10 Horrible Facts About History

(1)

In France in the late 1600s, it was considered
a great honour to talk to King Louis XIV
while he was on the lavatory.

(2)

Biological warfare has been used since
600 BCE when the Greek city
Cirrha was besieged by Solon.
He poisoned the water supply with
hellebore roots and stormed the
city while the citizens had diarrhoea

 

(3)

In Palestine 8–9,000 years ago,
a dead relative was buried
under the floor of the family’s
house – except the head.
The flesh and brain were
removed from the head and
the skull used as the base
for a plaster mould of the
person’s head, which was
decorated and kept.

(4)

Slaves sometimes had to fight to the death
in a Roman arena.To make sure they
weren’t just pretending to be dead, they
could be prodded with a red-hot poker and
hit on the head with a huge hammer.

 (5)

Theban king Mithradites (132–63 BCE) took small doses of
poison regularly to develop immunity and protect himself from poisoners.When he later wanted to kill himself, the poison he took did not kill him.

(6)

Toad-eaters were people employed by men selling medicine at fairs and markets.The toad-eater had to swallow a toad – supposed to be deadly poisonous – and then take the medicine.Their survival encouraged people to buy the medicine.They may or may not have
actually swallowed the toads…

 (7)

In Ancient Egypt, women kept
a cone of grease on their head.
During the day, it melted in
the hot sun and dripped
down, making their hair
gleam with grease.

(8)

Before written or computerized
records helped us to keep track o
criminals, many countries marke
criminals with a tattoo or a
branding iron – a red hot iron
used to burn a pattern, letter
or picture into their skin.This
meant that everyone could see
what they had done.

(9)

It took over two months to make an
Egyptian mummy. After removing
the internal organs and brain, the
body was covered with a kind
of salt for two months to dry
out, then treated with resin,
packed with sand and sawdust
and wrapped in bandages.

(10)

 Roman prisoners condemned to fight to
death with each other or wild animals
often tried to kill themselves before the
fight. One man pushed a wooden spike
down his throat – it was used for
holding the sponge people cleaned
themselves with in the lavatory.

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