tidbits cross time
Apr. 10th, 2023 07:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelliKing Cleomenes I of Sparta, wanting to massacre Argives who had taken refuge in a sacred grove, tricked some out but finally resorted to ordering slaves to burn it down -- thus, the blame for the desecration was the slaves', not his. He also had the slaves flog a priest of Hera at Argos, because the priest had tried to prevent his offering sacrifice.
The Dutch, being forbidden by their sumptuary laws to dress in other than black, not only dyed more expensive cloth black, but took to making black lace.
The sending-off wolf is a yokai that follows the traveler through the mountains, ready to pounce if he stumbles, unless the traveler manages to quickly fake that he's taking a break. However, while followed by it, no other yokai will trouble the traveler, so the proper thing to do is thank the wolf as soon as you are out of the mountains; then, once home, you wash your feet and leave some food out for it in return for the escort.
A general of Alexander the Great's marveled at sugar cane: a plant that produced sweetness without the aid of bees.
Henry VIII debased coinage so badly that when Elizabeth I came to the throne she ordered it all melted down to make new coins to redeem their monetary system from disgrace, as it would be valued only if it had value.
The oldest recipes for fire medicine (gunpowder) are hard to ignite and only burn well in open air. The Chinese used them as incendiaries rather than explosives.
Early European discussions of the West Indies differed about whether living in those islands caused your blood to thicken (from evaporation) or thin out, but the cure of alcohol spirits was called for in either case.
The Spartans counted on an easy victory over Tegea because of the Oracle, and brought along fetters for the captives to be enslaved. Instead, they ended up wearing their own chains, which were subsequently displayed in a temple to Athena in the city.
The director of The Sound of Music shot on location and got permission to fly Nazi flags for the appropriate scenes by threatening to instead use newsreel footage of the actual arrival of Nazis in the place.
In the 16-century, European cannon required enough gunpowder that one shot could cost as much as an infantryman's monthly wages.
Many sailors whose ships sank at Pearl Harbor simply swam ashore.
Athenian law forbade women and children from entering contracts for more than a bushel of barley.
The common upper-class British practice of giving sons the family name of their mother's, particularly if they were expecting an inheritance from that side, promptly died out as middle names came into use, because it would be given as the middle name.
Qing China tried to ban firearms and actually suppressed them quite a bit.
Greeks considered anyone who maintained a bodyguard to be either a tyrant or an aspiring one.
Many horses of the US Cavalry, sold after it was disbanded, ended up in Hollywood.
After the earthquake devastated Port Royal, a tsunami bore up many ships and crashed them on land. Survivors lived in them as they started to rebuild.
During the Peloponnesian War, a number of Spartan hoplites, fleeing the Battle of Pylos, stranded themselves on an island of Sphacteria deep within their own territory, but from which the only escape was by boat or on the land where the Athenian army was. They alerted the Athenians to their numbers and defenses by accidentally setting the island on fire, forgot to set a watch, were bottled up by archer because Spartans scorned distance weapons, and were finally captured when they assumed one side did not need to be defended because it was impassable.
Grog was made from rum at a prescribed ratio of one part rum to four parts water. Given the sailors' confidence in the pursers, the orders were to do this on desk, under the direct supervision of the Lieutenant of the Watch.
Louisiana used to allow for a mystic will. The testator would write and sign the will in secrecy. Then he would put it in an envelope and have a notary and three witnesses watch him sign it, and then they would sign it themselves. No one would know its contents until it was opened.
At the Battle of Lechaeum, Spartan forces that had been confident they could just march by the enemy city in order to escort allies home for a religious festivity were assailed by javelin throwers. The throwers inflicted a lot of damage and could easily run away when the heavily armored hoplites tried to catch up with them, and for some reason, the calvary, when it arrived, did not pursue them.
The term for a distant relative who inherits because there's no one closer by blood is "laughing heir."
The Liao Dynasty liked capitals and had five -- perhaps from their nomadic origin before they conquered northern China.
An Abbasid Caliph wanted to demolish the ruins of a Sassanid palace at Ctesiphon for his own building project. An advisor warned him not to unless he was building something greater, because otherwise people would say he could only destroy what greater men had built. He set out to to do it, and was finding it too difficult to destroy. He was going to stop, but the advisor said that if he did that, now people would say he could not even destroy what greater men had built.
In the Greek city of Naupaktos, a woman held the public office of orphanophylax, guardian of war orphans.
The Dutch, being forbidden by their sumptuary laws to dress in other than black, not only dyed more expensive cloth black, but took to making black lace.
The sending-off wolf is a yokai that follows the traveler through the mountains, ready to pounce if he stumbles, unless the traveler manages to quickly fake that he's taking a break. However, while followed by it, no other yokai will trouble the traveler, so the proper thing to do is thank the wolf as soon as you are out of the mountains; then, once home, you wash your feet and leave some food out for it in return for the escort.
A general of Alexander the Great's marveled at sugar cane: a plant that produced sweetness without the aid of bees.
Henry VIII debased coinage so badly that when Elizabeth I came to the throne she ordered it all melted down to make new coins to redeem their monetary system from disgrace, as it would be valued only if it had value.
The oldest recipes for fire medicine (gunpowder) are hard to ignite and only burn well in open air. The Chinese used them as incendiaries rather than explosives.
Early European discussions of the West Indies differed about whether living in those islands caused your blood to thicken (from evaporation) or thin out, but the cure of alcohol spirits was called for in either case.
The Spartans counted on an easy victory over Tegea because of the Oracle, and brought along fetters for the captives to be enslaved. Instead, they ended up wearing their own chains, which were subsequently displayed in a temple to Athena in the city.
The director of The Sound of Music shot on location and got permission to fly Nazi flags for the appropriate scenes by threatening to instead use newsreel footage of the actual arrival of Nazis in the place.
In the 16-century, European cannon required enough gunpowder that one shot could cost as much as an infantryman's monthly wages.
Many sailors whose ships sank at Pearl Harbor simply swam ashore.
Athenian law forbade women and children from entering contracts for more than a bushel of barley.
The common upper-class British practice of giving sons the family name of their mother's, particularly if they were expecting an inheritance from that side, promptly died out as middle names came into use, because it would be given as the middle name.
Qing China tried to ban firearms and actually suppressed them quite a bit.
Greeks considered anyone who maintained a bodyguard to be either a tyrant or an aspiring one.
Many horses of the US Cavalry, sold after it was disbanded, ended up in Hollywood.
After the earthquake devastated Port Royal, a tsunami bore up many ships and crashed them on land. Survivors lived in them as they started to rebuild.
During the Peloponnesian War, a number of Spartan hoplites, fleeing the Battle of Pylos, stranded themselves on an island of Sphacteria deep within their own territory, but from which the only escape was by boat or on the land where the Athenian army was. They alerted the Athenians to their numbers and defenses by accidentally setting the island on fire, forgot to set a watch, were bottled up by archer because Spartans scorned distance weapons, and were finally captured when they assumed one side did not need to be defended because it was impassable.
Grog was made from rum at a prescribed ratio of one part rum to four parts water. Given the sailors' confidence in the pursers, the orders were to do this on desk, under the direct supervision of the Lieutenant of the Watch.
Louisiana used to allow for a mystic will. The testator would write and sign the will in secrecy. Then he would put it in an envelope and have a notary and three witnesses watch him sign it, and then they would sign it themselves. No one would know its contents until it was opened.
At the Battle of Lechaeum, Spartan forces that had been confident they could just march by the enemy city in order to escort allies home for a religious festivity were assailed by javelin throwers. The throwers inflicted a lot of damage and could easily run away when the heavily armored hoplites tried to catch up with them, and for some reason, the calvary, when it arrived, did not pursue them.
The term for a distant relative who inherits because there's no one closer by blood is "laughing heir."
The Liao Dynasty liked capitals and had five -- perhaps from their nomadic origin before they conquered northern China.
An Abbasid Caliph wanted to demolish the ruins of a Sassanid palace at Ctesiphon for his own building project. An advisor warned him not to unless he was building something greater, because otherwise people would say he could only destroy what greater men had built. He set out to to do it, and was finding it too difficult to destroy. He was going to stop, but the advisor said that if he did that, now people would say he could not even destroy what greater men had built.
In the Greek city of Naupaktos, a woman held the public office of orphanophylax, guardian of war orphans.