Inconvenient historical events and shameful exhibits

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Many consider history to be boring science, full of facts, names and dates. But in fact, over the millennia, people have done many bad deeds, which are customary to be silent about in school encyclopedias.

1. An obscene cup

Warren Cup.

Beginning in the 19th century, the so-called "Secret Section" was created in the British Museum. It contains artifacts from the past that cannot be shown to all visitors. One of the most obscene exhibits is the Warren Cup. Initially, the artifact in 1911 was bought by a private collector Edward Warren (which is why the name actually went), and in 1998 the cup was bought by the British Museum for 1.8 million pounds. The approximate age of the artifact is 2,000 years. The cup depicts the intercourse of two men on one side, and a boy and a boy on the other.

2. The whipping apparatus

Whipping machine.

In 1910, the mayor of the American town of Bridgeton, Arthur Whitaker, came up with a new way of correcting young offenders. Whitaker developed a whipping machine. In total, about a hundred boys and several girls passed through the device. The intensity of the blows was set depending on the severity of the offense. Despite the oddity of Whitaker's idea, the experiment was considered a success.

3. Spades and bread with blood

Vlad the Impaler.

Vlad III Basarab is better known as the prototype of Count Dracula in the novel of the same name by Bram Stoker. The author did not just take the Welsh prince as the prototype of the vampire. Vlad received his main nickname "Tepes" for the fact that in total he killed about one hundred thousand people, most of whom were subsequently impaled. According to Novate.ru, the manuscript, dating from the 15th century, describes the life of Vlad Tepes. It mentions how the count held a feast in his castle. In front of the amazed guests, he put several people on a stake, and then began to dip bread into buckets of blood, prudently placed under the bodies of the victims.

4. The ticklers of the feet of Catherine the Great

Catherine the Great's foot ticklers.

They say that the All-Russian Empress had many lovers, and she is also credited with a connection with horses. One thing is for sure that Catherine II had special girls who tickled her feet and sang songs. The Empress very carefully approached the selection of applicants for this "position". Often the ticklers were ladies of aristocratic descent.

5. Shameful bas-relief

Shameful bas-relief.

In one of the Milan museums, there is a bas-relief depicting a woman shaving her pubic hair. According to legend, the wife of the German king Friedrich Barbossa, who was an enemy of Italy in the 12th century, is carved on it. According to another version, the bas-relief depicts a Milanese girl who, without shame and fear, shaves before the army of the same Barbossa that has besieged the city.

6. Dog troops

Dog troops.

Few people know the true reason for breeding mastiffs. For a long time, these 100-kilogram giants were full-fledged combat units of the Spanish army. They easily bit through the leather armor of the Moors and clung to their enemies with a death grip. These dogs were not afraid of pain, fire and swords, since they were bred for the sole purpose of killing. It is for this reason that when Columbus discovered the New World, the conquistadors, in addition to weapons, took in the help of fierce mastiffs, who helped the Spaniards to kill local aborigines.

7. Noses of Indians

Crowe Indians, 1871.

Many Americans now dislike their current president, but they hardly know their country's history that well. The seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson, hated the indigenous people of America with all his nature. He not only massacred the Indians, he was also not averse to mocking their corpses. Jackson's famous quote read: "I have the scalps of all the enemies I have killed, just in case." Moreover, the president ordered to cut off the noses of the killed Indians in order to count them.

8. Medical cannibalism

Medical cannibalism.

Surprisingly, it would seem that in humane Europe a few centuries ago cannibalism was common. Medicines were made from human bodies, and blood was used to improve well-being. Thus, Pope Innocent VIII regularly drank the blood expressed from boys. But the most popular was the powder from the bodies of the mummies. This fashion led to massive looting of Egyptian tombs.

9. Feminine hygiene

Feminine hygiene is a thing of the past.

Since ancient times, women have used various methods to maintain personal hygiene. In ancient Greece, pads soaked in the poison of belladonna and opium were used for these purposes. A similar method was used in many countries until the middle of the 19th century. Then opium was replaced by cocaine, which until the beginning of the 20th century was not considered a drug.