Genghis Khan exempted the poor and clergy from taxes, encouraged literacy, and established free religion, leading many peoples to join his empire before they were even conquered.
28
The site where the Parthenon was built had to be cleared of hundreds of dinosaur bones (then called giants' bones) before construction could begin.
13
Because metal was scarce; the Oscars given out during World War II were made of plaster.
40
Romans used a plant called Silphium as contraception. They had so much sex that they drove it into extinction.
24
Tickling was a form of torture used in ancient China on nobility because it left no mark and recovery was quick.
33
The native Americans planted three sisters (corn, beans, and squash) together so that they would benefit each other. The corn provides a structure for the beans to climb. The beans provide the nitrogen to the soil, and the squash spreads along the ground preventing weeds.
30
A monk had once written over a book that contained information about calculus that was written by Archimedes in ancient Greece that could have made us 100 or even 1000 years more mathematically and technologically advanced.
13
The ancient Egyptians bought jewelry for their pet crocodiles.
82