Dawn Brancheau

Predjama Castle

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting Bishop Odo rallying Duke William 's army during the Battle of Hastings in 1066

15-year-old Nayirah al-Ṣabaḥ giving her testimony to the United States Congressional Human Rights Caucus on October 10, 1990, two months after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait . It was later revealed that she was the daughter of Kuwaiti…

Dawn Brancheau, SeaWorld Orlando's most senior trainer, was pulled into the water and killed by orca Tilikum in front of an audience on February 24, 2010. She had 16 years of experience. The show had just ended.

Marina Abramović

In 'Rhythm 0,' Abramović lay passive for six hours while strangers chose from 72 objects — including a loaded gun and rose thorns — to do whatever they wished to her body. She was cut, kissed, and aimed at.

Sulla

Sulla marched two legions on Rome itself in 88 BCE — the first Roman general to do so — then posted proscription lists of enemies to be killed on sight, collected 4,700 names, and walked away from power voluntarily.

Kowloon Walled City

33,000 people packed into 6.5 acres in Hong Kong with no government, no architect, and no building code — 14 stories of self-assembled concrete running dentists, heroin dens, and daycares simultaneously.

Predjama Castle

Built directly into the mouth of a vertical cave high on a cliff face in Slovenia, Predjama Castle housed a rebel knight named Erasmus of Lueg who held off a siege for over a year by receiving supplies through a secret tunnel.

Bayeux Tapestry

Embroidered in wool on linen 70 metres long, the Bayeux Tapestry was likely stitched within twenty years of the 1066 invasion it records — by English hands, for a Norman patron, depicting the death of a king the embroiderers may have watched fall.

Brennus (leader of the Senones)

After sacking Rome in 390 BC — the only time the city fell for eight centuries — Brennus tossed his sword onto the ransom scales and sneered 'Vae victis': woe to the conquered.

Nayirah testimony

A 15-year-old girl wept to Congress about Iraqi soldiers dumping Kuwaiti babies from incubators. She was the Kuwaiti ambassador's daughter, coached by PR firm Hill & Knowlton for $10.8 million.

Rhythm 0

Abramović placed 72 objects on a table — razor, wine, loaded pistol — and let strangers use them on her body for six hours. By hour three, someone had pressed the gun to her temple.