17 December 2015

14th century art


The illustration above comes from the Luttrell Psalter, England ca. 1325-1340  (British Library, Add 42130, fol. 146v).

The one below depicts the world's most famous C-section.  "Birth of Julius Caesar, Les anciennes hystoires rommaines, Paris 14th century."  (British Library, Royal 16 G VII, fol. 219r)

Addendum - a tip of the blogging hat to reader Snotty, who offers this well-written article about The Truth About Julius Caesar and "Caesarean" Sections, which suggests that the term Caesarean derives not from the birth of Julius Caesar, but from the Lex Caesarea - a Roman law mandating surgical removal of the fetus from dying mothers.


Both items via the quite remarkable Discarding Images tumblr.

4 comments:

  1. it may be famous, but it never happened:
    http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/10/caesarean-sections-named-emperor-julius-caesar/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Snotty. I've added your link and info from it to the post.

      Delete
  2. Baby Julius: "L'Oréal... because you're worth it"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Whatever it takes to kill Macbeth.

    ReplyDelete