Here are some of the most Unusual Ways People Have Died…
- 401 BC: Mithridates, a soldier condemned for the murder of Cyrus the Younger, was executed by scaphism, surviving the insect torture for 17 days.
- 272 BC: According to Plutarch, Pyrrhus of Epirus, conqueror and the source of the term pyrrhic victory, died while fighting an urban battle in Argos when an old woman threw a roof tile at him, stunning him and allowing an Argive soldier to kill him.[4]
- 270 BC: Philitas of Cos, Greek intellectual, is said by Athenaeus to have studied arguments and erroneous word usage so intensely that he wasted away and starved to death.Alan Cameronspeculates that Philitas died from a wasting disease which his contemporaries joked was caused by his pedantry.
- 207 BC: Chrysippus, a Greek stoic philosopher, is believed to have died of laughter after giving his donkey wine then seeing it attempt to eat figs.
- 162 BC: Eleazar Maccabeus was crushed to death at the Battle of Beth-zechariah by a war elephant that he believed to be carrying Seleucid King Antiochus V. Charging into battle, Eleazar rushed underneath the elephant and thrust a spear into its belly, whereupon it fell dead on top of him.
- 4 BC: Herod the Great reportedly suffered from fever, intense rashes, colon pains, foot drop, inflammation of the abdomen, a putrefaction of his genitals that produced worms, convulsions, and difficulty breathing before he finally expired. However, gruesome deaths have often been attributed by various authors who disliked rulers, including several Roman emperors (for example, Galerius).
- 64 – 67: Saint Peter was executed by the Romans. According to tradition, he asked not to be crucified in the normal way, but was instead executed on an inverted cross. According to Origen ofAlexandria, he said he was not worthy to be crucified in the same way as Jesus.
- c. 98: Saint Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum, was roasted to death in a brazen bull during the persecutions of Emperor Domitian. Saint Eustace, his wife and children supposedly suffered a similar fate under Hadrian.
- c. 1st or 2nd century: Rabbi Akiva, a Tanna, a founder of Rabbinic Judaism, and a supporter of Bar Kokhba, was put to death by the Romans by having his skin flayed with iron combs.
- 212: Lucius Fabius Cilo, a Roman senator of the 2nd century, “…choked…by a single hair in a draught of milk”.
- 258: According to tradition, SaintLawrence of Rome was roasted alive on a giant grill.
- 336: Arius, presbyter of Alexandria, is said to have died of sudden diarrhea followed by copious hemorrhaging and anal expulsion of the intestines. He may have been poisoned.
- 415: Hypatia of Alexandria, Greek mathematician, philosopher, and last librarian of the Library of Alexandria, was murdered by a Christian mob that ripped her skin off with sharp sea-shells. Various types of shells have been named: clams, oysters, abalones, etc. Other sources claim tiles or pottery-shards were used. Here are a ton of ways to die at What Can you die from?
Source: Wikipedia
