Miracula

Paul Chrystal is a contributor to a number of history and archaeology magazines, and TV and radio programmes. He is the author of many books published on a wide range of subjects, including, most recently, The Book in the Ancient World: How the Wisdom of the Ages Was Preserved (2025).

• Foreword by PhilipMatyszakPreface Introduction 1 Strangely Strangeand Oddly Normal The Sciences2 Agriculture3 The Climate andNatural Disaster4 Roman Recycling5 Astronomy and Space Travel Medicine6Medicine and the Medical Arts7 Physiology8Embalming9 Deformity and Disability10 Female Genital Mutilation (fgm) Language11 TheGreek Alphabet Derived from the Phoenician Alphabet 12 The WrittenWord and Bad Books 13 The Pontius Pilate Stone,Tiberius Julius Abdes Pantera and Jesus of Nazareth14 The Spoken Word:Rough-Speaking Romans15 Graffiti16 Aphorisms: True Or Not So True? Sexand Sexuality17 Fetishes and Voyeurism18 Pederasty: The SexualPursuit of Boys by Men19 Sex: From Buttocks Partialism to Zoophilia20 Satyrsand Satyriasis21Priapus and Priapism22 Candaules, 'Dog Throttler', Father of Candaulism (and Voyeurism)23 Lesbianism and Sappho24 Hermaphroditesand Other Wondrous Beings25 GenderReassignment26 Aphrodisiacs and Anti-Aphrodisiacs27 The Roman Joyof Sex28 DildosSocial Sciences29 Bad Parenting,Good Parenting?30 Sexism and Misogyny31 Domestic andSexual Abuse32 On Being a Left-Hander, and Toilet Etiquette33 Menand Boys History andEthnography34 Aethiopiansand Black People35 Sparta and the Spartan Stasi36 The Death of Pyrrhus: History'sBest-Aimed Tile 37 Mithridates38 Socrates: HeDanced Alone39 The Celts40 Dinner withAttila the Hun, 450 ce Greek and Roman Society41 Children and Schooling42 The Games43The Law44 Public Services45 Food and Feasting46 Drink and Drinking47 Slaves andRevolting Slaves48 The Public Baths, Sex andHair-Pulling49 The Hell that Is Urban Living50 Parking Restrictions51 All Creatures Great andSmall52 Pets Mythology53 The Graeae: The Oldest Tripletsthe World Has Ever Seen54 Philomena and Procne55 TheUnicorn56 Charon: A Life Underground57 Talos: The World's First Automaton58 Cerberus: Guard Dogfrom Hell The Military andWar59 TheMilitary60 War Crimes andCrimes Against Humanity61 Women at War62 Torture Religion andSuperstition63 Religion and Superstition64 Entombing a Vestal Virgin65 Omens,Prodigies and Oracles66 Spells, Curses andVoodoo Dolls67 Witches and Witchcraft68 Werewolves and Lycanthropy69 Witch-Lite:The Bogeywoman Is Coming to Get You 70 Ghosts Travel andArchaeology71 Wild Travel andExploration72 Explorers- Gorillas or Hairy Women? 73 Skeletons from the Far EastFound in Roman London EpilogueFurther Reading AcknowledgementsPhoto Acknowledgements Index

"Chrystal triumphs in terms of sources and detailed narratives, written in clear prose (no academic jargon) with gusto and humour . . . A breathtaking assembly of ancient sources, unlikely to be bettered." - Barry Baldwin, Fortean Times"The efforts of a Robert Ripley or the Weekly World News are more recent examples, but the tradition of paradoxography – writings about the unusual, the miraculous, and the absurd – runs back to Hellenistic Greece and beyond, including Aristotle, Callimachus, Cicero, and Pliny alongside lesser-known practitioners. In this connection the historian Chrystal’s new Miracula is both a continuation and a commentary, presenting oddities, trivia, and twice-told tales from the ancient world and contextualizing them for the reader. Here are marvels from pygmies to the Polyphagus (Nero’s personal cannibal), the war-cats of Cambyses to the longest word in ancient Greece." - New Criterion"A book full of astonishing facts and strange stories drawn from Ancient Greece and Rome – rarely retold in English – is a surprise and a delight . . . Paul Chrystal has upended the paradigm of sober history-telling to produce a potpourri of stranger things . . . When you’re not laughing aloud or cracking a smile, you may just be impressed by how much the ancients knew." - Ken Haley, InReview