› added 9 years ago

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TIL when kidnapped by pirates, a young Julius Caesar basically took charge of the ship, ordered his captors around & even read them his poetry (while reminding them they’d be crucified afterwards, which the pirates found hilarious.) Once free he raised a navy, captured them, and had them crucified.

N795e TIL Mel Gibson is the 4th richest Hollywood actor in the world, despite his starring films failing in the box office for the better part of the last 15 years. This is due to the continued success of his directorial efforts (Passion of the Christ, Hacksaw Ridge, Apocalypto, Braveheart)
QJ6Mp TIL that the '=' sign was designed in 1557 by Robert Recorde, having gotten fed up with writing 'is equal to'. He decided that there was nothing more equal than two parallel lines, and designed the symbol from that logic
M7XV7 TIL that the final bastion of ancient Rome was the Principality of Theodoro on Crimea which lasted till 1475. With the conquest of Mangup by Ottoman forces, the Principality was taking with it the last remnant of the Byzantine Empire, after 2,228 years of existence of Roman civilization.
78Vyx TIL USA was involved in manipulating latin America's election last century
4MNb TIL Sean Bean is terrified of flying. So during Lord of the Rings when the cast had to fly to remote shoot locations by helicopter, like the snowy mountains, he travelled part of the way via ski-lift and then spend two hours walking the remainder of the journey, in full Boromir costume.