From metal bulls roasting people to death
to philosophers in barrels, here are ten crazy
things the ancient Greeks did.
10.
Milo of Croton
The Ancient Greeks invented progressive strength
training.
Milo of Croton won six Olympiads in the wrestling
events.
He also won multiple times at the Pythian
Games, Isthmian Games, and Nemean Games.
Milo loved to show off his strength and dexterity.
According to sources, his favorite trick was
to hold a pomegranate and have people try
to take it from him.
No one was strong enough to take the pomegranate
from him and he also managed to not damage
the fruit.
How did he gain such prodigious strength and
skill?
According to popular legend, Milo noticed
a newborn calf near his home.
He decided to lift the animal and carry it
on his shoulders.
He returned the next day and did it again.
He did it every day until the calf grew to
a four-year-old bull.
Thus was progressive strength training born.
Here’s another wild athlete story.
Theagenes of Thasos was a formidable fighter
who won over 1,300 bouts over his two decade
career.
He even won a crown for long-distance running
in the city of Argos.
As a boxer, he was never defeated.
According to legend, years after his death,
a vandal tried to deface a statue honoring
Theagenes.
The bronze statue broke in half and crushed
the would-be criminal.
9.
Birth Control by Sneezing
The Ancient Greeks had various forms of birth
control.
Some forms involved certain herbs and plants,
which worked very well.
However, one physician, Soranus, advised women
to do something a little odd.
After intercourse, women were told to squat
and sneeze to avoid becoming pregnant.
He also suggested jumping up and down to dislodge
the sperm.
If that’s not crazy enough for you, the
website Snopes.com was still debunking the
“jump up and down” method of birth control
as recently as 2007.
8.
Brazen Bull
In the 6th century BC, a brass worker named
Perilaus of Athens created a large, hollow
bull made of brass and gave it to a ruler
named Phalaris.
A door on the side of the bull allowed a man
to climb into the sculpture.
Once the door was closed, a fire could be
lit from underneath and slowly roast the person
to death.
But it doesn’t end there.
In the head of the bull was a series of stops
and pipes that transformed the screams of
the person into “the tenderest, most pathetic,
most melodious of bellowings”.
Phalaris was far from impressed.
So disgusted by the cruelty of the piece,
he asked Perilaus to climb into the bull and
demonstrate the capabilities of the pipes.
Once inside, Phalaris shut the door and ordered
a fire lit beneath the bull.
He reportedly said, “Receive the due reward
of your wondrous art; let the music-maker
be the first to play.”
Before Perilaus died, they removed him from
the bull and threw him off a cliff.
Despite Phalaris’s disgust, the brazen bull
became the most common form of execution in
Ancient Greece.
Here’s an extra fact.
Phalaris was a tyrant ruling in Acragas in
Sicily from 570 BC to 554.
He’s known for several building projects
but he did have a cruel streak that made him
the proverbial “evil tyrant”.
According to legend, after he was overthrown
by a general, the new ruler ordered Phalaris
to die by roasting to death inside the brazen
bull.
7.
Victorious Corpse
Did you know?
Cheating was a huge problem in Ancient Greek
sport, just like today.
Most of the time, it was the usual bribery
or foul moves during games.
Here is a picture of a scene on a kylix depicting
two pankratists fighting.
One of them is trying to gouge out the eye
of his opponent while simultaneously biting.
The umpire is preparing to strike the fighter
for the foul.
Some fighters would find an easier way and
try to curse or hex their opponents using
“curse tablets” to make them lose.
An event held during the Olympic Games was
the pankration, which was a mixed martial
arts style that blended boxing and wrestling.
Most famous of the pankratists was Arrhachion.
During the 54th Olympiad in 564 BC, Arrhachion
entered the pankration to defend his championship.
However, his opponent got the better of him
and put Arrachion into a chokehold.
It is said Arrhachion’s trainer shouted,
“What a fine funeral if you do not submit
at Olympia”.
Arrhachion responded by twisting and kicking
his opponent’s foot and dislocating it.
The pain forced his opponent to surrender.
Unfortunately, the move broke Arrhachion’s
neck.
Despite that, the judges named Arrhachion
the victor.
In death, he successfully defended his title.
His fame spread as people held him up as the
athletic ideal.
Geographer Pausanias mentioned a statue immortalizing
Arrhachion during his description of Phigalia,
making it the oldest victor statue ever recorded.
6.
Throw an Apple
Throughout history, there have been dozens
of ways for one person to declare love to
another.
The Ancient Greeks put an interesting twist
on it: they threw apples.
According to Greek myth, Eris, the goddess
of discord, was upset that no one invited
her to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis.
True to her nature, she threw a golden apple
inscribed with the words “to the most beautiful”
into the wedding party.
Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all claimed the
apple.
For whatever reason, they chose Paris of Troy
to select the recipient.
Hera and Athena bribed him, but Aphrodite
offered the best prize: the most beautiful
woman in the world, Helen of Sparta.
Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite, claimed
Helen, and started the Trojan War.
Isn’t that romantic?
From then on, Greeks considered the apple
sacred to Aphrodite, the goddess of love.
Throwing an apple was the symbolic way of
declaring love and catching it meant you reciprocated
the person’s feelings.
5.
Philosopher in a Barrel
Diogenes of Sinope is a larger than life figure
who we know little about with any certainty.
He left behind no writings or other first-hand
accounts.
Most of what we know comes from legend and
theory.
If half of this was true, he must have been
a fascinating figure.
Diogenes immigrated from modern-day Turkey
to Athens in the 4th century BC because he
and his father may have been defacing money.
Diogenes fled before authorities arrested
him.
Why he defaced money remains a mystery.
Anyway, Athens at the time was the center
of Greek philosophy and Diogenes fell in love
with the teachings of Antisthenes, who preached
asceticism and simplicity.
At first, Antisthenes was unimpressed by Diogenes
and tried to chase him away with a stick.
Eventually, though he relented and took Diogenes
on as a pupil.
In an effort to fully live this new philosophy,
Diogenes gave away all of his possessions
save a stick, a cloak, and a bread bag.
He lived in a barrel, urinated in public,
and did everything he could do to show that
happiness was not found in wealth or possessions
but in oneself and in pure honesty.
People thought he lived like a dog, so they
called him a “cynic”, which meant “canine”.
His philosophy, therefore, became known as
“cynicism”.
Diogenes’ story doesn’t end here.
Pirates captured him during a voyage to Aegina
and took him to Corinth, where he lived until
dying around the age of 90.
How he died is a thing of legend.
Some say he died from a dog bite, others that
he ate some bad octopus, and still others
say he held his breath until dying.
Most historians think it was just old age.
Diogenes requested that his friends throw
his remains to the dogs but they gave him
a proper burial, placing a marble pillar and
a statue of a dog over his grave.
Want to hear a funny story?
One day, Diogenes sat by his barrel to enjoy
the sun.
Alexander the Great approached him and asked
if he could do anything for the famous philosopher.
Diogenes replied, “Yes.
Step to one side.
You’re blocking the sun.”
4.
Figging
Those of you who enjoyed Fifty Shades of Grey
might also enjoy this.
Otherwise, you might want to skip this number.
A BDSM practice today, figging began as a
Greek practice for horses, called “gingering”.
Ginger was placed into the anus of a horse
to cause the horse to hold its tail up high.
At some point, someone decided to use it as
a punishment for female slaves and it became
known as “figging”.
A skinned ginger root was inserted into the
anus or vagina, causing a burning sensation.
The slave was then restrained so she could
not remove the root.
Interestingly, the practice of figging as
a punishment was carried on until the Victorian
era, when the same was done to female prisoners.
Did you know?
Slaves filled in important gaps in the workforce
because working for money, outside of a government
job, was frowned upon.
Slaves worked as cooks, artisans, maids, miners,
nurses, porters, and even in the army as attendants
to their masters, baggage carriers, and sometimes
as fighters.
The weirdest example?
The police in Athens during part of the fifth
and fourth centuries BC consisted mostly of
Scythian slaves.
3.
Red Lipstick
In ancient Greece, if a woman wore red lipstick,
it meant she was a prostitute as it was seen
as extremely sexually suggestive.
Most women during this time avoided makeup
altogether.
The lipstick was often made from a combination
of dye, wine, sheep sweat, human saliva, and
crocodile excrement.
Because it was a mark of prostitution, it
also led to the first law concerning lipstick.
If a prostitute appeared on the street during
the wrong hours of the day or without the
required lip color, she could be fined for
posing as a lady.
2.
Naked Exercise
When we think of the term “gymnasium”,
we think of exercise, basketball courts, and
sweating.
The word we use, though, has a double meaning.
It comes from a Greek noun that meant “a
place to exercise” and “a place to be
naked”.
In Ancient Greece, men exercised in the nude.
They believed that doing so honored the gods.
In fact, the practice was so beloved that
when someone tried to introduce loincloths,
they were vehemently refused.
The Greek gymnasium, however, was more than
a place to work out.
It functioned as a sort of men’s club, where
they discussed politics and philosophies of
the day.
Young boys and older men met and became lovers
in gymnasiums.
It was an accepted practice of Ancient Greek
life because the older man was supposed to
act as a mentor for the boy.
1.
Burning the Temple
The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus is one of
the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and
was built around 550 BC.
The temple was 350 feet by 180 feet.
The statue of Artemis was made of gold, ebony,
silver, and black stone.
A garment decorated with reliefs of animals
and bees covered the legs and hips.
Wonderful works of art adorned the interior
of the temple.
A young Ephesian man named Herostratus wanted
his name remembered throughout history.
On July 21, 356, he set fire to the wooden
furnishings of the mostly stone building and
put rags placed in key places throughout the
sanctuary so it would burn faster.
By morning, only the pillars were left behind.
The Ephesians were so enraged that, after
executing Herostratus, they made a law to
strike Herostratus’ name from all record
and make it illegal to speak his name.
However, a non-Ephesian historian named Theopompus
recorded the arsonist’s name.
The date is also important as it was the same
night Alexander the Great was born.
Legend has it that Artemis was so preoccupied
by the birth of Alexander, she didn’t notice
her own great temple burning.
Ephesians rebuilt the temple, only for it
to be destroyed again later, by the Goths.
