PugJesus @ PugJesus @piefed.social

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https://www.ikmk.at/object?lang=en&id=ID531609

https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/62/1323/rare-and-unique-30shot-revolver

Explanation: In Classical Latin, you generally place the verb at the end of a sentence. Cicero was fond of making long, elaborate sentences filled with nested statements in his speeches, so he is somewhat notorious amongst Latin students for taking forever to get to the damn verb and make it clear what he’s actually talking about.

Explanation: The Novgorod Republic was a Medieval republic in what-is-now Russia. There is some evidence of a relatively high rate of literacy, and a complex system of governance that included democratic elements. Novgorod merchants were known throughout Europe (and had something of a rivalry with the Germanic Hanseatic League). The republic was eventually conquered by Ivan III of Moscow, and then massacred by his grandson Ivan the Terrible a few decades later.

Explanation: The Roman Emperor Caligula, sometimes said to be mad, once threatened (or joked, depending on who you ask) to make his horse consul, one of the two leaders of the Senate. Caligula was a tyrant, a dick, impulsive, and petty, but one can argue he wasn't mad. Just... well, a tyrant, a dick, impulsive, and petty. And with a cruel sense of humor.

The Roman Emperor Elagabalus had a much more discernable form of madness - youth mixed with ultimate power. Elagabalus was a teenager when they (as their gender identity is a matter of perpetual debate) were oh-so-wisely granted absolute autocratic power over a continents-spanning Empire by the political machinations of their grandmother. Two of their more notable offenses were proclaiming themselves to be the Syrian sun god, and having young women hitched to their chariot like horses to pull them around Rome, whipping them all the while.

While you can say teenagers fulfilling all their most wild teenage fantasies with no one to stop them isn't 'real' madness, it seems closer to it than flexing on Senators and daring them to defy you as a petty show of power!

Explanation: Tiberius Gracchus was a reformer of the Late Republic. He served as the democratically elected People's Tribune and championed land reform to give public lands to the poor. However, as the rich rented those public lands at a fraction of the ordinary cost, the wealthy men in the Roman Senate were not fond of this plan. Subsequently, when it looked like Tiberius Gracchus might actually succeed, they killed him.

Ten years later, his brother, Gaius Gracchus, championed the same cause. He was illegally killed by the Senate as well.

For some reason, the Senate was then surprised that the poor who made up the vast majority of the army started looking to their generals instead of the 'legitimate' institutions of the Republic to fulfill their interests.

Yeah, it's not the critiques of capitalism I took offense to, but the slavish devotion to the Soviet system in the book, including some really bizarre attempts to paper over some of its most gruesome aspects.

You found Blackshirts and Reds to be accurate? By my recollection, it was a 'best-of' tankie hits.

As General Grant once noted about the Mexican-American War, provoked by then-new 'Manifest Destiny' delusions:

With a soldier the flag is paramount . . . I know the struggle with my conscience during the Mexican War. I have never altogether forgiven myself for going into that. I had very strong opinions on the subject. I do not think there was ever a more wicked war than that waged by the United States on Mexico. I thought so at the time, when I was a youngster, only I had not moral courage enough to resign. I had taken an oath to serve eight years, unless sooner discharged, and I considered my supreme duty was to my flag. I had a horror of the Mexican War, and I have always believed that it was on our part most unjust. The wickedness was not in the way our soldiers conducted it, but in the conduct of our government in declaring war. The troops behaved well in Mexico, and the government acted handsomely about the peace. We had no claim on Mexico. Texas had no claim beyond the Nueces River, and yet we pushed on to the Rio Grande and crossed it. I am always ashamed of my country when I think of that invasion.

Insane, isn't it? Tomatoes were an ornamental plant in Europe even after they were introduced for almost 200 years, on account of it being part of the nightshade family (and thus, thought to be poisonous). Tomatoes in Italian cuisine only date to around ~1700 AD, yet it's hard to imagine it without tomatoes!

And the electorate just shrugs.

Marrying young is typically a function of two things: high infant mortality (necessitating high birth rates), typical in pre-modern societies; and a low level of women's rights. You still see it today in some societies, unfortunately.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459202

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O18052/pendant-unknown/

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O122228/ring-unknown/

Now the Scythians take the seed of the hemp and they go under their mats and then they throw the seed on the red-hot stones in the fire. So thrown it smoulders, and it produces such vapor that no Greek vapor bath might exceed it. And delighted by the vapor bath, the Scythians howl.

Scythian hotbox when

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar

Explanation: Ancient Roman predecessors to modern pizza used pomegranate, amongst other fruits. Of course, such proto-'pizzas' lacked tomatoes (as tomatoes come from the Americas) and probably lacked mozzarella (as mozzarella is first mentioned during the Renaissance).

The busts are of Emperor Titus, partyboy, bicon, and general good fellow.

Explanation: Poland was long-Catholic, but Lithuania was one of the last pagan holdouts in Europe. For this reason, a crusade was undertaken by the Teutonic Knights (of horned helmets fame) to convert Lithuania... BY THE SWORD!

Poland, however, managed to convince Lithuania to convert mostly-peaceably instead, and formed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This did not stop the Teutonic Order's wars which involved mass plundering and total conquest of the Baltic. Curious! Wars, naturally, ensued with the Commonwealth, which the Teutonic Order eventually lost.

It was always projection