This historic photograph shows Priam's Treasure, a collection of ancient gold, silver, bronze, and stone artifacts discovered by the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in 1873 at the mound of Hisarlik in Turkey, which he identified as Homeric Troy... Some contemporaries suggested that Schliemann had bought the treasure, after it was discovered elsewhere and pretended to have found it at Troy in order to add credibility to his excavation. A much more serious problem, however, is that by the time he discovered this material, Schliemann had dug down through Troy Level VI, effectively destroying the legendary city which he was attempting to find. This arrangement was published in Schliemann's 1874 work, Atlas trojanischer Alterthümer, showing jewelry mounted on boards at the top and metal weapons, vessels, and pots on the shelves below. After changing hands through various European museums over the decades, the majority of the surviving original artifacts are held today in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. #drthehistories

A page of historical woodcut illustrations titled "FYGVRES" depicting different fetal presentation positions inside the womb. These famous illustrations come from The Byrth of Mankynde (otherwise known as The Woman's Book), an influential early modern midwifery text translated and adapted by Thomas Raynalde from the original 1513 German manual Rosengarten by physician Eucharius Rösslin... In Tudor England, a pregnant woman’s diet was an exercise in extreme temperature control. A slice of cold melon could "chill the womb," while raw garlic might literally burn the fetus. Medical practitioners of the 16th century relied entirely on Galenic humoral theory, which dictated that every human was governed by four humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Women were naturally considered "colder and wetter" than men. During pregnancy, a woman’s body was believed to require an influx of warmth and moisture to manufacture the excess blood necessary to form the growing fetus and produce breastmilk. Consequently, a pregnant Tudor woman’s diet was meticulously prescribed to maintain this internal climate without tipping into dangerous extremes. Midwives and physicians recommended a diet heavy in warm, moist, and nourishing foods. Meats like mutton, beef, and poultry were staples for those who could afford them, as they were thought to produce the highest quality blood. Eggs and almonds were also prized for their balancing properties. Conversely, pregnant women were warned against overly "cold and wet" foods—such as cucumbers and certain fish—which increased the risk of miscarriage, as well as "hot and dry" items like onions that threatened to overheat the body. This balancing act became even more complex when a woman experienced intense pregnancy cravings. Tudor medical texts, such as Thomas Raynalde's popular 1540 obstetrical manual The Byrth of Mankynde, recognized these urges as a genuine physiological crisis. Physicians were caught in a bind: indulging a craving for bad food would introduce harmful humors into the body, but denying it was thought to be worse. Unfulfilled desires were widely believed to cause physical birthmarks shaped like the denied food or lead to a miscarriage. Husbands and midwives often scrambled to source out-of-season items or unusual dishes just to keep the mother’s humors placated. A sudden demand for a specific food was not dismissed as a mere whim, but treated as a legitimate medical emergency that required immediate intervention. #drthehistories