› added 1 year ago

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TIL that the elite force of soldiers in 4th century Thebes was 300 homosexual lovers (150 pairs) called Sacred Band of Thebes. They ended Spartan domination in Greece.

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via reddit.com

KOwXE TIL that there is an underground town in the Australian outback called Coober Pedy. Half of its population live below ground to escape the area's hellish temperatures.
DaDD TIL: The CN Tower in Canada is actually the tallest building in the westen hemisphere, and was the tallest building in the world for 30 years. Other building owners figured they could make two classifications, “Tower” and “Building”, so they could sound as if they were taller.
6o0Q TIL Chemotherapy drugs to fight cancer were discovered in WW1 where the effects of mustard gas on surviors reduced the amount of rapidly dividing cells like white blood cells. First drug developed based on this research was called Mustine.
LBxm TIL In the original print of The Hobbit, Gollum offered Bilbo the One Ring as a reward to winning the riddle game. J.R.R. Tolkien revised the scene in later editions of The Hobbit to fit the concept of the ruling ring while writing Lord Of The Rings.
9YbB6 TIL LeVar Burton played Kunta Kinte in the original "Roots" miniseries