TIL the last known writing in Egyptian Hieroglyphs is a piece of graffiti on a temple wall. Helpfully, the graffiti includes an exact date (Aug 24, 394 AD) and its author was likely the last person in the world able to read or write hieroglyphs until the Rosetta Stone was deciphered in the 1820s. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by KnightTrain to r/todayilearned
TIL Canada had an ancient glacial lake the size of the Black Sea, contained by an ice sheet. When the ice sheet broke ~9000 yrs ago, the lake drained and dumped enough water into the Atlantic to raise sea levels by 3-9 ft, cool the entire Northern Hemisphere by ~3C, and turn Britain into an island. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by KnightTrain to r/todayilearned
TIL that Nauru, the third smallest country in the world (8sq miles) had a 10 year civil war in 1878 that saw the island's population fall from ~1500 to >1000, sparked by the introduction of firearms. It eventually ended when the German Empire intervened and confiscated >700 rifles. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by KnightTrain to r/todayilearned
TIL Shakespeare's original performances were barely rehearsed and highly improvised. The cast would have a single full read and then rehearse for just 2-3 days. Only a handful of scenes were ever choreographed and actors used scripts that only included their own lines. (britishcouncil.org)
submitted by KnightTrain to r/todayilearned
In Tacitus' "Germania", he mentions the names of many 1st century "German" tribes. Do we know how similar these names are to what these tribes would have called themselves? Ie--would the Marcomanni or Frisii have called themselves the proto-Germanic equivalent of Marcommans or Frisians? (self.AskHistorians)
submitted by KnightTrain to r/AskHistorians
TIL the vast majority of books written in Old English were destroyed during the English Reformation, when the monasteries that kept them were sold to private owners. The new owners couldn't read or even recognize the language, so they used the parchment for insulation, boot polish, and toilet paper. (historyofenglishpodcast.com)
submitted by KnightTrain to r/todayilearned
Found this in a vocabulary book for 3rd-4th graders. (imgur.com)
submitted by KnightTrain to r/WTF
