An interesting historical story.
Marcus Crassus became the richest man in Rome partly through real estate. He created the first fire department in Rome. Sometimes he paid arsonists to set fire to a house and then he would wait around the corner with his fire fighters. When the fire was underway, Crassus and his Read more…
On their wedding night, Napoleon and Josephine retired to her bedroom only to find Josephine’s dog in his usual place in the middle of the bed. When Napoleon approached the bed, the dog growled and Josephine explained that the dog was very possessive. They should try not to disturb the Read more…
King George II of England liked to go out at night in disguise to sample the ladies of the realm. One night, in disguise, he visited a house of prostitution. During his visit his pocket was picked and when it came time to pay his bill he was in a Read more…
Agrippina was the wife of Emperor Claudius. She had a son named Nero from her first marriage. She was determined that her son would be the next emperor. When Claudius began to have second thoughts of his step-son succeeding him, she poisoned her husband. Before she put her plan into Read more…
On his return from India, Alexander and his army had to traverse the very dry Gedrosian Desert. At one point, the army was down to its last canteen of water. It was brought to Alexander. He asked if there was enough for everyone and when he was told no, he Read more…
Alexander’s last great battle was in India at the River Hydaspes. He faced his most worthy opponent in this battle. King Porus fought from elephant-back and very nearly defeated Alexander. Porus was wounded by a spear in the battle and his elephant supposedly pulled the spear out. After the battle, Read more…
After Alexander had defeated the Persians in the Battles of Granicus and Issus, he went on to conquer Egypt. Everyone knew the job of conquering the whole Persian Empire was not finished, but Alexander had half and Darius still had a huge army. Darius sent a message to Alexander offering Read more…
Once upon a time, there was a small kingdom in Asia Minor called Gordium. It was ruled by a wise king, but when he died he had no son to replace him. The people were without a leader so they went to the chief priest for his advice. The priest Read more…
The teenage Alexander once accompanied his father Philip on a horse-buying expedition. There was one magnificent stallion that Philip was interested in, but none of his expert horsemen could stay on the horse. Each was bucked off as soon as he got in the saddle. Alexander was watching all this Read more…
Roman emperor Caligula had a low opinion of the Roman public. He sometimes would show the finger (that’s right, people were flipping the bird in ancient times) to people at banquets. At the chariot races once, when he heard the crowd cheering for a chariot team that he did not Read more…