Same here. We just don't want to monetize off his work ourselves with the podcast.

For sure! We'll be getting ready for our new season at the end of the summer, so let us know what you have in mind.

Hi Kira! We actually did discuss covering the 2nd season, but after the most recent allegations against Gaiman, we decided we did not want to further platform his work. Especially since he has not really been held accountable. We would love to have you back on the show though! I'll be in touch:)

And an excellent suggestion for @ancienthistoryfan.bsky.social as well! I'll make sure they see it!

Hmm that my work for something I'm cooking up with @mythsbaby.bsky.social and the Memory Collective. Thank you for the encouragement!

Tru brotherhood is cemented through the love and care of a cat! 😆 🤣

And our guest Raven Todd Da Silva @digitwithraven.bsky.social did similar short stories as introductions to each chapter in her book "The Other Ancient Civilisations"

It was a novella I wrote to include with the concluding chapter of my dissertation. I've always wanted to do something with it but never got around to it. I was inspired to.write it after reading "What This Awl Means" by Janet D. Specter.

That's the other reason I was fascinated with the Sacred Disease. To treat epilepsy as sacred feels unique. But I am also not sure how much that actually benefitted people with epilepsy in the ancient world. Likewise, we see differing treatments of individuals with dwarfism across time and place.

And all that to say, I'm not even sure most people suffering from illness thought this hard about its cause. Much like today, humans will try just about any approach to alleviate their suffering.

Excellent point. I think that is why we end up with this Hippocratic text on epilepsy (a chronic disease), that struggles to explain a cause that is not divine in nature. Chronic illness, whether or not it is congenital, transforms the human form from the "norm", not unlike a god's punishment.

Medical pluralism in a nutshell!

And Semele is tricked into forcing Zeus to reveal his true form as lightning, which strikes her down. But it could also be suggestive that mortal bodies are incapable of being fully exposed to the true divine forms of the gods. Punishments are but a small taste of the god's divine nature?

I haven't delved too much into the topic. Reading Collins chapter was kind of the first and last time I thought about it, just in time for that singular episode on Medusa. For Olympians I am drawn to the stories of Io and Semele. Hera "punishes" Io by turning her into a cow ("boōpis potnia Hērē")...

All excellent points! And yes, things get even seedier when Hippocratic medicine enters the picture because it wants a rational explanation for diseases that still allows space for divine power. But not magic because that's your damn competition!

And this scene from Korra is so helpful in imagining the role (primordial) gods play in creating monsters, many of which are part human. As the nature of gods change over generations, so does the effect it has on the human body(?). Again, mostly musings on my part.

Most likely! Sometimes it is difficult to keep track of where I share certain ideas because of how the various approaches to illness in the ancient world (religious/divine, magical/homeopathic, and rational medicine) are different but interconnected.

Versus if you were heavily pregnant or bleeding out from a wound you'd be barred from entering sanctuary spaces due to the associated miasma (causes of death/mortality). You'd also be unlikely to travel in that state. Though if a healing practitioner was smart, they might set shop near a sanctuary.