Ancient Egypt Facts Six

During the New Kingdom period (1570 to 1085 BC) the advantages of having a standing army were realized and two types of service were established. National service was when an adult joined for a year or two as they trained and served with the possibility of being called back into service later. The other was a military career where a child was signed up as young as five years old and taken from their families to live in camps where they trained. The army fought in the wars, patrolled the borders, organized the workers in the quarries and supervised the transportation of the stone blocks to the construction sites. Soldiers also traveled to distant lands in search of gold, ebony and ivory. The elite soldiers guarded the palace.


Ancient Egypt page

Pirate Fact Six

Pirates pierced their ears because they believed it improved their eye sight. The jewelry was often silver or gold.

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Natural Disaster Facts Five

The worst drought in the United States was 1930 to 1936 in the prairie states while it lasted in some areas until 1940. Another hard drought hit the United States 1950 to 1957 that hit from Texas to the Central Plains.

Ancient Seven Wonders of the World Fact Five

The list of the ancient seven wonders was Greek-centric and they were in four modern countries: Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq.


Ancient Seven Wonders page

Knights Templar Fact Five

The Seneschal was the second in command in the Templar order and sometimes called the Grand Commander. He was the deputy to the Grand Master and had his own staff. His duties involved over seeing all the lands belonging to the order during peace time and in war handled all details from where to place the army to food procurement.


Knights Templar page

Viking Fact Five

The helmets worn by Vikings were made of either metal or leather but they did not contain horns.

Viking page

American Civil War Fact Five

A casualty was any soldier that entered battle and afterward was not fit to continue to take part in the next battle. That meant it covered any soldier who died or couldn't continue due to injury or sickness or even if they were captured or went missing in action. Of all the casualties 5.7 percent or about 85,200 were inflicted by cannon. 


American Civil War page

Ancient Egypt Fact Five

Cats were considered a sacred animal and most households kept one as a pet for good luck.


Ancient Egypt page

Pirate Fact Five

There is no evidence that pirates actually walked the plank as punishment. Those that violated the code of conduct established by the captain were whipped, keel-hauled or marooned on an island. When someone was keel-hauled he was tied to a rope and thrown over board and dragged by the ship. 

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Natural Disaster Facts Four

Since 1950 there have been 59 tornadoes rated F5 on the Fujita Scale or EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The F5 has winds over 261 mph or 420 km\h while EF5 accounted for damage caused by winds over 200 mph or 320 km\h. 2011 was an especially active year with with five on April 27 alone that hit in Alabama and Mississippi.

Ancient Seven Wonders of the World Fact Four

There is evidence that the Lighthouse of Alexandria was powered by carbon arc lights and battery jars.


Ancient Seven Wonders page

Knights Templar Fact Four

St Bernard of Clairvaux formulated the Rules of the Knights Templar Order in 1130 after they had been given Papal approval the previous year. One point was the establishment of two classes of knighthood: the knights and the sergeants. The sergeants or serving brothers wore black or brown to signify their lower status. 


Knights Templar page

Viking Fact Four

Vikings saw blond as the ideal and if they weren't the men would often bleach their hair with a soup made with lye.

Viking page

American Civil War Fact Four

The Civil War saw the first use of the draft or conscription in the United States. It was used by both the Union and Confederacy and both allowed the draftees to pay for substitutes to replace them. The Union army was primarily volunteer with about two percent of the 2,100,000 total being draftees.


American Civil War page

Ancient Egypt Fact Four

The primary three blocks of time in Ancient Egypt were The Old Kingdom (2700 BC-2200 BC), The Middle Kingdom (2100 BC-1800 BC) and The New Kingdom (1500 BC-1000 BC).


Ancient Egypt page

Pirate Fact Four

Pirates sometimes adopted the animals they could not sell such as parrots and monkeys. They also had cats and dogs on board to hunt the rats that were a problem on every ship.

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Natural Disaster Facts Three

There have been 35 hurricanes that have reached Category 5 in the Atlantic on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane and wind scale with sustained wins of greater than 157 mph\252 kmh\136 knots. Only six times have there been more than one category five in a single season: 1932 (Bahamas, Cuba), 1933 (Cuba-Brownsville, Tampico), 1960 (Donna, Ethel), 1961 (Carla, Hattie), 2005 (Emily, Katrina, Rita, Wilma) and 2007 (Dean, Felix).

Ancient Seven Wonders of the World Fact Three

German archaeologist Robert Koldeway unearthed the possible location of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in 1899. The Gardens had long been considered a fable but he discovered what would have been the cellar to the structure and the location of the chain pumps which raised the water to the roof to irrigate the garden.

Ancient Seven Wonders page

Knights Templar Fact Three

One reason Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day is due to its tie to Friday October 13, 1307 which was the day the Grand Master of the Knights Templar Jacques De Molay was arrested. Several other French Templars were also arrested and it was the beginning of the end for the Templars before they were dissolved in 1312.


Knights Templar page

Viking Fact Three

Dublin in Ireland and Kiev in Ukraine are two cities that were originally founded as Viking trading posts.

Viking page

American Civil War Fact Three

The last man killed in the Civil War was Private John J Williams of the 34th Indiana Volunteer Infanty. He was the last of four killed in the Battle of Palmito Ranch in Texas on May 13, 1865.


American Civil War page

Ancient Egypt Fact Three

Makeup was worn by both Egyptian women and men. It provided protection from the sun and they believed makeup had magical healing powers. Most often they wore eye paint that was either green made from copper or black made from lead.


Ancient Egypt page

Pirate Fact Three

Pieces of eight referred to the Spanish dollar coins that were worth eight reales. The coin could actually be cut into eight pieces or bits to make change. The coins were minted in the Americas from the 15th century through the 19th century and were deemed a reliable currency in the Americas and Asia because an assayer marked each coin to guarantee its weight in silver.

pirate page

Natural Disaster Facts two

The 109 natural disaster events recorded through June 30, 2013 was the highest mid-year total ever recorded in the United States.

Ancient Seven Wonders of the World Fact Two

The chronological order the seven wonders were constructed: Great Pyramid of Giza (2560 BC), Hanging Gardens of Babylon (600 BC), Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (550 BC), Statue of Zeus at Olympia (435 BC), Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (351 BC), Colossus of Rhodes (292 BC) and Lighthouse of Alexandria (280 BC).


Ancient Seven Wonders page

Knights Templar Fact Two

The Knights Hospitaller was another monastic military order founded at the same place and time as the Knights Templar: 1119 AD in Jerusalem. While it was the initial stated purpose of the Knights Templar to protect the traveling pilgrims it was the Knights Hospitaller that actually served this role in the early years as the Knights Templar explored the Temple Mount.


Knights Templar page

Viking Fact Two

The most feared of the Vikings were the berzerker warriors who wore bear and wolf skins, used mind altering herbs and mushrooms to work into a frenzy before battle and often howled while on the attack.

Viking page

American Civil War Fact Two

The American Civil War was known by many names at the time of the conflict. Those in the north call it the War of the Rebellion, the War of the Southern Rebellion, the War to Preserve the Union and the War to to Make Men Free. Those in the south referred to it as the War Between the States, the War Against Northern Aggression and the War of Northern Aggression. Some other terms used were the Brothers' War, the Lost Cause, the Late Unpleasantness, the War of Attempted Secession, the War Against the States and Mr Lincoln's War.


American Civil War page

Ancient Egypt Fact Two

One of the earliest known peace treaties was signed between Egypt and the Hittite Empire in 1259 BC. The agreement reached between Ramses II of Egypt and Hittite King Hatusili III ended over two centuries of conflict between the two powers and decreed if one of the two kingdoms was invaded by a third party the other would come to their aid.


Ancient Egypt page

Pirate Fact Two

Julius Caesar was kidnapped by Cilician pirates in 75 BC as he traveled on the Aegean Sea on the way to Rhodes. They initially asked 20 talents ransom and he suggested they ask for 50 instead. A talent was 75 pounds so depending on the price of gold in modern times it would be over $50 million U.S. Once they had their payment the pirates released Caesar never realizing who he was. Caesar soon returned with the Roman fleet and quickly captured the pirates. They were first imprisoned and then all were crucified.

pirate page

Natural Disaster Facts One

The deadliest Hurricane in the United States hit Galveston, Texas on September 8, 1900 with 145 mph winds which would classify it as a category 4 and it killed approximately 8000 people.