Stupid Ancient History

Weird, wild, and little-known facts about long-lost empires from the New York Times-bestselling author . . .

• To fight off Roman ships in 300 BC, Carthaginians catapulted live snakes at them
• The Athenian lawmaker Draco died of suffocation when gifts of cloaks were showered upon him by grateful citizens at an Aegina theater in 620 BC
• A dead man won an early Olympic event 
• Nero not only didn't play a musical instrument while Rome burned, he actually tried to help-but he did scapegoat Christians afterward and subject them to terrible fates

Silly, shocking, weird, hilariously funny-and outrageously true-the anecdotes in Stupid Ancient History chronicle Greek philosophers, Roman conquerors, Egyptian mummies, and much more-revealing little-known oddities and busting historic mythconceptions. Discover Biblical misattributions; the nine-year-old girl who spotted a bogus ancient relic in a British museum; the person Caesar salad was actually named after (not Julius)-and much more!