some poetic research

[supercheesegirl]

here are some topics i'm currently researching for poems:

--the life of women in the late roman world (although if you knew anything about that, you'dve told me already)
--really weird hiccup remedies
--really weird do-it-yourself sore throat cold/flu remedies

if there's anything you do that's off the wall and totally works, leave me a comment!

Comments

[sleepyworm.livejournal.com]

I hold my breath for as long as I can, forcing the hiccups to be strictly internal and unable to draw any air in. I'll generally hiccup like 5 or 6 times while I'm holding my breath, but when I can't take it anymore and I start breathing again, they're usually gone.

Breathing into a brown paper bag (a small one, like a lunch sack) totally works too, but I never have one handy when I get the hiccups. You just have to seal it around your mouth and nose with your hands so you only inhale the same air you exhaled. Gradually the oxygen depletes and stifles the hiccup somehow.

[ame0toko.livejournal.com]

BOO!

Women in the Late Roman World

[amedia.livejournal.com]

Everything I know about women in the late Roman world I learned from Gillian Bradshaw. ;-) The Beacon at Alexandria - the novel about the woman who poses as a male eunuch so she can be a doctor - is set during that period. Really well-researched and very evocative.

All of my gender-in-the-ancient-world books are in the attic, as I cleaned out my office rather abruptly, but most of them are on the classical period rather than the later Empire. I'm sure you've already checked the Diotima gateway? (http://www.stoa.org/diotima/)

Re: Women in the Late Roman World

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

thanks! i did try diotima, but there wasn't too much that was useful for me; i'm doing the research for a series of poems loosely based around the life of saint augustine, as told by his mother monica and by the mistress he lived with in his youth. so not only am i looking for late roman empire just before the fall of rome, i'm also looking more for women in north africa (although augustine and family did live in rome and in milan for a time). augustine himself isn't exactly a font of detail when it comes to women (he doesn't even mention the mistress's name...). i'll check out Gillian Bradshaw, though--thanks for commenting!