Did the ancients have mechanical watches?

Antikythera is a Greek island about 40 km from Crete. In 1900, divers discovered the remains of an old ship near Antikythera.

In the ship there were marble and ceramic objects from the first century BC. They also discovered a bronze object in the shipwreck that had been eaten away by time. This object was finally forgotten for years in a museum storeroom.

In 1955, a scientist decided to clean the old bronze object. When the scab was removed, the object turned out to be an instrument of some kind. It had a series of gears that fitted perfectly into each other. The device is thought to be an astronomical clock, but the way it worked is unknown.

Such objects were never mentioned in ancient Greek or Roman writings. If it were not for the work of a curious scientist, perhaps it would never have been known that such an enigmatic "clock" existed.

What people used the first lamps?

 The first lamps we know of were used by primitive man, perhaps before 50,000 BC.

These lamps consisted of a stone in the form of a container filled with animal fat or vegetable oil, whether olive or dried fruit. A piece of moss was inserted in the oil, then it would light up. The moss served as a wick, absorbing the oil and burning slowly to give light.

After people learned to make clay objects, clay lamps were made instead of stone ones. Clay lamps have been found that probably date back to 4000 BC.

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What people used plants to write?

The ancient Egyptians used an aquatic plant that grew on the Nile as the first known paper. This plant, called papyrus, had stems from 1 to 3 meters high.

These papyrus stems were cut into long strips and placed side by side. Other bands were placed at right angles to the top of the first ones, and the two layers were glued with a wheat flour paste or with the Nile mud.

The already glued layers of papyrus were hammered or pressed into flat rectangles and then left to dry in the sun. The finished "paper" was a kind of white fabric, which was rolled up or tied with a piece of cloth. The way to write on the papyrus was with a brush and paintings.

For thousands of years, the ancient Egyptians kept secret their method of making paper from the rest of the world. It was not until the Chinese developed their own method of making paper from the bark of trees in 105 A.D. that the Egyptian method became known.

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What was the strangest car trip in history?

For those who think that the cars of yesterday were not as reliable as the ones produced today, please read this:

In 1930, two men left New York City and drove all the way to Los Angeles, almost 3,600 miles away, in a Ford Model A Roadster. What's curious is that they completed the city-to-city trip without turning off the car once!
Then they turned around and drove all the way back to New York, again without turning off the car once! The trip took them 42 days.

And to make the trip even stranger: The two men completed the journey from coast to coast by reversing their car all the way!

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What was the biggest bicycle in history?

During the 1890s, a group of artists traveled through Europe and America with a giant bicycle they proclaimed was the largest ever built.

This bicycle was about 7 m long and had ten seats. But 20 years earlier, a Danish bicycle manufacturer had already built what was the largest bicycle in history: 21.6 m long and 34 seats!

The largest three-wheeled vehicle, a tricycle, was built in 1897. It weighed 1,360 kilograms, was 5 m long, and supported eight men. The rear wheels were 3.30 m apart.

Compare these giants with the smallest bicycle ever built - a bicycle of a little less than a kg that could fit in the palm of the hand. The wheels of this bicycle were about 5 cm apart, and the small device could be driven by an adult man.

The unicycle, or vehicle with only one larger wheel built, was 9.60 m high!

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What was a ziggurat?

The pyramids of Egypt had smooth, inclined sides, but not all pyramids built in antiquity were like them. Some had sides that resembled a ladder system, so they were called staggered pyramids or ziggurats.

The largest ziggurat in the ancient world was erected in Ur of Sumeria, a city that flourished in the Middle East around 2100 BC. This structure was made of baked bricks stacked on seven levels, each smaller than that built below, so that the ziggurat looked like a giant wedding cake!

The Ur ziggurat was about 50 meters high, and covered an area of more than 30,000 square feet. At the top of the structure were a chair and a table for the god of the Moon, Nannar, who was supposed to visit the top of the ziggurat every time he came down to Earth.

Each step on the three main stairs of the ziggurat of Ur was engraved with the name of the Babylonian king.

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When did an army of elephants cross the Alps?

Hannibal

The legendary Hannibal was born in 247 B.C. in Carthage, a city in North Africa, founded centuries earlier by Middle Eastern merchants.

At the age of 25, Hannibal led the Carthaginian army against Hispania (Spain), a province of Rome, with which the Romans declared war on Carthage.

During his conquests through Hispania and Gaul (France), Hannibal used African elephants to carry men and supplies. Hannibal even dared his army of elephants to march on the snowy Alps to invade Italy.

Hannibal defeated the Roman armies and pillaged northern Italy, coming within 160 km of Rome itself.

The invasion of Italy was the greatest threat the Romans ever faced.

Hannibal's army spent 15 years in Italy, but was unsuccessful in conquering Rome. Eventually they had to return to Africa to defend Carthage from a Roman invasion. In 146 B.C., the Romans conquered the city of Carthage, which they totally destroyed.

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When was an electric chair used as a throne?

History is full of curious cases such as the following case we present:

Menelik II, who called himself "king of kings", became emperor of Ethiopia in 1889.

A year after his enthronement, news reached the Ethiopian nation of the first use of an electric chair to execute a criminal in New York. Menelik decided that his country should also have an electric chair, and ordered three of the new execution devices to be sent to Ethiopia.

Only that there was a small problem about the purchase, and that was that Ethiopia still did not have electricity. So what Menelik did after receiving the chairs was turn one of them into a throne for him.

It is difficult to know whether Menelik II wanted to prevent his purchase from being useless, or vainly took advantage of it to show his people that he was brave enough to sit on such a throne.

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What is the oldest independent nation?

Gondar Castle, Ethiopia

The oldest place as an independent country is in Africa.

Only 45 of today's nations were independent before the 20th century. But only one country can boast of its independence since before Christ.

Ethiopia, the East African country formally known as Abyssinia, has been an independent nation since at least the eleventh century BC. The rulers of this nation are said to be descendants of the biblical king Solomon and the queen of Sheba, who, according to legend, was the then monarch of Ethiopia.

Some historians claim that Ethiopia has existed as an independent nation since about 3,000 BC. That makes Ethiopia a nation with at least 5,000 years without having been under the subjection of other kingdoms.

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Do all roads lead to Rome?

The answer is yes, or at least it was at the time of the Roman Empire. The intricate land communications system built by the Romans stretched from East Africa to the Germania forests, from the Iberian Peninsula to the Caucasus and from England to the Persian Gulf. Nearly 400 roads, more than 70,000 kilometers long, linked Rome with the most remote areas of its Empire.

The Romans built this network of roads mainly for military and administrative reasons. In many cases, it was the legions themselves that mapped the roads. These took their name from the function they performed - the Via Salaria was related to the transport of salt - from the places of destination - the Via Tiburtina died in Tibur or Tivoli - and from their builders - the Via Apia was commissioned by Celius Claudius the Blind.

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What was the cause of Mozart's death?

On December 5, 1791, the world of music lost Wolgang Amadeus Mozart. The mystery of his death was never clarified, and several hypotheses were woven into it. The diagnosis issued by the doctor who certified the death was laconic and imprecise: Hitzigas Friesel Fieber (Death by high fever). Clinically, this is a diagnosis that doesn't explain anything... mysteriously, nobody cared to clarify it. Enigmatic, extremely enigmatic. Among numerous theories, they stand out:

Number One Theory:

Mozart died of "rheumatic fever". According to his medical history, it may be the real cause of his death. The Wochembla magazine in Berlin published on December 12, 1791 a laconic note asserting that Mozart's body was inflamed, a symptom of that disease.

Theory Number Two:

Mozart died poisoned by Antonio Salieri, composer and opera director of the Court of Emperor Joseph II, who was attributed with incurable envy against the musician. Various investigations have shown that this theory is apparently absurd.

Theory Number Three:

Mozart was poisoned with "tofana water" by a Mason brother, member of the Court of Emperor Joseph II. "Tofana water" was a mixture of water and arsenic, of delayed action, widely used in the eighteenth century for criminal purposes. Franz Hofdemel, the member of the court, was married to Magdalena Hofdemel, an outstanding pianist in Vienna and a student of Mozart. Believing that his wife was in love with Mozart, Hofdemel tried to murder Magdalena (disfigured her face), poisoned the musician, and then committed suicide. This theory, like so many others, lacks more concrete and proven data.

Theory Number Four:

Mozart was assassinated by the repressive apparatus of Emperor Joseph II and later buried in a mass grave, without identification. There were those who affirmed that Mozart's great operatic successes reflected revolutionary ideas, sowing the fear that they could provoke great changes in the political and social order of the time. Another absurd theory, according to several researchers.

But there are several questions regarding Mozart's death that can never be answered... of facts that are true and produce infinite doubts: Why the speed in burying Mozart's body? Why didn't anyone mark the burial site? Why were funerals performed with mysterious haste?

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Who was Elizabeth Bathory, the bloody Countess?

Elizabeth Báthory was a 17th century Hungarian countess, wife of General Ferenz Nadasdy. She lived in the castle of Csejthe in the Carpathian region.

During the absences of her husband (who traveled to participate in military campaigns), she organized meetings with magic practitioners, who convinced her that she would remain beautiful if she bathed in the blood of maidens. In this way, her servants went out at night to hunt young peasants who were then sacrificed. It is estimated that there were more than 600 victims.

Elizabeth Bathory was tried in 1610. Her accomplices were beheaded or burned at the stake. She was sandwiched in a small room in the castle and died there four years later. There is a book about her fascinating life, The Bloody Countess, by Valentine Penrose.

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