› added 2 years ago

64

TIL of Irene of Athens (750-803 CE), the first sole-ruling empress in Roman history. Her husband the emperor having died, she had her son's eyes gouged, and him imprisoned, becoming sole ruler for 5 years, when she was exiled to the island of Lesbos and forced to support herself by spinning wool.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

kBe4 TIL that Sweden and Norway have a subculture of rednecks that like hot rods and wear the Confederate flag
gMXWL TIL the British government has a public list of citizens that have repeatedly sued others without cause, and are now banned from doing so.
9w70Q TIL, The only letter not used in the Periodic Table is the letter J.
x667B TIL In 1014, Byzantine Emperor Basil II captured several thousand Bulgarian soldiers, put them into groups of 100, and blinded 99 in every group. The last soldiers had only one eye gouged out and were ordered to lead their blind friends home. Upon seeing this, Tsar Samuel died of a heart attack.
yKwe TIL Andrew Jackson said for a people to really be free they need to have a revolution every 20 years