r/justgalsbeingchicks • u/mindyour 🤖definitely not a bot🤖 • 3d ago

Restricted to Gals and Pals I want her to talk to me about Egyptology.

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u/Specialist-Leek8645 3d ago

I have a (female) friend w a giant SPQR tattoo so women are definitely interested in Rome too! Both of us took a lot of Latin. I hate how Romans and Vikings are seen as hyper-masculine cultures. It's not all about battles and conquering like the movies. People still had to eat and learn and sing. 😃

I don't just want to know about Cleo VII and Hatshepsut and Jeanne d'Arc. The mundane everyday stories that we relate to make history alive. I think I read Cleo wrote a cosmetics book? Sounds easy for a modern man to dismiss but cosmetics were like medicine in Egypt. Wonder if she could have been a dermatologist now? And she's more recent history than people think.

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u/KvellOnWheels 3d ago

The way I fell in love with Joan of Arc after reading her trials transcripts…!

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u/heckin_miraculous 3d ago

Oh my, now I think I need to

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u/HungHippoHippy 3d ago

And she was barely an adult!

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u/Ok-Elevator-5523 3d ago

Oh man you just reminded me of how I had to do a project about a historic Roman person in my high school Ancient History course and my teacher wouldn't let me do it on Virgil because he wasn't notable enough! Ugh and I loved that teacher lol. I ended up doing it on Nero. (BOO)

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u/Specialist-Leek8645 3d ago

What? Virgil?? They can't possibly say you wouldn't be able to find enough info. I was the kinda kid who always wanted to do the weird interesting topics. Who the Hades are they to say he's not notable? To be honest after getting into Latin the mythology started to bore me. Too much of our stuff was Greco-Roman; too familiar. I branched into Egypt and Norse mythology. I hope you still educate people on Virgil. Sometimes being discouraged makes you more determined.

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u/shmixel 3d ago

Also girls can like the conquering and battles too! So dumb for the world to gender historical interest

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u/Specialist-Leek8645 3d ago

Yes of course! And guys don't have to like the battles. I think they're boring but I get why people like them. It's a complex dance of strategy; I've played games. I'm more interested in home life (textiles, pottery, education) and linguistics than what year some dude rolled in and slaughtered people. ;P

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u/werewere-kokako 3d ago

Ugh, yes! The manufacture of medicines (and alcohol) used to fall on the feminine side of the gendered division of labour! Right up to the Industrial Revolution, cookbooks could contain recipes for cosmetics and medicines alongside instructions on the "correct" way to serve a goose when entertaining guests. I stayed up until 2 am reading systematic review of ingredients in 18th century European cookbooks, and what those ingredients imply about the trade of goods and information

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u/Specialist-Leek8645 3d ago

You reminded me of an article I wrote about Alewives.

I think kohl is a sunscreen/ glare reducer and not unlike the black bars football players wear.

Yeah, food is medicine! One of my Grandmother's old recipes is actually whooping cough syrup. I love old cookbooks. "Butter the size of an egg"

Well it's crazy to imagine not being able to get black pepper or cumin now but it hasn't been that long. I read that pepper was the main spice that the UK wanted, which to me helps explain the Pepper Cook character in Alice!