Mithridates: Covered In Milk And Honey, Consumed By Insects
[ranking: 2]
Mithridates was a young Persian soldier in the army of King Artaxerxes II. According to Plutarch, in 401 BCE, Mithridates killed Artaxerxes's rival, his brother Cyrus, in a freak accident.
Of course, Artaxerxes took credit for slaying the mighty Cyrus himself, so when Mithridates got drunk and told everyone the real story, the enraged king sentenced him to death by scaphism.
What is scaphism? The Greek historian Plutarch explained that the prisoner was trapped between two hollow logs or row boats, then:
they drench him with a mixture of milk and honey, pouring it not only into his mouth, but all over his face. They then keep his face continually turned towards the sun; and it becomes completely covered up and hidden by the multitude of flies that settle on it. And as within the boats he does what those that eat and drink must needs do, creeping things and vermin spring out of the corruption and rottenness of the excrement, and these entering into the bowels of him, his body is consumed. When the man is manifestly dead, the uppermost boat being taken off, they find his flesh devoured, and swarms of such noisome creatures preying upon and, as it were, growing to his inwards.
Mithridates survived for 17 days, covered in milk, honey, and his own feces, before dying from a combination of dehydration, starvation, and septic shock.
Mithridates was a Persian of high rank, and son-in-law of the king Darius III, who was slain by Alexander the Great with his own hand, at the Battle of the Granicus in 334 BC, when he plunged his lance through Mithridates' face. ...more on Wikipedia
Qin Shi Huang: Mercury Poisoning While Searching For An " elixir="" of="" life""="
[ranking: 9]
Age: Dec. at 49 (258 BC-209 BC)
Birthplace: Handan, China
Zeuxis: Died Of Laughter After Painting A Gag
[ranking: 7]
Three centuries before Chrysippus had his last laugh, the ancient Greek painter Zeuxis met the same fate. Though none of his paintings remain today, Zeuxis was said to have been one of the greatest painters of his time, so skillful that birds would swoop down out of the sky to try and eat the grapes from his paintings. But when an old woman commissioned Zeuxis to paint a portrait of the beautiful goddess Aphrodite using her as the model, the resulting painting was so absurd, it caused Zeuxis to laugh himself to death.
Zeuxis was a painter who was active during the 5th century BC. ...more on Wikipedia
Birthplace: Heraclea Lucania
Eleazar Avaran: Crushed To Death By A War Elephant
[ranking: 11]
A Jewish soldier who fought in the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid empire, Eleazar Avaran is primarily remembered today for the way he died. According to 1 Maccabees, during the Battle of Beth-Zechariah in 162 BCE, Eleazar spotted a war elephant that he believed carried the enemy king Antiochus V. He heroically rushed underneath the war elephant and thrust a spear into its belly, killing it ?C and himself since the dead elephant immediately collapsed and crushed him to death.
Eleazar's final act was a popular subject for artists in the Middle Ages. His willing self-sacrifice was said to prefigure the crucifixion of Jesus, and the manner of this sacrifice was a great chance to paint an elephant. Of course, most medieval painters had never seen an elephant in real life, and it shows.
Eleazar Avaran, also known as Eleazar Maccabeus, Eleazar Hachorani/Choran was the fourth son of Mattathias and the younger brother of Judas Maccabeus. He was killed at the Battle of Beth-zechariah during the Maccabean revolt. Little is known About Eleazar, except his heroic death as was told. According to the scroll of Antichus, his father saw in him a Zealot among zealots, like Pinhas. In 2 Maccabees 8:21-23 it is told that Eleazar read from the Tanakh in front of the people just before the last battle began in 3 Maccabees 6:16-19. ...more on Wikipedia
Aeschylus: Killed By A Falling Tortoise
[ranking: 1]
Age: Dec. at 69 (524 BC-455 BC)
Birthplace: Eleusis, Greece
Marcus Licinius Crassus: Drank A Goblet Of Molten Gold
[ranking: 5]
Marcus Licinius Crassus was a Roman general and politician who is considered one of the wealthiest men in all of human history. He crushed the slave revolt led by Spartacus, and was a member of the First Triumvirate alongside his ally Julius Caesar and his rival Pompey. He was also notorious for a number of crimes, from shady real estate swindles to arson to corrupting a vestal virgin.
After losing to the Parthians at the battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE, Crassus was forced to drink a goblet of molten gold, symbolizing his great wealth. (Another more probable, if less exciting, version recounts that the molten gold was poured into his mouth after he'd already died.)
But that wasn't the end of Crassus's indignities. According to Plutarch, after Crassus died, he was beheaded and his head was used as a prop in a production of the Euripides's play The Bacchae, where an actor held up the head and made it sing a song.
Marcus Licinius Crassus was a Roman general and politician who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Amassing an enormous fortune during his life, Crassus is considered the wealthiest man in Roman history, and among the richest men in all history. Crassus began his public career as a military commander under Lucius Cornelius Sulla during his civil war. Following Sulla's assumption of the dictatorship, Crassus amassed an enormous fortune through real estate speculation. Crassus rose to political prominence following his victory over the slave revolt led by Spartacus, sharing the Consulship with his rival Pompey the Great. A political and ...more on Wikipedia
Age: Dec. at 62 (114 BC-52 BC)
Birthplace: Roman Republic
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