Greek Myth He Jumped Into the Volcano and Wasn Ever Seen Again

Rest in Peace

You won't believe the means in which these ancient Greeks died, some senseless, some embarrassing, some ridiculous, some hilarious just all curious, unusual and bizarre.

Samuel Johnson, English critic, biographer, essayist and poet, regarded as one of the greatest figures of the 18th-century, stated:

"Information technology matters non how a man dies, but how he lives"

I'm sure though, the following twelve illustrious figures of ancient Greece, would beg to differ.

The weird and bizarre ways, in which they met their deaths, would take virtually likely, back in the day, eclipsed the importance of their life's work.

Imagine, if you will, conversations in ancient Athenian coffee houses, subsequently learning of the embarrassing way in which Aeschylus went to meet his maker:

Euripides:

  "Hey, Sophocles, did you hear about old Aeschylus?"

Sophocles:

  "what? Was his latest tragedy booed out of Epidaurus?"

Euripides:

"Tragedy" (laughing and slapping his knee), "the old human of tragedy didn't know the significant of the give-and-take until yesterday; he's dead and yous'll never guess how information technology happened"

(Uncontrollable laughter) "After surviving so many battles, which he bravely fought for Greece, he simply went and got himself killed past a tortoise dropping on his caput"

Sophocles:

 " OMZ! Oh my Zeus, I swear to Zeus I don't believe it, quick, call a Marathon runner, I need to let my cousin in Sparta know about this!"

Mayhap Peter Pans's thoughts on the discipline of death are more plumbing fixtures for these twelve esteemed men of aboriginal Greece:

"To die will be an awfully big adventure".

10 of the Weirdest Deaths in Ancient Hellenic republic

1. Information technology came out of nowhere:

Aeschylus breathed his last when an hawkeye dropped a tortoise on his head

Aeschylus breathed his terminal when an eagle dropped a tortoise on his head

Aeschylus (525 – 455 BC), known as the Father of Tragedy, one of history's greatest playwrights is famous, non only for his plays, including Persians, Seven against Thebes, Oresteia and Prometheus Spring.

Aeschylus is also known for his part every bit a Hero Warrior Greek who fought in the Boxing of Marathon and the Battle of Salamis.

After visiting the Oracle at Delphi, where the priestess of the day predicted his death would be caused by a heavy object falling on his caput whilst indoors.

Aeschylus became paranoid nearly being in enclosed spaces and spent as much fourth dimension as possible in open spaces.

Beware of the falling tortoise

Either the oracle got it wrong or Aeschylus understood things back to front.

 Ane day, whilst sitting outdoors in Sicily, an hawkeye flying overhead, clutching a tortoise in its talons, mistook Aeschylus' shiny baldheaded caput for a stone, which was ideal for spitting open the tortoises difficult shell, allowing the hawkeye to become to the tasty meat inside.

The eagle took aim, permit go of the tortoise, which dropped similar a lead weight, hitting Aeschylus smack blindside on top of his head, killing him instantly, he never knew what hit him.

A fitting, dramatic end to the life of Ancient Greece's nigh famous dramatist!

2.  Victory over death:

Arrichion became the first (and probably last) corpse to be crowned with an Olympian olive wreath

Ancient Greek Olympic olive wreath, too known as a kotinos

Arrichion was a pankratias, a hero of the pankration championships of the 572 BC and 568 BC Olympics.

He did and then well, he thought he may as well brand a hat play tricks of it and so, when the 564 BC Olympics came effectually, he entered for a third time, as it turned out third time lucky did not apply for Arrichion.

The pankration was a no holds barred sporting event, introduced into the Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC.

It was a sport with more than or less no rules which involved boxing, wrestling, kicking, holds, locks, and chokes, simply bitter and eye gouging were not allowed only hey, who obeys every rule?

Roman mosaic with scene of Pankration found in Salzburg, Austria, when the Mozart monument was erected, now at the Salzburg Museum

The term pankration comes from the Greek παγκράτιον – paŋkrátion, pregnant 'all of power'; strength, might, power, the original Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), then to speak.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

Arrichion was in fine fettle for the 564 BC Olympics; it wasn't until the concluding leg of the pankration that things started to go wrong.

His antagonist grabbed him from backside in a strangle hold, choking the life's breath out of Arrichion, whilst at the same time digging his feet into his groin.

Being the always wily Greek, Arrichion, gurgled and spluttered a bit before pretending to pass out, causing his opponent to loosen his grip.

This was his chance; Arrichion, nimbly caught him in a leg lock, snapped his talocrural joint and with a nifty surge of strength, hurled his opponent from him.

The sudden pain inflicted on Arrichion's opponent by this sudden move was unbearable; he was done and signaled his submission to the judges, giving the game to Arrichion.

Still, what hadn't been noticed past the judges, was that Arrichion'due south last manoeuvre of throwing off his opponent, who still had him in a chokehold, had broken his cervix, Arrichion was dead!

Aboriginal Greek pankration, a deadly martial art

Rules are rules (mostly), his opponent had surrendered, dead or alive, Arrichion was declared the victor.

With the Olympic olive wreath crowning his dead head, the corpse of Arrichion was escorted back amidst pomp and glory to his birthplace of Phigaleia, an ancient Greek city of ancient Arcadia.

iii. Death by appreciation:

Draco was smothered to death by the items of clothing thrown at him past his fans

Is that you under at that place Draco?

In near 621 BC, the city of Athens was in an ongoing state of political turn down and social unrest; things were dire, so the citizens asked Draco, an important aristocratic, ancient Greek statesman, to abolish the system of oral law, too as the blood feud (vendetta or clan wars), which were under the control of the aristocratic class and introduce new, written laws, which could only exist enforced by a court of law.

Earlier the introduction of Draco's laws, in that location was no written constabulary in aboriginal Athens; laws did exist just only orally and were piddling known to the citizens of Athens, especially the poorer ones with no status, which made for an extremely unfair legal system

Most of Draco's laws are not known, what we practice know though, is that they were extremely harsh, brutal in fact, even the smallest and most insignificant of crimes, such as stealing a cabbage, was punishable with death.

Draco of Athens

Notwithstanding the severness of Draco's drastic new laws, which overlooked the question of; 'does the punishment fit the crime?' the effects were positive, people gained a amend understanding of what field of study meant and the crime charge per unit dropped astoundingly.

Draco'due south fans bear witness their appreciation

Despite not much being known nearly Draco's life in general, his decease was another thing and not surprisingly, it was one of the virtually baroque deaths of Ancient Greece.

Later being exiled from Athens by its citizens, Draco spent his remaining days on the island of Aegina.

Hither, in around 600 B.C, after speaking to a total business firm in the Aeginetan theatre, his fans showed their approval, equally was the custom in those days, by throwing any item of wearable upon his head that came to manus; shirts, coats, cloaks, hats, you proper noun it, they threw information technology.

It seems he must have been quite popular in Aegina; the heap of article of clothing which covered Draco was astonishingly huge, so huge in fact that he suffocated and died!

An extraordinary death for an boggling man, who left united states, in memory of him, the word Callous, today though, I'm certain no ane would exist sentenced to death for stealing a cabbage.

four. Shamed to death:

Bupalus was and then insulted, he hung himself

Bupalus, ancient Greek sculptor, was so insulted, he hung himself

Dorsum in the 6th century BC, Bupalus, a famous sculptor with a roughshod tongue, from the Greek island of Chios and Hipponax of Ephesus, a poet of the virtually vulgar of verses and malicious wit, were known for their not and so friendly banter with each other.

Things got out of hand between the two when Hipponax fell in love with the daughter of Bupalus and asked for her paw in spousal relationship.

Now Hipponax was said to be i the ugliest men in history, a man with a gargoyle face up to lucifer his ugly character, it's not clear simply either the girl rejected Hipponax'due south proposal of marriage, or, her begetter, Bupalus, forbid it, either fashion, the knives were out.

Hipponax retaliated past penning a handful of slanderous verses virtually Bupalus, who threw fuel on the fire past sculpting a monstrously ugly caricature of Hipponax which he publically displayed for all to ridicule.

Hipponax from Guillaume Rouillé'due south Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum.

Hipponax, beside himself with acrimony, then penned some of his most obscene poems, in which he calls Bupalus a godforsaken wretch and goes on to describe, in detail, the perverted and forbidden intimacies Bupalus got up to with his own female parent.

On hearing what Hipponax has written near him, Bupalus is mortified, filled with shame and unable to face the public, he takes his own life.

5. Manure happens:

Heraclitus covered himself in cow dung and was devoured by dogs

Manure Happens

The 6th-century BC ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus of Ephesus, cocky taught and critical of other philosophers, was a  grumpy individual, noted for his full general hatred and distrust of humanity, a man who had a skilful word for no one.

He avoided contact with other people at all costs; in fact, he went as far as retreating into the wilderness for long periods at a time, living off any plants and herbs he could assemble, eventually he rejected gild completely.

Heraclitus suffered from dropsy, a painful and debilitating ailment caused by the swelling of soft tissues due to the aggregating of excess water.

Who knows, maybe distress over his disease, is why the poor man was and so cantankerous?

Even though doctors told Heraclitus zilch could be done to cure or alleviate his affliction, the stubborn onetime man knew he could heal himself, these doctors didn't know what they were talking about.

Draining fluid from a patient with dropsy in 17th century England

The 'Eurika' moment was cow dung

Heraclitus knew, if he could only draw the moisture, or excess fluids from his body, all would be well and spent the next few hours figuring out how to practice this.

His 'Eurika' moment was cow dung, yes, you read that right; moo-cow dung.

His theory was; if he covered himself from caput to pes with a thick layer of cow dung and then lay in the hot dominicus, the heat of the manure would draw out the noxious excess fluid which was torturing his trunk.

Heraclitus couldn't expect to see the await on the doc'southward face when his prognosis was proved wrong and the next mean solar day, as shortly as the sunday was high in the sky, he covered himself in cow dung and spread-eagled on his dorsum, settled down to look for things to heat up.

I have the cure, cow dung!

It'southward not sure whether Heraclitus meant to fall asleep or not but that's what happened.

He awoke at nightfall, to find himself surrounded  past a pack of frenzied dogs, on trying to jump up and escape, Heraclitus realized that the hours of heat from the sun had turned the cow dung stone hard, it were as though he was encased in a full body plaster cast, he couldn't movement a muscle.

The dogs advanced on their casualty and with no further ado, devoured poor Heraclitus alive, cow dung and all.

6. I killed myself laughing:

First Zeuxis so, three centuries after, Chrysippus, laugh themselves to death

Died Laughing

Here we accept 2 examples of when laughter was definitely non the best medicine!

Both Zeuxis, an aboriginal Greek painter, famous for realism and Chrysippus, an ancient Greek philosopher, known for his warped sense of humour, laughed themselves to death.

Zeuxis, born in Heraclea, Southern Italia, who lived during the fifth century BC, was a chief of even so life with an unprecedented ability to mirror nature.

 Zeuxis'southward 'Helen', a painting of Helen of Troy, classed as the most beautiful woman of aboriginal Greece, with the face that launched a k ships, was one of most famous paintings of the era.

Zeuxis, a lover of the female body, had the prototype of the ideal nude forever imprinted in his head, so you lot tin understand how he laughed himself to death over a painting he had made of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of procreation, pleasance, beloved, and beauty, commissioned by an former woman, who insisted she be the model for the young, cute and luscious Aphrodite.

Zeuxis agreed but on seeing the finished result; the unprecedented beauty of Aphrodite, portrayed as a wrinkled sometime crone, flare-up out laughing, choked and died!

Chrysippus drops dead laughing at his ain joke

Three centuries afterwards Zeuxis laughed himself to expiry, we hear of Chrysippus, an arrogant Greek Stoic philosopher, born around 279 BC, coming to the aforementioned stop; he dropped dead laughing and at his own joke!

I killed myself laughing

Be it Chrysippus was seventy iii years former, he notwithstanding loved to party like a Greek but didn't drinkable like one.

 Ancient Greeks considered drinking undiluted wine a barbaric addiction indeed, no Greek of whatever standing would ever drink wine equally it came, directly from the barrel, the usual ratio was iii parts water to 1 part wine, rather like wine with your h2o than water with your vino!

Vino was to exist appreciated and savoured, non used as a ways to get intoxicated and lose all self-esteem.

Water with the vino

Chrysippus was well known for his disregard of this rule.

One solar day, at a political party, as per usual, inebriated with undiluted wine, his eye fell upon a ass attempting to eat some extremely pasty figs, to Chrysippus this spectacle was one of the most hilarious things he had e'er seen.

 Laughing until tears were streaming downwardly his face up, he chosen out; 'That donkey'due south in need of undiluted vino to help wash downward those figs' and so he plied the donkey with neat wine.

Final moments in the life of Chrysippus. Engraving from 1606.

A drunken donkey chomping on viscous figs was too much, fifty-fifty for Chrysippus, who literally killed himself laughing.

7. Nowhere to run:

  Milo of Croton became stuck in a tree and was eaten alive by wolves

In that location be wolves here.

Milo of Croton was a 6th-century BC wrestler, of boggling strength, from the Magna Graecian city of Croton (Calabria, Italy), a six-fourth dimension Olympic champion; a sort of Charles Atlas of ancient Hellenic republic.

Milo, likewise a brave warrior who, in 510 BC, wearing his Olympic crowns, a lion pare, and brandishing a guild like the ancient Greek Hero, Hercules, led the Crotons to victory in the state of war with the neighboring metropolis of Sybaris.

Milo is said to take maintained his remarkable force by carrying a bull effectually on his shoulders and religiously consuming twenty pounds of meat, 20 pounds of staff of life and ten litres of wine daily.

Milo of Croton. Fine art canvas by Chris Hutson

Ironically, information technology was his fixation with proving his power that brought well-nigh Milo's untimely and bizarre expiry.

One 24-hour interval, whilst enjoying a stroll through the woods, Milo spotted a tree trunk, partially spilt in 2, secured with wedges, never i to pass up a challenge, Milo, with his blank easily tried to rip the tree apart.

Every bit Milo prized the two halves of the tree torso apart, the wedges dropped out, causing the two halves to suddenly jump dorsum together, trapping his hands between them.

The mighty Milo was beaten, try as he might, he couldn't free his hands, he was stuck.

After hours of struggling to free himself, wolves, who had caught the scent of Milo, gathered ominously around the tree.

The rest is history; Milo was eaten live by wolves.

8. He never saw it coming:

Pyrrhus died when a roof tile landed on his head:

Beware of flying roof tiles

One of the Greatest Greek Generals and a statesman of ancient Greece, Pyrrhus of Epirus (319 – 272 BC), a relative of Alexander the Great, knew no fear, he was ruthless but always prepare to put his own life earlier that of his men.

He was a man who demanded victory above all, at all costs and from this trait of his, comes the phrase; "Pyrrhic victory" which means, a victory and then costly, it's no improve than defeat.

Pyrrhus, warrior King of Epirus

Can y'all credit it then, that this proud and fearless warrior, when, in 272 BC, fighting to gain peace, during a conflict betwixt the citizens of Argos, a city in Peloponnese, came to an embarrassing end when he was killed past an old lady armed only with a roof tile?

The lady in question, the mother of one of Pyrrhus's opponents, was observing the ongoing battle from her rooftop, when she saw Pyrrhus moving towards her son with a deadly look in his middle, her motherly, protective instincts set in and we all know how strong they tin can be, enough to move mountains.

As quick as a flash, the lady grabbed a loose roof tile and threw it, with all her might, towards Pyrrhus.

 Was it a matter of luck, or did she have a skilful centre?

Either way, the heavy ceramic tile hit Pyrrhus fairly and squarely on the top of his head, instantly knocking him from his horse, seeing his take a chance, an enemy soldier, with one barbarous dive of his sharp sword, chopped off the caput of Pyrrhus.

What an undignified end information technology was the hallowed warrior Rex of Epirus, to be felled by a roof tile flung at him by an erstwhile woman during a skirmish in the streets of Argos.

nine. Down the rabbit hole:

 Empedocles jumped into a volcano to prove his immortality

Etna eruption photo Paolo Barone

Empedocles (494 – 434 BC), an ancient Greek philosopher from Akragas (in Italian Agrigento), a Greek city in Sicily, was considered to be one of the greatest intellectuals and most talented physicians of his time.

 Much Influenced by Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, Empedocles was all-time known for his cosmogonic theory of the four classical elements, in which he proposed that everything in beingness is made of different combinations of four elements: air, fire, wind and earth.

He was the first person in history to advise that today'due south life on Globe evolved from a process we could only describe as natural selection where only the stiff survive.

Another hypothesis of his is that of 'Love and Strife'; 2 divine forces which penetrate the universe and act as moving powers; dear brings near fusion, and strife separation.

The Four Elements of Empedocles.

Empedocles:

A man with a  superiority complex and delusions of grandeur

Empedocles, a wealthy man with a huge superiority complex and delusions of grandeur, would swan around the urban center, dressed in purple robes cinched with a golden belt, a Delphic crown atop his caput and bronze sandals adorning his feet, trailing a crowd of fawning fans behind him.

Already convinced he was a god who possessed magical powers, including the ability to cure diseases, stop crumbling, and control the weather.

The arrogant and conceited Empedocles' delusions, finally came to a head, when he managed to cure a woman of her affliction, whom previously, no other physician had been able to do.

This was the absolute proof, to the crazy lunatic Empedocles, that he was an immortal god whose rightful place was amidst all other Greek gods residing on Mount Olympus.

On seeing that his followers, fifty-fifty subsequently his latest achievement, were however not entirely convinced of his godliness, Empedocles, invited them accompany him to the summit of Mount Etna, where they would witness the greatest spectacle of the century.

The end of Empedocles

He would cosign his divinity, earlier their very eyes, by throwing himself into the raging, fiery mouth of Mountain Etna which would consume his mortal body, later which, he would render every bit a god and they would curiosity as they watched him ascend to Mountain Olympus.

Empedocles at Mount Etna

His fans faithfully trailed behind Empedocles on their way up the slopes of Mount Etna, where, upon reaching the mouth of the bubbling volcano, Empedocles turned to the crowd, raised his arms to sky and declared 'Behold, a god is born' and took a eat swoop into the fiery cauldron.

The oversupply waited anxiously, the minutes ticked by, no unearthly bogeyman appeared before their eyes, what was taking so long?

The Death of Empedocles by Salvator Rosa (1615 – 1673), depicting the legendary declared suicide of Empedocles jumping into Mount Etna in Sicily

Just as the watchers were wondering if they should call it a day and return domicile, the volcano spewed out some unidentifiable object high into the air, the crowd, thinking this to be a godly course of Empedocles, raced to where the object had landed.

Alas, all they saw were the charred remains of one of Empedocles' statuary sandals.

Scratching their heads, the oversupply was left wondering; did this mean Empedocles was not immortal at all?

One thing was for sure; it was the terminate of Empedocles!

10. Zilch by Rima oris:

Philitas starved himself to death for the errors of others

Nix past Mouth

Philitas of Cos (340-285 BC), the first major Greek writer to exist classed as both a scholar and a poet was one of the most pregnant intellectual figures of the early Hellenistic years.

Obsessed with the written report of words, Philitas, wrote a book, nearly likely in the form of a dictionary, explaining the meanings of rare words, words from dialects, and technical terms called; 'Disorderly Words'  (Aτακτοι γλῶσσαι, Átaktoi glôssai), which unfortunately, along with nearly of his other works and verse, has been lost.

The Narrative of Philetas by Rodolfo Amoedo, 1887

A thin and frail homo, of whom it's said, placed pb weights in his shoes, to stop himself from existence blown away by the air current, Philitas was an eccentric and pedantic perfectionist, who could not help but constantly correct other's writing mistakes; the original grammar constabulary!

The pen is mightier than the sword!

If he heard someone use a wrong word or make a grammatical error, he would spend days writing reams and reams about why the word had been used out of context, which word should have been used and why, he went on and on and on.

Erase and correct!

Gradually, Philitas' mania for rectifying the grammatical errors of others, became all-consuming, it took over his life, nothing else mattered, he stopped sleeping and eventually, fifty-fifty eating, finally, erstwhile in the 280s BC, Philitas, allegedly starved to death.

Thank goodness memories fade

It's to the advantage of the above twelve influential men of ancient Greece, that memories fade, especially when it has to exercise with 'ix day wonder' happenings, equally were the absurd nature of their deaths.

Slowly, with the passing of time, people did not automatically recollect of the bizarre ways in which they died, when their names were mentioned but instead, remembered them once once more, for the legacies each 1 of them had bestowed upon Greece.

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