squirting cucumbers

On Trip IV, we'd often encounter these plants which we called "squirting cucumbers," as they'd squirt when you stepped (or jumped) on them. Fun times.

(squirting cucumbers at Tiryns)

I've just learned that they're actually called Ecballium elaterium, and I ran across a reference to them in Vivian Nutton's Ancient Medicine:

"Even the squirting cucumber, whose purgative properties are well established, may have been used as an emmenagogue or an oxytocic as much for symbolic as for practically evaluated reasons: its capacity to eject its seeds forcefully made it an appropriate plant to use when wishing to expel an unwanted conception, an afterbirth or a suppressed menstrual period."

So there you have it. I wonder what a "suppressed menstrual period" is? And according to Wikipedia, the squirting cucumber is today used in Turkey to treat sinus problems. But I think they're best for jumping on - the archaeologist's version of a water balloon fight, perhaps?

Aigai, Turkey

I'm sometimes captivated not by the sites we visit, but by the landscapes that they overlook. How would these worlds looked to the ancient peoples living there? I don't think it's coincidental that the ancient built high up on hills - not to make us grad students gasp for breath, hiking up them thousands of years later, but so that they'd be well-protected and also have phenomenal views.

I'm working my way through Turkey photos from Day 4, and found this gem from Aigai - an amazing site, to be sure, but also with some breathtaking views.

Rainy Pergamon

I'm far, far behind on my posting, but one of my goals for April - now that Winter Term is over - is to start posting more often (no April Fool's joke).

We've just returned from 15 days in Western Turkey, which was largely centered around Ionia and Caria, with a little bit of Anatolia thrown into the mix. It was probably the best trip of the year - exhilarating, exhausting, and enlightening, all in one.

For now, a picture of me at Pergamon, as I sort through the nearly 4,000 photos I took in two weeks:

America in Color

Today I came across this photo essay about America in Color from 1939 to 1943. It's a collection of color photographs from an era that was largely shot in black & white.

As a photographer, I love these images, of course. But I'm even more intrigued by the things I think about while looking at them, including:
- the style of dress & shoes
- the architecture
- the cars, the furniture, etc.
- the interactions of people
- the signage & symbols
- the landscape and its cultivation
- the acknowledgment of time (i.e, some photos are of uncertain date)

And I think to myself, I never would have thought this way had I not studied Classics. Classics teaches you to think about history in new ways: as a living process, as something that is recorded and the ways in which we document it: through photographs, through material culture, through language. Through words and images.

I find it hard to believe anyone can find little value in Classics when it teaches one to learn to think like this - and to think like this about a subject that isn't even related to what I study.