26Ankhesenamun
Ankhesenamun, King tut's first wife was his half-sister. But she also may have been his full sister and even at one point may have been his stepmother.
27. In the 19th century, in Siam, it was forbidden to touch a member of the royal family. When Queen Sunandha Kumariratana's boat capsized in front of many people, none of them went to help - as they were all afraid for their lives. The 19-year-old queen drowned together with her daughter.
28. In 17th century Paris, a group of apprentices, angered that they were treated worse than cats, imitated the felines screeching all night. The master ordered the noisy cats killed. The apprentices held a trial, convicted the cats of witchcraft, and hung them.
29. At the temple of Aphrodite in Cyprus, overlooking the legendary birthplace of Aphrodite, young virgin girls would tie a bowstring around their head and await a man to come along and throw a silver coin of any value into their lap. The man would say "I demand thee in the name of the goddess". The girl then had to have sex with the man. In this way, the girl would make her "first fruit" offering to Aphrodite.
30. Rasputin's remains were cremated to make sure he wasn't a zombie, but only after cutting off his extraordinarily large penis and placing it in a museum.
31Mozart's Dirty Music
Mozart once composed a piece called "Leck mich im Arsch" which translates to "Lick me in my arse."
32. The original French champagne coupe glass was molded around Marie Antoinette’s left breast.
33. 1909, Nora Barnacle initiated writing letters back and forth with her partner and future husband, famed Irish writer James Joyce, while he was in Dublin and she was raising their children in Trieste. James Joyce’s letters to Nora are considered so vulgar that to this day no publisher is ready to print them.
34. King David became king by cutting the foreskins off of people from the neighboring land and giving these severed foreskins to the king so that he could marry his daughter. The king asked for 100 foreskins but David decided to return with 200 foreskins. The foreskins were accepted and David got to marry Michal.
35. Spartan marriage involved a custom of capturing a woman, shaving her head, and dressing her in a man's clothing. Then the groom/capturer would secretly visit her and finally sleep with her. All Spartans were required to marry at the age of 30.
36Murder of Edward II
Edward II was murdered at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire in 1327 by being held down and having a red-hot poker inserted inside his anus. His screams could apparently be heard miles away. This cruel torture was most probably devised as punishment for his presumed sexual acts with men.
37. Catherine the Great had 22 male lovers and an erotic cabinet of highly eccentric furniture. Among these were tables that had large penises for legs, penises, and vaginas carved out on the chairs, and walls were covered in erotic art.
38. After inviting governor John Ratcliffe (villain figure in Pocahontas) for a friendly gathering, the Powhatan Indians instead tied him to a stake, removed pieces of skin from his entire body with mussel shells, and tossed them into the fire as he watched.
39. The executioners of the Ottoman Empire were never noted for their mercy. In 1622, Sultan Osman II suffered an excruciating death when he was just a teenager, by “compression of the testicles.” As contemporary chronicles put it, he died at the hands of an assassin known as Pehlivan the Oil Wrestler.
40. Hitler was a creepy uncle to his niece, Geli Raubal, forbidding her to marry, having her accompanied everywhere, and practically keeping her prisoner until she committed suicide In 1931, after which Hitler called her "The only woman he ever loved."
41Silphium
Silphium is an ancient plant which the Romans considered worth its weight in silver. It was used as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, medicine, and contraceptive. The exact identity of the plant remains a topic of debate and mystery, as its high demand resulted in it being harvested to extinction.
42. When Genghis Khan sent a trade caravan to the Khwarezmid empire, the governor (Inalchuq) of one city seized it and killed the traders. Genghis Khan retaliated by invading the empire with 200,000 men and killing the governor by pouring molten silver down his eyes and mouth.
43. Gandhi often slept and bathed naked with other women, including a grandniece and the wife of his grandnephew, who were both 18 when they started sleeping in the same bed as Gandhi, who was 77 years old at the time.
44. New York Times has occasionally experienced gaps in publication due to multiple strikes in its history. One such strike occurred in 1978. Various papers were formed to fill the gap including the satirical ‘Not The New York Times.’
45. Until the Anatomy Act of 1832 was passed in UK, there weren't enough corpses for medical schools and body-snatching proliferated to a point where grieving families had to guard graves after burial. Robbers didn't steal jewelry and clothes as that was a felony punishable by death. However, before the act was passed, transportation of a dead body was only a fine.
