Commodus

01He renamed all twelve months after himself: Amazonius, Invictus, Felix, Pius, Lucius, Aelius, Aurelius, Commodus, Augustus, Herculeus, Romanus, Exsuperatorius.
02In the arena he killed ostriches with crescent-headed arrows, then waved the severed heads at senators.
03His lover Marcia, his chamberlain, and his wrestling partner Narcissus conspired together to poison then strangle him on 31 December 192.

A cannibal feast on Tanna , Vanuatu, c. 1885–1889

Tollund Man , Denmark, 4th century BC

The Zimmermann telegram as it was sent from Washington, D.C. , to Ambassador Heinrich von Eckardt , the German ambassador to Mexico .

Heracles , wearing his characteristic lion-skin, club in right hand, leash in left, presenting a three-headed Cerberus, snakes coiling from his snouts, necks and front paws, to a frightened Eurystheus hiding in a giant pot. Caeretan hydria…

Commodus renamed Rome 'Colonia Commodiana,' rechristened the months after his own titles, and descended into the arena as a gladiator — charging the treasury a million sesterces per appearance — until his wrestling coach strangled him.

Battle of Hattin

Saladin personally beheaded Raynald of Châtillon after the battle, then offered water to the captured King of Jerusalem — and withdrew it. The True Cross was captured and never returned. Crusader Palestine died here.

Cannibalism in Oceania

Pacific Islander cannibals called human flesh 'long pig' — not metaphor, but olfactory report: it smelled indistinguishable from roasting pork. The term traveled back to Europe in 19th-century missionary journals.

Bog body

Iron Age men, women, and children were pressed face-down into peat bogs; two thousand years later, Tollund Man surfaced with his stubble, stomach contents — last meal: porridge — and the noose still around his neck.

Zimmermann telegram

German Foreign Secretary Zimmermann telegraphed Mexico in January 1917, proposing a wartime alliance and the return of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. British codebreakers intercepted it; Congress voted for war within weeks.

Killing of Abdulrahman al-Awlaki

Sixteen-year-old Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen eating dinner in Yemen, was killed by a drone two weeks after his father. The Obama administration later said it was a mistake. His grandfather asked why.

Cerberus

Greeks slipped honey cakes called meli into the mouths of their dead to bribe Cerberus at the underworld gate. Virgil's Aeneas carries one. The three-headed dog's middle head was considered the most dangerous.

Philippine tarsier

The Philippine tarsier kills itself by slamming its skull into cage bars when stressed — a pocket-sized primate with eyes larger than its brain, martyring itself rather than enduring a hand.

Velites

Rome's poorest soldiers, the Velites, strapped wolf skulls over their helmets to terrify enemies and help officers spot them in the chaos. They carried seven javelins each and ran ahead of the line.