Funny/Wierd History Facts

Now that is a good series. And Robert Harris is a good author.

 

I really want to read that now.

 

On that note, did anyone know that there is a micronation (a country that isn't actually independent and is often created for fun or protest) that claims the borders of the Roman Republic and whose name is the Roman Republic? There's also one claiming the entire cosmos and another (more successful in its membership) that claims four separate locations on Earth, including a house in Canada that it claims to be its palace, a square foot in Australia, and it also claims the northern hemispheres of the Moon and Pluto.

 

It's worth recalling that the molten gold story is a reused trope that also appears in earlier accounts of what Mithridates VI did to a Roman official in Anatolia during the Asiatic Vespers thirty years prior. Classical authors loved this stuff. That doesn't make it untrue, of course.

 

Maybe Classical rulers loved it just as much as the authors did?

 

Exactly.

 

Nothing unusual there; the Maya, Inca (Quechua), Aztecs, Aymara, and virtually everyone under the thumb of Spanish rule in the Americas did it to the Spanish eventually. I wouldn't be surprised if the Filipinos did it to the Spanish, too (assuming there is/was gold in the Philippines).

 

I found this picture of a plaque at Benedict Arnold's London home to be funny.

Spoiler :

 

An Iranian joke about SAVAK, the feared secret police of the Shah known for their torture and brutality.

An Iranian Muslim is questioned by angels on the first night after his (the Iranian's) death:

"Who is your God?"
"His Majesty, the Shahanshah!" (King of Kings in Persian)
"What is your religion?"
"The White Revolution."
"What is your holy book?"
"His Majesty's book, The White Revolution."
The angels raise their clubs to beat the infidel. God appears, stops them and asks the deceased, "What is the matter with you?!"
The man replies, "Sorry God. I thought these two might be SAVAK agents"

 

I think there are some reserves, but not much. And never heard of the gold throat poury thing happening here.

Of course, it's entirely possible we never got around to it because the Yanks showed up.

 

Unusual tactics and equipment, such as pike squares and metal body armour, were to be introduced by both sides during the American Civil War. Some examples of inventions that made it to see real action during the War were ones such as Gatling guns and ironclad gunboats.

As a side note, the British Home Guard briefly used short spear-like mêlée weapons after a misunderstanding concerning a letter written by W. Churchill.

A bit late, but this; I'm eagerly waiting for Harris to finish his trilogy. His other book on the Romans, Pompeii, is also worth reading.

 

May I see your source for this please?

 

@Aemilius: Do you know the name for the third book in the Cicero trilogy so that I know what to look for? I have read Imperium and Conspirata. I've also read Fatherland and got Pompeii for my birthday. Have your read the Marcus Didius Falco series?

 

Certainly. For example, the pikes, and the armour. I have to admit I find the armour thing pretty unbelievable too - but still, I remember reading about it in quite a few places. It's funny how thin the line between modern and pre-industrial warfare actually is.

@Vortilex: In fact I don't - I don't believe it's even been publicised yet, but I think it's due next year.

I'm afraid I'm not acquainted with M. Didius Falco, but the series looks promising based on a quick scan of the Wikipedia page. I think I've even seen some of those translated to Finnish, so I'll definitely be looking into them.

 

V good for the first few, though rather looses it's mojo.

 

The author of the Falco series (Lindsey Davis) wrote a companion book about Rome so as for the reader to better get their bearings. When I first read the series, having had been in Rome really helped me

 

Technically, booth was chased before he was killed, so what the soldiers did wasn't an assassination. Also, he ran into barn not a warehouse. Otherwise, yes, that is very interesting.

 

Most of that is either BS or the inevitable few coincidences between any two people. I would go into detail, but check either snopes or earlier in this thread or its predecessor, because I am pretty sure it was covered.

 

Basically all of those are either false or inconsequential. Check out the Snopes article on that.