It didn't matter if their husbands hit them, belittled them, or cheated on them; women during that time had no recourse to leave a terrible marriages and be free. Tofana offered them a solution.
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It may have started in a truly Christian way, as a haven for the downtrodden with nowhere to go, as described by the BBC, but it evolved into a medieval "healthcare facility," and eventually became one of the first institutions to focus on cordoning off the "mad" and "lunatic."
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Henry Morton Stanley, most famous for rescuing Dr. David Livingstone in present-day Tanzania in 1871, was a sailor, journalist, and colonial administrator who explored central Africa. Henry Morton Stanley also searched for the source of the Nile river and aided the Belgian occupation of the Congo.
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Kuhn's speech was a hit with the 22,000 American Nazis in attendance at New York's Madison Square Garden, all of whom had no obvious qualms with the swastikas flanking the two-story-tall image of George Washington behind the stage.
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Legend says that Charlemagne's sword, which he named Joyeuse (French for joyful), had magical powers.
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Most icons who died too soon -- Jim Morrison, Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix, have famous graves people can physically visit to pay their respects. Weirdly, that's not the case with Mr. Mercury. But where do the rock icon's remains rest? Let's take a look at the mystery of Freddie Mercury's ashes.
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By most accounts, Texas-born Paris Bennett had a happy childhood. That is, until he hit 13 years old. It was in 2007 when the young teen committed a crime that would tear apart his family for years to come.
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He was a hypochondriac, according to History Collection; rarely expressed emotion, beyond an occasional temper tantrum; had virtually no sense of humor. With everything we know of the man taken into consideration, there are those who would posit that he was autistic -- specifically, Asperger's.
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It may appear to be obvious propaganda, but what do historians have to say regarding the truth about Cleopatra's descendants?
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We know that ancient peoples landed on the idea of dragons, and that stories of dragons have been around for centuries. They aren't merely a flight of fancy for fantasy writers.
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Saartjie Baartman, known in her time as the "Hottentot Venus," was a South African Khoekhoen woman who was taken from her home and exhibited in 19th-century European freakshows. Exploited for her buttocks and African features, Saartjie Baartman became a victim of racialized scientific study.
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As anyone who has sat through a Thanksgiving dinner with two vocal uncles from opposite ends of the political spectrum can readily attest, politics can be divisive, and party lines are not easily crossed. Still, at least it tends to be a tug-of-war between the Republicans and the Democrats.
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The War of the Currents (1880s) between inventors Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla has become one of nerddom's most widely-discussed rivalries.
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The ancient historian Plutarch, per Ancient History Encyclopedia, wrote that the two were buried together, probably at Cleopatra's request, though Plutarch never revealed the location of their tomb.
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When the ancient Romans saw Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII immortalized in gilded bronze in the Temple of Venus Genetrix, they were puzzled as to what Julius Caesar's side piece was doing next to the mother of Aeneas, the mythical founder of Rome, as Encyclopedia Britannica explains.
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Three things are most important in Oymyakon: alcohol, meat, and fur.
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The new footbridge at Tintagel Castle is a minimalist, elegant, and quite impressive feat of engineering that has a unique feature cut across its center: a 40 mm gap between the two halves of the bridge.
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At the ripe old age of 27, Edgar Allan Poe married his first cousin, Virginia Clemm, who was herself a stately 13 years of age that year of 1836.
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Wars can last forever. After all, there's such a thing called the Hundred Years' War between France and England and their allies. You know, the war where Joan of Arc died at the stake. But some wars barely last a blip.
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A number of books, articles, and documentary films have claimed in recent years that French fashion legend Coco Chanel chose the wrong side in WWII, taking up with the Nazis when they invaded France.
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The hills dot a vast terrain and they look perfectly symmetrical. Hundreds of people marvel at them every day. They're one of the most popular tourist destinations in the province of Bohol. So how did the Chocolate Hills come about?
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Besides being the shrewd, manipulative ruler of ancient Egypt, Cleopatra was also a prank-playing boozehound. It was love at first sight when she met Roman general Mark Antony in 41 BC — and what's a girl to do when she falls for a handsome descendant of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine? Live it up!
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In 1884 Freud published a research paper, "On Cocaine," "a song of praise to this magical substance," and would give the substance to friends and colleagues as a gift -- speaking for himself, he found it aided his digestion and improved his spirits.
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Not only was Cleopatra an astute politician and savvy diplomat, she was a nightly partier who would rove the streets of Alexandria after-hours with her boyfriend, the Roman general Mark Antony, and play pranks on commoners after getting trashed at their elite "feasts and wine-binges" club.
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For centuries, keeping track of time didn't come naturally. Ancient Rome's road to the Julian calendar was especially rocky, and due to the craziness, their effort to reform the calendar ended up resulting in the longest year in human history. This is why 46 B.C. was the longest year ever.
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During the 20th century, Jesse Jackson became a prominent civil rights activist, political figure, and Baptist minister. Known for working alongside Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Jackson went on to run for president twice and launched the social justice program Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
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It's a bird! It's a plane! Oh, no. It's both! Such might be the reaction of a time traveler visiting Argentina some six million years ago upon first catching sight of the largest bird that ever existed: Argentavis magnificens.
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