Stephen Rojcewicz's guest appearances

Stephen Rojcewicz

That Shakespeare Life

Robert Greene

Christopher Marlowe

Catherine de Medici

Chris Johnston

Matt Lodder

Richard III

Elizabeth I

Peter Wilson

Scott Farrell

Jonathan Willis

John Taylor

Laurie Johnson

John Fletcher

Matthew Johnson

William Adams

OwlTail

In Elizabethan England, there was a strong overlap in the use of drugs as medicine and using them for magic. Real physical diseases like epilepsy or psychological conditions like the pathological jealousy we see exhibited in Shakepseare’s Othello, are all conditions that were just beginning to be fully understood by the medical community of the 16th century. One of the primary drugs used to treat epilepsy and pathological jealously was a drug called mummy, which was extracted from the bodies of corpses. The dark and sinister nature of the drug’s origins, combined with the pervasive belief in the supernatural and conviction of superstition that saturated Elizabethan England society, it was perhaps the perfect choice for Shakespeare when he has the drug mummy be the substance that runs as a theme throughout his play, Othello. Here to help us explore the culture, medicine, and superstition behind the drug mummy and how it was used during Shakespeare’s lifetime is our guest, Stephen Rojcewicz. 

<p>In Elizabethan England, there was a strong overlap in the use of drugs as medicine and using them for magic. Real physical diseases like epilepsy or psychological conditions like the pathological jealousy we see exhibited in Shakepseare’s Othello, are all conditions that were just beginning to be fully understood by the medical community of the 16th century. One of the primary drugs used to treat epilepsy and pathological jealously was a drug called mummy, which was extracted from the bodies of corpses. The dark and sinister nature of the drug’s origins, combined with the pervasive belief in the supernatural and conviction of superstition that saturated Elizabethan England society, it was perhaps the perfect choice for Shakespeare when he has the drug mummy be the substance that runs as a theme throughout his play, Othello. Here to help us explore the culture, medicine, and superstition behind the drug mummy and how it was used during Shakespeare’s lifetime is our guest, Stephen Rojcewicz. </p>

Ep 120: Mummy Poison with Stephen Rojcewicz