Funny Deaths
There are loads of stories about people "kicking the bucket" in weird and unusual ways. Here are some of the stranger stories.
Aeschylus - 455 B.C.
According to Valerius Maximus, the eldest of the three great Athenian tragedians, was killed by a tortoise dropped by an eagle that had mistaken his bald head for a rock suitable for shattering the shell of the reptile. Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History, adds that Aeschylus had been staying outdoors to avert a prophecy that he would be killed that day "by the fall of a house".
Democritus of Abdera - 370 B.C.
According to Diogenes Laërtius, the Greek Atomist philosopher died aged 109; as he was on his deathbed, his sister was greatly worried because she needed to fulfill her religious obligations to the goddess Artemis in the approaching three-day Thesmophoria festival. Democritus told her to place a loaf of warm bread under his nose, and was able to survive for the three days of the festival by sniffing it. He died immediately after the festival was over.
Agathocles of Syracuse - 289 B.C.
The Greek tyrant of Syracuse was murdered with a poisoned toothpick.
Eleazar Avaran - 163 B.C.
According to 1 Maccabees 6:46, the brother of Judas Maccabeus thrust his spear in battle into the belly of a king's war elephant, which collapsed and fell on top of Eleazar, killing him instantly.
Claudius Drusus - 20 A.D.
According to Suetonius, the eldest son of the future Roman emperor Claudius, died while playing with a pear. Having tossed the pear high in the air, he caught it in his mouth when it came back, but he choked on it, dying of asphyxia.
Simon Peter - 64 A.D.
The apostle of Jesus was crucified upside-down in Rome, based on his claim of being unworthy to die in the same way as his Saviour.