full of tiny apothecary cabinets fill with a collection of deadly poisons.  Interestingly enough, a lot of people died around Catherine, for reasons unknown.  I wonder what it could have been.  Hmmm.....

In 2005, Duchess Jane Percy of Northumberland decided to create a poisonous garden modeled after that of Catherine de Medici.  The Duchess thought children would be more interested in how plants could kill rather than how plants could heal.  Her exact words were:

'I wondered why so many gardens around the world focused on the healing power of plants rather than their ability to kill... I felt that most children I knew would be more interested in hearing how a plant killed, how long it would take you to die if you ate it and how gruesome and painful the death might be.' - Duchess of Northumberland

Nightshade

The Poison Garden is located within the Alnwick Garden and has over 100 deadly, intoxicating, and hallucinogenic plants.

It is home to a variety of interesting plants such as Hemlock (which was the poison of choice for executions in Ancient Greece and in fact is said to be what killed philosopher Socrates), Strychnos nux-vomica or strychnine which can cause a human to die within 20 minutes after ingesting and is essentially undetectable, Foxglove or Digitalis can cause tremors, jaundice, hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, and even death, Deadly Nightshade or Atropa belladonna (can cause hallucinations, induce comas, unrelenting thirst, and convulsions), and Laburnum which can cause foaming at the mouth, induce comas, sleepiness, vomiting, nausea, spasms, and diarrhea.

Poppies

With permission from the government, the garden is also home to opium poppies, cannabis, tobacco, wild lettuce (Lactuca virosa), and magic mushroom.

They even have a treehouse restaurant that serves local dishes. Fingers crossed they will not be serving up anything grown in their garden.

There are, of course, a few rules if you want to take a tour of the gardens, get married at the gardens (yes this is an option), or hold a conference at the gardens.

Understandably, the garden is also under 24 hour security. You can only be in the garden with a guide.

You are not allowed to touch, smell, or taste the plants (duh for tasting), as there have been several tourist who became ill during their tour of the garden.

You should also hope you are not visiting the garden on a windy day.

You can find out more here at the official website.  I might be adding this to my bucket list.

Vampire, vapir, vepir, vopyr, upir, upior, opyr, or uber.....

no matter what you call it, in the end it means vampire.  Yep, my latest curiosity belongs to vampires, the blood-sucking undead variety.

I posted a while back about going to Walker Stalker Con in Atlanta and a few of the main actors from The Vampire Diaries were randomly in attendance.  Okay?  You can read about that here and see the pics.  Anyhoo, The Vampire Diaries have been on since 2009 but we had not seen one single episode.  We actually thought it looked very cheesy from the television promos.  Back to the point, Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley were there signing autographs and doing meet and greets.  The girls and I really did not think much of them since we had never seen the show but the fans were die hard and full of excitement (a little obnoxious as a matter of fact IMO) but now that we have seen the show, it makes perfect sense! So basically Ian Somerhalder was being whisked away on a golf cart by security but before he was out of sight, he blew C16 a kiss.  Yep!  He did!  Fast forward a few weeks later and we are almost done with season one and about to start season two. HA!  It turns out, it is a really good show.  Chock-full of those supernatural/mysterious creatures that we love!  Every time I start watching a show like this, it gets me thinking.  I hear tidbits of information about one thing or another, and then I have to look it up and find out more.

We just did a little research and let me tell you, we learned quite a few very interesting facts about these blood-junkies of the night.

First of all, have you ever heard of Renfields Syndrome a.k.a. Clinical Vampirism?  This is actually a very rare medical condition which is driven by an obsession to consume blood, mainly of the human Bram Stoker's 1887 novel Dracula. (You can download and read the entire novel here).  Renfield is the fictional antagonist in the story.  The idea behind consuming the blood is that the person believes they will get power/strength from doing so.  There is not a lot of literature about this disorder, and it is currently classified in the schizophrenia group but Renfields Syndrome is believed to have three phases which include autovampirism (the sufferer drinks his own blood), zoophagia (consuming blood of animals), and finally true vampirism (the sufferer consumes human blood).  Fascinating, right?

variety.  The name comes from

So Vampires?  Cultural myth or not?  There are many theories as to whether or not vampires really exist.  There are some people who believe that vampires are among us today but we are unaware of it.  Practically every culture on the planet has a legend/folklore of some sort regarding these mystifying lamia.

Books, folklore, and movies allude to the fact that only a vampire can create another vampire but with that kind of logic, we are left with a chicken-and-the-egg dilemma so which one came first and how?  Here is what we found.

In the ancient city of Delphi (1600) a collection or writings called The Scriptures of Delphi a.k.a. The Vampire Bible (literally, The Vampire Bible) was discovered.  The scriptures reveal the story of a man named Ambrogio.  The Gods bestowed both blessings and curses on Ambrogio at some point in 450 BC so the story goes.

Italian born adventurer Ambrogio found himself in Greece.

 Apparently, Ambrogio always dreamed of going to Greece and to have his fortune told by the legendary Oracle of Delphi.  His wish came true.  Once the oracle looked at Ambrogio, his message to him was simply; "The curse. The moon. The blood will run."  Ambrogio spent the night outside of the temple puzzled by this cryptic message he had been given.

The story continues the next morning when the sister of the Oracle of Delphi, Selene, came along to take care of the temple.  Ambrogio decided that every morning he too would show up at the temple.  He soon fell madly in love with Selene and asked her to marry him and go back to Italy with him.  Apollo (remember Apollo from Greek myth?  God of light was one of his descriptions) was watching this scenario play out and was angry that this mere mortal would take the beautiful maiden so Apollo cursed Ambrogio.  His curse would begin the next morning when Ambrogio would come for Selene to depart for Italy.  His curse was that sunlight would burn Ambrogio's flesh which would prohibit him from meeting with Selene and take her to Italy.

Ambrogio was forced to seek protection from the sun in a nearby cave but as his luck would have it, the cave belonged to Hades, Lord of the underground.  Abrogio and Hades made a deal.  Hades was to give Abrogio a magical wooden bow and 11 arrows and Abrogio would leave his soul as a down payment.  All Ambrogoi had to do was to offer what he killed to Artemis (Apollo's sister, Goddess of the hunt) so that he could get close to her, close enough to steal her silver bow.  He was then to bring the silver bow back to Hades and collect his soul.  Ambrogio killed a few swans that were not all that impressive to Artemis but he was able to secure Artemis' silver bow.  Artemis realized what happened and cursed Ambrogio.  The curse was that anything Ambrogio touched that was made of silver, would burn his skin and cause massive pain.  The curse worked quickly, before he could give the silver bow to Hades, he had to drop it.

Ambrogio was now the recipient of two curses from the Gods.  He dropped to his knees and begged for mercy.  Artemis took pity on him and gave him another chance.  She gave him fangs to draw blood, she gave him strength and speed equal to her own, and immortality.  There was, of course, one condition which was that Ambrogio must abandon all other Gods except her, Artemis, so that meant his true love Selene was out.  Ambrogio agreed.  He sent a letter that night to Selene asking her to meet him on his ship.  Selene did just that.  She discovered a coffin made of wood in the hull of the ship.  There was another curious note on it which suggested she order the ship to set sail but not to open the wooden coffin until sunset.

Ambrogio and Selene ended up in Ephesus.  They live many years together in caves.  Ambrogio did not age at all but Selene on the other hand had age quite a bit and became ill.  At this point, you have to remember that Ambrogio's soul is still with Hades so there was no possibility of Ambrogio and Selene to be together in the afterlife.

Ambrogio was desperate to help his beloved Selene.  He went to a nearby pond, killed a swan, and offered it to Artemis.  This pleased Artemis so she made one final deal with Ambrogio.  Ambrogio was to drink Selene's blood which would kill her mortal body but this would guarantee that she and Ambrogio could stay together forever.  Ambrogio drank Selene's blood and as she lay there, he Selene became the Goddess of moonlight.  Every night, Selene reached down to touch Ambrogio and the children (the newly created vampires with Ambrogio's blood and Selene's blood).
watched as a light radiated from her.  Her spirit rose to the heavens where Artemis was waiting.

Later, Ambrogio headed back to Florence, Italy only this time he was a vampire.  Florence is believed to be where the first vampires resided (a.k.a. vampire clan).  There is not a lot of information about this vampire clan.  It is thought that these humans volunteered to trade their souls for immortality and power.  According to the information that is known, the vampire population grew quickly, in fact there were so many vampires it caused problems for the clan.  Different vampires decided to start their own clans.

That is one heck of a story, and this story has been told over and over again and is believed to be solid evidence that vampires did exist even in the ancient times.  It is also believed that Ambrogio is still in Florence today which is an incredible idea to comprehend.

So are you convinced that vampires could really exist or does the Vampire Bible just make for an interesting work of fiction?

We may never know the answer but like I said, what a great story!  There is some very compelling evidence that has been uncovered in recent history to suggest that there were and indeed still are vampires among us.  For example, the Vampire of Venice, Frederick Ransom from Vermont, Peter Plogojowitz a Serbian villager, the true life story of Arnold Paole, Serbia's most famous vampire, and last but not least, Vlad the Impaler.  We will definitely keep learning about this fascinating topic.

Link to Smithsonian.

Ancient China-Bob Jones University World History Course

Ancient China in one blog post, now way so here is an abbreviated version of a few interesting facts.

~China is one of the oldest civilizations dating back to (ca. 100 BC).

The Yellow River

~The ancient Chinese civilization was built along two main rivers, the Yellow River (Huang He) which is in the north and the Yangtze which is in the south.  This is in the Neolithic Era timezone.

~Ancient China was rather isolated which left them with little contact to the outside world.

~We can thanks the Ancient Chinese people for a number of things which include printing, gunpowder, the compass, paper, kites, chopsticks, the bow and arrow, fireworks, acupuncture, toilet paper, tea, ice cream, making silk from silkworms, badminton, dragon boat races, the decimal systems, the concept of blood flowing through the body, wheelbarrows, paper money, dominoes, and porcelain dishes.

for more

~It is widely believed that there is evidence that humans were in Ancient China more than a half a million years ago.  The reason for this is because paleontologists discovered the "Peking Man" in the Zhoukourdian cave in China.

~The Ancient Chinese had three major religions which include Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daosim.

Yin and Yang

~Another amazing fact is that it is believed that giant pandas existed in China around three million years ago.

~Ancient China was governed by dynasties.  A dynasty is the type of government that is ruled by a family with close ties to each other.  These dynasties were often cruel to the people of Ancient China.

~Unbelievably, the last dynasty was the Ch'ing Dynasty which was overthrown in 1912.  1912?  That was not that long ago.

~Here is a list of the major dynasties.
Xia (2205 to 1575 BC) - The first dynasty in China.
Shang (1570 to 1045 BC) - The Shang Dynasty which ruled from Yellow River.
Zhou (1045 to 256 BC) - The longest ruling dynasty.
Qin (221 BC to 206 BC) - This is when the empires began.  This is also the same time period that The Great Wall of China was started. 
Han (206 BC to 220 AD) - The Han dynasty wanted to create a more civil government.
Six Dynasties (222 to 581 AD) - This is the time that Ancient China was not united under one specific leader. 
Sui (589 to 618 AD) - More expansion of the Great Wall during this dynasty.
Tang (618 - 907) - The Tang Dynasty brought a little peace to Ancient China and a little more wealth.  This is also know as the Golden Age of Ancient China.
Five Dynasties (907 - 960) - This dynasty included a group of peasants which rebelled against the Tang Dynasty.  
Song (960 - 1279) -During the Song Dynasty, China became a world leader the fields of technology and science.
Yuan (1279 - 1368) - And now enters the infamous Kublai Khan-the leader of the Mongols.  Nice fella he was.
Ming (1368 - 1644) - It was during this dynasty that the Great Wall was completed and the Forbidden City was built.  The Forbidden City was a massive palace built for the emperor.  The Mongols were also defeated during this time period.

Click here for more.

~It is interesting to note that chopsticks were created because in Ancient China, they would cut their food into small pieces for faster cooking giving us chopsticks.

~I am pretty sure everyone has heard of the Great Wall of China but why was it there?  The Great Wall initially started out as small walls with no connection to each other in north China.  This was to protect China from nomadic tribes.  These tribes would often raid the villages in Northern China.   That changed during the Qin Dynasty and changed further during the Ming Dynasty which led to the Great Wall of China being connected thus forming one great wall.

So that is what we learned about.  I think that is a lot of interesting info.  Thank goodness for Ancient China.
Look at the amazing inventions they have provided us all.

Ancient China on Pinterest
Ducksters
Kids Konnect
My other blog post on China and Ancient China can be found here.

goodbye

Early Russia

We left off at the end of the Byzantine Empire which leads us into early Russia or was it really "Russia?"  The majority of ancient histories always include ancient kingdoms and migrating people but "Russia" was really a group of cities that fused together to make an empire.  The earliest humans settled in Russia around A.D. 500.  These new settlers and the Slavs mixed together and created an empire, the Ukrainian city of Kiev.

This new empire ruled most of European Russia for over 200 years but then was divided into Belarus, Ukraine, and Muscovy.

I am keeping this as brief as possible because there is so much to learn about Russia, it could take a full year just studying Russia.  I just wanted to highlight a few of the most important areas.

Varangians-image from the web

~In the early part of the 9th century, a group of Scandinavian people called the Varangians crossed the Baltic Sea and ended up in Eastern Europe.

~In 862, lead by a warrior named Rurik, they entered into the city of Novgorod.

image from Britannica 

~For reasons that are not exactly clear, Rurik lost his title of leader and Oleg (Prince of Novgorod) was his successor.

~Oleg continued on southward and in 882, Oleg and his group took over Kiev.

~Kiev was a Slavic city that had been around since the 5th century.  Kiev was located along the Dniepr River.  Also know as Kievan Rus' which today is Belarus and Ukraine.

Rurik-image from the web

~Kiev became the central place for trade routes between Constantinople and Scandinavia.


~Around 989, Oleg's great-grandson, Vladimir I, was the ruler of the kingdom that spanned from the Black Sea to the Caucasus Mountains and into the lower reaches of the Volga River.

Vladimir I-image from the web

~Vladimir wanted to establish a faith for all who lived in these parts.  After careful consideration, he decided upon Greek Orthodoxy.  He was against Islam mainly because in the Islamic faith, drinking alcohol is forbidden.  I guess that is as good a reason as any.

~After Vladimir came Yaroslay, the Wise (grand prince of Kiev).  He encourages the arts, enforced laws, and made friends with other states.

image from the web

~Sadly his biggest mistake was diving his kingdom among his children.  He ordered them to get along and cooperate with each other but you guessed it, they did not.

~After Yaroslav died and by the time 1054 rolled around, Kievan Rus' had broken up into smaller power centers.  This did not work out so well.  Their struggles were massive and when the Mongols invaded, Kievan Rus' was obliterated.

~Around 1237, Batu Khan (grandson of the ever famous Genghis Khan) invaded Kievan Rus' from Kazan and over the three years that followed, the Mongols (Tatars) destroyed the majority of Kievan Rus' (Novgorod and Pskov).

Batu Khan-image from the web

This is where we stopped but it picks right back up in the next lesson with the Ottoman Turks.

Crash Course History with John Green-Russia, the Kievan Rus, and the Mongols, #20
The Viking Answer Lady
Russia
BBC Russian timeline
Russia, ancient and present day on Pinterest