This got me thinking about some of my favourite mythology/medicine etymological crossovers, so I read about some more. Enjoy

(+ some little bonus facts for the true scholars amongst you)

A (somewhat) educational thread https://twitter.com/mildlymadmedic/status/1386351901772591106

1) Venus, among other things the Roman goddess of sexual love - the etymological root of venereal is derived from her name

(Venus/Aphrodite once deliberately drove the mares of a king who stopped them mating into a frenzy, and they tore the king to pieces)

2) Geras, Greek god of old age - geriatrics and gerontology

(I like this one because to be more like Geras was viewed as a good thing; to have accumulated authority and respect through years of toil and victories. Maybe our society should see old age more like that?)

3) Priapus, god of fertility and male genitalia - I mean his link to priapism isn't hard to work out

(Priapus famously hated donkeys. One once interrupted his plan for some intercourse by braying loudly so he bludgeoned it to death with his.. ahem.. weapon)

4) The Sphinx, a pretty funky beast made of bits human, falcon, cat, sheep, lion, and falcon. She strangled people who didn't answer her riddles correctly (starting a nice tradition for surgical wardrounds) - her act of strangulation gives rise to the name of sphincter muscles

Two easy ones
5) Achilles, the great hero who was dipped in the river Styx to give him immortality but held by his heel - Achilles tendon

6) Narcissus, who was so handsome he fell in love with a reflection himself (no relation of mine, honestly) - narcissism, Boris Johnson

7) Morpheus, the shapeshifting god of dreams - morphology and morphine

(Friedrich Sertürner, who first derived morphine from poppy juice, like all great 18-19th century scientists, tested his newfound drug on stray dogs, his friends, and himself)

8) [not strictly mythological] thureos, a type of oblong greco-macedonian shield - thyroid cartilage and gland

(Some think that this relief of Cleopatra is evidence that she had a goitre. This is not uncontroversial, and you may choose to read more about it. I choose not to.)

9) Atropos, one of the fates, who cut the 'thread' of people's lives - Atropa belladonna, the deadly nightshade plant from which we derive atropine

(A muscarinic receptor antagonist, belladonna was used to cosmetically dilate pupils, and sometimes to murder Emperor Claudius)

10) Atlas, a titan sentenced to hold up the sky forever - the atlas (C1) vertebra, which holds up the head

(Heracles once held up the sky while Atlas ran an errand. Atlas did + tried to abscond, but Heracles asked him to take it just while he adjusted his cloak, and ran off)