Aeschylus: Killed By A Falling Tortoise
[ranking: 1]
Age: Dec. at 69 (524 BC-455 BC)
Birthplace: Eleusis, Greece
Draco: Suffocated Under A Pile Of Clothes
[ranking: 8]
Pyrrhus Of Epirus: Killed By An Old Woman With A Roof Tile
[ranking: 13]
Pyrrhus of Epirus was a Greek general and statesman widely considered one of the greatest military commanders of the ancient world, in the company of his second cousin, Alexander the Great.
Despite all his great glory, however, Pyrrhus met a rather inglorious end, when during a battle in the city of Argos, an old lady watching the fighting from a rooftop saw Pyrrhus engaged in combat with her son below and dropped a roof tile on Pyrrhus's head, stunning him and allowing the Argive soldier to hastily finish him off.
He lives on, however, in the phrase "Pyrrhic victory," referring to a victory that is so costly, it's arguably no better than defeat.
Pyrrhus was a Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic period. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house, and later he became king of Epirus and Macedon. He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome. Some of his battles, though successful, cost him heavy losses, from which the term Pyrrhic victory was coined. He is the subject of one of Plutarch's Parallel Lives. ...more on Wikipedia
Age: Dec. at 47 (318 BC-271 BC)
Birthplace: Epirus
Chrysippus: Died Of Laughter
[ranking: 12]
Mithridates: Covered In Milk And Honey, Consumed By Insects
[ranking: 2]
Mithridates was a young Persian soldier in the army of King Artaxerxes II. According to Plutarch, in 401 BCE, Mithridates killed Artaxerxes's rival, his brother Cyrus, in a freak accident.
Of course, Artaxerxes took credit for slaying the mighty Cyrus himself, so when Mithridates got drunk and told everyone the real story, the enraged king sentenced him to death by scaphism.
What is scaphism? The Greek historian Plutarch explained that the prisoner was trapped between two hollow logs or row boats, then:
they drench him with a mixture of milk and honey, pouring it not only into his mouth, but all over his face. They then keep his face continually turned towards the sun; and it becomes completely covered up and hidden by the multitude of flies that settle on it. And as within the boats he does what those that eat and drink must needs do, creeping things and vermin spring out of the corruption and rottenness of the excrement, and these entering into the bowels of him, his body is consumed. When the man is manifestly dead, the uppermost boat being taken off, they find his flesh devoured, and swarms of such noisome creatures preying upon and, as it were, growing to his inwards.
Mithridates survived for 17 days, covered in milk, honey, and his own feces, before dying from a combination of dehydration, starvation, and septic shock.
Mithridates was a Persian of high rank, and son-in-law of the king Darius III, who was slain by Alexander the Great with his own hand, at the Battle of the Granicus in 334 BC, when he plunged his lance through Mithridates' face. ...more on Wikipedia
Eleazar Avaran: Crushed To Death By A War Elephant
[ranking: 11]
A Jewish soldier who fought in the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid empire, Eleazar Avaran is primarily remembered today for the way he died. According to 1 Maccabees, during the Battle of Beth-Zechariah in 162 BCE, Eleazar spotted a war elephant that he believed carried the enemy king Antiochus V. He heroically rushed underneath the war elephant and thrust a spear into its belly, killing it ?C and himself since the dead elephant immediately collapsed and crushed him to death.
Eleazar's final act was a popular subject for artists in the Middle Ages. His willing self-sacrifice was said to prefigure the crucifixion of Jesus, and the manner of this sacrifice was a great chance to paint an elephant. Of course, most medieval painters had never seen an elephant in real life, and it shows.
Eleazar Avaran, also known as Eleazar Maccabeus, Eleazar Hachorani/Choran was the fourth son of Mattathias and the younger brother of Judas Maccabeus. He was killed at the Battle of Beth-zechariah during the Maccabean revolt. Little is known About Eleazar, except his heroic death as was told. According to the scroll of Antichus, his father saw in him a Zealot among zealots, like Pinhas. In 2 Maccabees 8:21-23 it is told that Eleazar read from the Tanakh in front of the people just before the last battle began in 3 Maccabees 6:16-19. ...more on Wikipedia
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