› added 1 year ago

181

TIL that after the collapse of the Old Egyptian Kingdom, regional warlords (Nomarchs) sprang up as the bloated royal government went bankrupt. The end of the Old Kingdom allowed Nomarchs to control their own resources, significantly increasing the quality of life across Egypt. (2686-2181 BCE)

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

Zvyv TIL the Swedish soft drink Julmust is so popular during the holidays that the it often causes Coca-Cola consumption to drop by 50%
yQE78 TIL Alaric, famous for sacking Rome in 410, was able to do so because he enjoyed the poetry of Claudian. Claudian had described a route through the alps into Italy in his poems, which Alaric found and was thus able to use and evade direct contact with the Roman army for 6-9 months.
8aalX TIL that physicist Richard Feynman encouraged his sister Joan to study the universe, despite their mother's belief that women were incapable of fully understanding science. Joan went on to become an astrophysicist.
lQQ5 TIL The Hindenberg, who’s crash heralded the disappearence of the zeppelins, was originally designed to use non-flammable helium (not hydrogen) but the US controlled the only Helium supplies and refused to export them.
V8JD TIL that after the Greek War of Independence began, the Ottoman reaction was so virulent that the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church was publicly hanged in Constantinople, and a imam from the city of Smyrna was executed after he refused to issue a fatwa justifying the murder of Christians.