Fun With History! (1087 hits)
Category: GeneralRating: 1 on 26 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by <amaresko.at.hotmail.com> (View user info) at 2003-12-28 14:32:15 EST
Here are some interesting stories in history-- no, i did not plagiarize these from another site, they all come from my 11th grade world history teacher, mr. hall.
1. Atilla the Hun married a beautiful, younger woman and, on his wedding night, had a heart attack and died.... must've gotten a little bit too excited...
2. When Napoleon's forces invaded Egypt, Napoleon insisted that he deserved to sleep in the Great Pyramid. When several of his soldiers offered to stand guard inside with him, he refused. (Napoleon was a very brave man... short, but brave...) Halfway through the night, Napoleon ran out of the pyramid, screaming and white as a ghost. He never told anyone what he saw and for the rest of his life, wouldn't even let anybody even mention the word "pyramid" in his resence. Also, during this invasion, some of Napoleon's soldiers decided to play target practice with one of the world's greatest artifacts... they shot off the nose of the Great Sphinx with their cannons.
3. One of Rome's craziest emperors was one named Caligula. Caligula, of course, inherited his status and was unfit for so much power, he often abused it. The Praetorian Guards of Rome always had a call to check up on each other, like one yells one thing and when the other hears it, they yell back another thing. Caligula decided that it would be funny if he made it so that the call was that the first guard would yell "I'm gay!" and the other would respond with, "It's okay, honey, so am I!" Needless to say, the Praitorian Guardsmen eventually rose up against Caligula and murdered him.
4. The same emperor, Caligula, also appointed one of his horses to be a consul (a member of a prestigious two-men council in Rome that made sure that the emperor never had too much power-- the Romans feared powerful kings)
5. Nero, one of Caligula's successors thought that he was very talented in the arts. He would often play concerts at dinners that lasted for hours. Anyone who left during these concerts, even to go to the bathroom, was executed. Also, when Rome was on fire, Nero thought that it was a great opportunity for him to play music for some of his guests with the burning city in the background. When Nero committed suicide, he was too cowardly to do it himself and fall on his sword like an honorable Roman soldier. He had one of his servants stab him. Nero's last words were, "Rome is losing a great artist."
User Reviews
Submitted by Acarnis at 2003-12-31 19:53:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I like the History talk.
Submitted by almsd (user info) at 2003-12-31 19:17:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
RJ, You want me to point out errors in your argument?? Trivia sparks interest. Most people dont care about the boring details because they are, well, BORING. Kudos to the person who wrote this post, because they care enough about history to get people interested. There's nothing wrong with a little bit of trivia. Of course, even its name suggests that the information IS trivial, but knowing the interesting trivia makes a person want to learn more. Most likely when they are learning more, they WILL stumble over your "important" information. So, back off, okay? I don't think that anybody is trying to teach you, oh wise and powerful history man, all about the history of man on earth.
By the way, COBRACOMMANDER IS A BADASS. Aren't you proud that we thought of the name of The guy who died by turtle? It was a load off MY shoulders...
Submitted by almsd (user info) at 2003-12-31 19:07:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No, Random Joe, you are just an enormous tool. im sorry that nobody likes you. :(
Submitted by Random Joe at 2003-12-28 22:51:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Personal attacks against someone for speaking their mind and rating in an open internet forum
suggests a lack of argument on behalf of the attacker. You should point out flaws in other peoples
arguments rather than make ridiculous personal attacks against them. You'll note I made no attack
against him, rather stating my opinion of trivia.
Submitted by CobraCommander (user info) at 2003-12-28 19:54:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Goddamn I was wondering who died by turtle, now I can sleep tonight.
------------------
In addition to this being largely untrue, trivia belittles the true purpose of studying history,
that being to learn from mistakes of the past and not repeat them. This does not do anything to
inform the uninformed about historical mistakes made by humanity, and therefore is a severe abuse
of history.
------------------
The only mistake of the past that need not be repeated was when your parents decided not to use a contraceptive. Trivia and history are not mutually exclusive. Its important to know history. It's fun to know trivia, because its usually stuff that you won't find in History books and because even though it hasn't the same relevance of other things, it's lighter in nature and in many instances more interesting.
This isn't abusing history. This is supplementing. Chill the fuck out.
Submitted by Lady_Emily_03 (user info) at 2003-12-28 19:18:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I thought that the nose of the Sphinx was knocked off by Muslims at some point in the early centuries.
I could be wrong, but I'm fairly sure I read that in one of my history books.
+1 for being a history buff though. I am too.
Submitted by Spite (user info) at 2003-12-28 19:06:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Most of these are inaccurate just because you don't hear the full truth. Caligula, by the way, was not insane, defender, just cruelly abusive with humor. He had a bitting sense of humor, and he did appoint his favorite horse as consule, but that was just to mock the other consules, saying that a horse could do a better job then them.
Submitted by almsd (user info) at 2003-12-28 16:50:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Hey, random joe, i dont remember the title of this article being "Complete Guide to History." nobody goes to this article to "study" history. The purpose of this article, i assume, is to just share some interesting facts, even if a few of them ARE innaccurate. There is nothing hostile about the contents of the post, so why do you feel the need to respond like such an asshole. the sole purpose is to entertain, not to teach an entire course to those "studying" history. back off
Submitted by almsd (user info) at 2003-12-28 16:41:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I THOUGHT OF IT!!! CobraCommander, Aeschylus, a Greek Playwright died after a tortoise was dropped on his head by an eagle. i can now breathe a sigh of relief, its not bothering me anymore.
Submitted by Random Joe at 2003-12-28 16:41:13 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
In addition to this being largely untrue, trivia belittles the true purpose of studying history,
that being to learn from mistakes of the past and not repeat them. This does not do anything to
inform the uninformed about historical mistakes made by humanity, and therefore is a severe abuse
of history.
Submitted by bargled (user info) at 2003-12-28 16:33:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Fun with history:
Euripides [480-406 B.C.] Greek Playwright - Mauled by a pack of wild dogs owned by Archelaus, the King of Macedonia.
Dante Alighieri [1256-1321] Italian Poet - Fell ill and died about an hour after completing The Divine Comedy.
Percy Bysshe Shelley [1792-1822] English Poet - Drowned while sailing near Spezia, Italy, and was cremated on the beach. [Editor's Note: Shelley's heart wouldn't burn and was given to his wife, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley as a souvenir.]
Sherwood Anderson [1876-1941] American Author - Complications of peritonitis in Colon, Panama, after ingesting a toothpick along with a hors d'oeuvre at a cocktail party.
Submitted by defender0417 at 2003-12-28 16:30:28 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
This is in need of the book "Lies My History Teacher Told Me" as there are too many myths put into this.
1. No one knows how Atilla died, there are several myths, and some credible sources, but they don't agree.
2. Napoleon was average height for his time, he may be short by todays standards, but then again so were all frenchmen. No one know for sure if it was Napoleon's artillery officers who blew the knose off the Sphinx or if it was a defect in the limestone that eventually lead to it falling off. No lead particles have been found in or around it so one can question that fact.
3. Perhaps a bad translation, the word gay has only recently come to have the meaning of homosexuality, it used to mean that you were happy. Caligula was indeed crazy, but he was often ignored by many of his guards.
4. Caligula apointing a horse as a consul is also a big myth.
5. While contested if Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned it has never been proven, as it would be rather difficult to considering the lack of credible sources at the time that would address such a tale.
Submitted by almsd (user info) at 2003-12-28 16:20:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Archimedes died when a Roman named Marcus invaded Syracuse. He was working a proof with a diagram of a circle whena soilder told him to get up and leave. Archimedes only asked for more time to solve the proof. This enraged the soilder and so the soilder killed him. Another acount states that Archimedes told the soilder not to step on his diagram and then the soilder became angry and killed him.
Submitted by almsd (user info) at 2003-12-28 16:18:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I think that it was a hellenic philosopher... Diogenes? Its gonna bother me for days until i think of it...
Submitted by CobraCommander (user info) at 2003-12-28 16:13:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Archimedes perhaps? I don't think it was Plato.
Submitted by almsd (user info) at 2003-12-28 15:59:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Aristotle actually died of a stomach illness in 322 B.C. I've heard the turtle story before, but it definitely wasn't Aristotle...
Submitted by CobraCommander (user info) at 2003-12-28 15:41:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Francis Bacon, writer and scientist predating Shakespeare (its rumored that Shakespeare stole his plays from Bacon) died stuffing snow into a chicken. He'd hypothesized that it would help preserve the chicken better met his demise from being outside way too long.
Also I read that Aristotle died from a turtle falling onto his head. The story goes that eagles will pick up turtles and drop them from high onto rocks to break the shells open so they can get the goodies, but one particular eagle missed and it hit Aristotle's noggin.
Submitted by Sunny (user info) at 2003-12-28 15:39:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Well, aspirated is a funny word.
In any case, he died in an idiotic fashion.
I got you on the French, you got me on Attila. :-)
We're square.
Submitted by CobraCommander (user info) at 2003-12-28 15:35:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Actually Attila didn't die from vomit or heart attack.
It was a nose bleed. He choked to death on his own blood.
Submitted by El_Guapo (user info) at 2003-12-28 15:30:19 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
""Submitted by Aims5005 (user info) at 2003-12-28 15:05:15 (#)
Ranking: 2
Okay, "El Guapo"... read Suetoneus's "The Twelve Caesars" and then talk to me. Quit assuming that just because its interesting that its also untrue.""
suetonius even admits the horse story was merely a rumor, and aside from that his accounts of Caligula and Nero are largely unreliable, as well as the accounts of Dio Cassius, another main source of such fallacies.
read Ronald Mellor's "From Augustus to Nero" (1990), "The Roman Historians" (1997) "The Historians of Ancient Rome" (1999)
Submitted by Sunny (user info) at 2003-12-28 15:14:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Attila the Hun actually died from aspirating on his own vomit.
Don't know about the others though. I always though the Nero story was false. Also, weren't the Romans pretty much okay with homosexuality? Why would Caligula get his jollies from making his guards yell that they were gay?
Interesting if that's true. I have my doubts, but ain't history grand.
Submitted by Aims5005 (user info) at 2003-12-28 15:05:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Okay, "El Guapo"... read Suetoneus's "The Twelve Caesars" and then talk to me. Quit assuming that just because its interesting that its also untrue.
Submitted by El_Guapo (user info) at 2003-12-28 14:53:38 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
""Caligula decided that it would be funny if he made it so that the call was that the first guard would yell "I'm gay!" and the other would respond with, "It's okay, honey, so am I!" Needless to say, the Praitorian Guardsmen eventually rose up against Caligula and murdered him.""
where in the holy fuck did you hear that load of bullshit from....
"4. The same emperor, Caligula, also appointed one of his horses to be a consul (a member of a prestigious two-men council in Rome that made sure that the emperor never had too much power-- the Romans feared powerful kings)"
also untrue
"5. Nero, one of Caligula's successors thought that he was very talented in the arts. He would often play concerts at dinners that lasted for hours. Anyone who left during these concerts, even to go to the bathroom, was executed. Also, when Rome was on fire, Nero thought that it was a great opportunity for him to play music for some of his guests with the burning city in the background."
don[t know about the first part, but i do know that the last part about Nero playing his fiddle while Rome burned is very likely untrue as well.
where did you hear all this crap?
Submitted by Cassiopeia (user info) at 2003-12-28 14:47:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Oh, I love your magazine. My favorite section is `How to Increase
Your Word Power.' That thing is really, really, really ... good.
-- Homer Simpson
Mr. Lisa Goes To Washington
Submitted by Tom (user info) at 2003-12-28 14:39:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Ok. I saw the user ID number and went "Uh oh" but opened it anyway. I was impressed. It was actually up to the standards that an 11th grader should be writing at. There were little to no lazy errors, and you didn't talk "1337". The post was decent and I like history.
+2 because this is a rare find.
Submitted by drstrangedhruv (user info) at 2003-12-28 14:38:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I've read about the Napolean and Caligula stories, so I'll assume the Attila the Hun one is true too. Although of course your history teacher is hiding shitloads of information from you about Caligula...