Prehistory became history when we were able to start recording and conveying what humans were doing.
Some say it started with cave paintings or rock carvings, some believe it started with Sumerian cuneiform, or the Egyptian hieroglyphs which happened around the same time. Some say the many cultures that used oral histories continued our first real form of recording the past.
It’s said history repeats itself and sometimes that history is hilarious.
Historians have been finding weird and random facts about our species old way of life and now we can share the funniest ones through the internet.
Redditor Axel_Ambrose asked:
“History nerds of Reddit, what’s a historical fact/tidbit that will always get you to chuckle?”
It’s unbelievable that some of these things actually happened.
Three way excommunication.
“That time when around 3 men claimed to be the pope and all excommunicated each other.” – sad_barrett_
“Or that time a pope sold his position. Or that time the king of France straight up had the pope murdered. Lots of great pope stories out there.” – Magmafrost13
“Or the time an honest to god pirate was elected pope.” – 1-1-19MemeBrigade
“He was one of the Popes during the Western Schism mentioned by sad_barrett_.” – A_Blessed_Feline
Romans loved their dogs.
“Ancient Romans loved their dogs as much as we do. There are entire surviving texts of people talking about their daily, monotonous life with dogs. In some cases, we have more information about their dogs and what they did with them than other aspects of Roman life.”
“On a less funny but sweet note; when their dogs died, many of them were given elaborate graves with highly decorative tombstones. They often carved poems about them or wrote in length about how much they’ll miss them or what they loved about them most. These dog graveyards were considered sacred and vandalizing them was a major offense.”
“The YouTube channel Historia Civilis has an awesome video on the subject of surviving Roman manuscripts, including some other funny moments of Roman history.”
“For more information on Dogs in ancient Rome, including the touching epitaphs, I’ll point you guys towards Invicta on YouTube with this video.” – KnightCaptain_Bob
“Here’s the link showcasing some of the epitaphs.” – legothief
“‘Myianever barked without reason, but now he is silent.’” – Myfourcats1
WWII toilet paper.
“In WW2, Germans were dropping demoralizing letters on London… British used them as cheap toilet paper.” – salttrooper222
“Apparently the Germans also dropped a bunch of papers on allied positions showing their wives cheating on the soldiers while they were away. The soldiers just used it as porn.” – MeiNeedsMoreBuffs
“TBF didn’t we do the same thing in return. I just laugh at the idea that during the whole period of rationing, the one thing both sides had plenty of was toilet paper.” – Soppydog
“Fun fact: During ww2 the British diet was the best it had ever been until then. They had never been fed a more healthy and well balanced diet.” – Scamsurvivor
“The Allies dropped food packages on Germany (why, I can’t recall, but I think they were trying to ‘sow goodwill) and they wrote ‘gift’ on them. ‘Gift’ means ‘poison’ in German.” – Vajranaga
Adopting a bear.
“A Polish Artillery supply Corp adopted a bear, made him a soldier, and kept him for the duration of the war.” – nerdykate100
“His name was Wojtek.”
“After the war he retired to Edinburgh Zoo where his old comrades would come and give him cigarettes.”
“There’s a statue of him in Edinburgh as well.” – sAindustrian
“Better than that, he used to play-wrestle the men, and his old comrades would climb down into the enclosure to give him beer and cigarettes – and wrestle him.” – Brickie78
“He scared away an entire company of Germans. Two scouts saw him carrying artillery shells in the middle of the night and told their commander that the Polish had a company of bears which made them retreat lmao.” – lowhangingfruit12
Viking runes.
“Maeshowe’s runes. Archaeologists explored some old Viking chambers and found inscriptions that were 14 feet tall, and unreadable. After years deciphering these runes, they translated to, “this is very high.”
“We haven’t changed.” – duerlort
“I wish I could see the look on the face of the archaeologist who translated it.” – 1-1-19MemeBrigade
“Aren’t there some carvings like that in the Hagia Sophia? I seem to recall that some of the Vikings serving as the Varangian Guard got up to some amusing hijinks there.” – Almainyny
“Yeah the runes on the Hagia Sophia are ‘halfdan carved these runes.’” – thedankestyeet
Being the first to see an animal.
“Imagine patrolling the Alps and you see elephants rolling up. But you don’t even know what an elephant is.” – TomasSchmieder
“Hannibal of Carthage with his War Elephants I presume? Traveling over the Alps on his way to destroy Rome and bringing Elephants into Europe for the first time. Imagine how terrifying it must’ve been for the Roman Legionaries, seeing five tons of pure muscle barreling down at them at speeds equaling horses. Yet, they availed Hannibal nothing. Rome vanquished him and annexed Carthage.” – ThatBada**online
Third wheel on the moon.
“In all the Apollo missions three guys were sent to the moon. But only two guys got into the lander and went down and walked on the moon. The third guy stayed in the command module in orbit and had to listen to the radio chatter of the the other two guys talking about how badass it was to walk on the moon.” – stanley_leverlock
“Didn’t Collins lose all radio contact when he was on the far side?” – redopz
“All of the landing zones were on the near side of the moon. Every CM pilot lost complete contact with both mission control and the lander when they orbited the far side, as there were no relay satellites in lunar orbit.” – Redditor
“The loneliest man in the universe.” – ATF_Dogshoot_Squad
“I seem to recall reading somewhere that he found it very peaceful:”
“‘I don’t mean to deny a feeling of solitude. It is there, reinforced by the fact that radio contact with the Earth abruptly cuts off at the instant I disappear behind the moon, I am alone now, truly alone, and absolutely isolated from any known life. I am it. If a count were taken, the score would be three billion plus two over on the other side of the moon, and one plus God knows what on this side’.” – elcarath
Napoleon’s brother.
“Napoleon had a brother who lived in New Jersey.” – NotAJewishMother
“Must have made family reunions real depressing for that guy.” – Almostatimelord
“He moved to New Jersey after his brother’s fall from power. When Napoleon was emperor, he made him King of Spain.” – MooseFlyer
“Joseph Bonaparte was his brother and was made King of Spain. After the Peninsular War he retired to New Jersey when he was dethroned.” – MassiveFajiit
The war over Toledo.
“There was a war between Michigan and Ohio over Toledo, and the Ohioans evacuated so fast there weren’t even any casualties. As a result, the government gave Michigan the upper peninsula and Ohio got to keep Toledo.” – typhondrums17
“Michigan won the war, which is why Toledo is now part of Ohio.” – Distantmind88
“Damn, Michigan giving out the harsh punishment.” -BarryMacochner
A record holding election as the “most rigged.”
“The most rigged election, where the winner received 243000 votes, except there were only 15000 registered voters.” – 18270
“Gotta get that 1,680% voter turnout.” – fa1afel
“Someone commented the last time this was posted that its sort of a power move. ‘I’m going to fake this election, and make it really obvious. Everyone will know that the election is rigged but no one will do anything about it.’” – river4823
Modern humans haven’t changed much in the few hundred thousand years we’ve been around.
In relation to the Earth’s existence (4.4 billion years), we are barely even a blip on the timeline.
History will repeat itself, even the funny things that humans do.