› added 4 months ago

16

TIL that ancient scrolls can be scanned in 3D, then virtually unfolded and read

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

rNmvx TIL Coriander and Cilantro are from the same plant
Z8GDa TIL the CIA requested that De Niro’s character not possess an intimidating array of agency torture manuals in the film 'Meet the Parents'.
p8884 TIL that making a purple pigment used to dye clothes for royalty in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome involved harvesting the pigment from rotting snails. The stench was so bad that Jewish law specifically granted women the right to divorce any husband who became a dyer after marrying.
PYZOO TIL in 1795, the Spanish crown institutionalized the 'purchase of whiteness' through a decree called the 'gracias al sacar'. In the Spanish empire, wealthy mixed race people could now pay for a legal declaration that 'converted them' to white in order to conduct business freely and marry well.
78NpO TIL Benedict IX is the only person to have been Pope more than once. He was forced out, managed to regain the throne, only to resign because he wanted to marry his cousin. He soon changed his mind and became Pope for the third time. He is the youngest Pope in history (aged 20 when first elected)