Battle for the Valley of the Fallen!

In the place where he is buried, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco has built a symbol of his dictatorship that lasted for four decades. Now, the Spanish government plans to exhume his remains and remove this monument to fascism - but the conservatives are opposed to opening of old wounds.

The hills near Madrid are home to a symbol of a four decades long dictatorship – the famous Valley of the Fallen.  It is a mausoleum that General Francisco Franco ordered to be built to commemorate his victory in the Spanish Civil War. Now there are plans to relocate this complex. The "Valley" has a huge basilica surrounded with hills, and Franco is buried there, behind the altar, beneath the monument that is decorated with fresh flowers.

The new socialist-led government is considering to exhume the remains of the dictator in order to remove that monument. But, even after 36 years since Franco's death, this is still a delicate task.

“The Spanish transition towards democracy was an act of prudence after deep wounds caused by war and dictatorship. We had to deal with the past little by little. We may have touched this issue a bit late, but prudence is the key to the success of our peaceful transition” –says Ramon Jauregui, one of the ministers in charge of this matter.



But Spain's conservative opposition refuses such thing. They claim that it would open old wounds.

“There are people in Spain who are afraid to face the darkness of the past. Horrors and massacres were committed here and we are not unique in that because other countries will also have to deal with such issues. I don’t see a reason for Spain not to do it” - explains historian Angel Vinas.

For him, the relocation of the compound should be part of the process. This monument was one of the most visited in Spain, but there are no signs that explain its history, and it isn’t mentioned that it was built mainly by political prisoners.

Nicolas Sanchez Albornoz is one of them. As a student activist, he was sentenced to six years of work in a camp because of "activities against the state." He escaped in 1948 and never returned.

“I believe that it is really shocking that one European country still has a huge monument as a remembrance of one of the bloodiest dictators. It would be best to remove all symbols. The thing that gives force to this particular symbol is Franco's presence” - said Sanchez who is now in his 80's.

The government now awaits a proposition from expert commission before their final decision. One of the proposals is to relocate the Franco’s remains to a more appropriate place, and to bury him in the city cemetery next to his wife. His daughter has already had a complaint, and the foundation that she runs has promised to carry out legal actions to prevent it.

“Many people will oppose this barbarism. They can not move Franco without the permission of his family. That would be sacrilege. One must be careful with the history of Spain. You can not demonize one part of society, and elevate other” – says Jaim Alonso, in a room full of photos of Franco and his portrait. He believes that the general saved Spain from the clutches of Soviet Russia.

We will continue fighting

Few Spaniards openly shows their admiration for Franco, but many have an aversion towards relocation of his grave.

“It is pointless after so many years. With that, we will only continue with the war” – says Jose Luis, one of the visitors of the Valley of the Fallen. "For the side that was defeated in the war it is quite different. The Fascists killed Father Fausto Canales, and his remains were moved to the Valley in 1959. More than 30,000 people that were killed in the war on both sides have been transferred there by Franco’s order ."

“For me it is very painful that the remains of my father are located in a place that was built in honor of the winner of a coup. This looks like a double crime. Firstly, he was executed, and then his body was transferred without our permission to a place that is totally inappropriate” – says younger Canales.  

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Doctor Esperanto - Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof

Already in the first edition of his book with instructions for learning his new language, Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof renounced himself forever of all personal rights, saying that international language is a property of society.

It was a gloomy autumn day in 1888 when an unknown man knocked on a door of a humble apartment in Warsaw where certain ophthalmologist lived. The ophthalmologist immediately opened the door. He thought that he had just another patient in front of him. But then, the unknown man said to him:

-    Cu vi estas doktoro Esperanto? (Are you doctor Esperanto?)

The ophthalmologist was speechless for a few moments. He just looked at his visitor. Then excitement sparkled from his face and he approached his visitor and squeezed his hand.

-     Jes, mi estas. Bonvolu!  (Yes, I am. Please!)

Those were the first two men who exchanged a few sentences with each other on a new international language – Doctor Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof and Antoni Grabowski.

The creator of the language of hope

In the Polish city of Bialystok, on December 15, 1859, it was a joyous day in the home of Mark Zamenhof. Surrounded by friends, the happy father celebrated the birth of his firstborn.  On that day, Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto, saw the world for the first time.

The little boy grew up surrounded with parental love and care. From his father, an experienced educator and teacher, he inherited affection for languages that he easily learned, and from his mother he inherited sensibility and philanthropy. And his four brothers and three sisters, which were born later, were always unselfishly protected and loved by their oldest brother.

He had a gift for languages

The joy and beauty of his early school days were blurred. While attending elementary school in Bialystok, Zamenhof had to socialize and play only with Jewish children, no matter if he wanted that or not. The Polish and Russian children had their own groups, and didn’t socialize and play with anyone besides their own.

Children’s lack of understanding of other languages was a serious obstacle in their bonding. 

When he went to high school in 1869, Zamenhof already knew Polish, Russian and German language. He continued his education in Warsaw, in the classical gymnasium, where, with all his youthful vigor, he started learning Greek and Latin. Many years later, when he was creating Esperanto, Zamenhof used his knowledge of eight languages.

Even then, at a school desk, an idea kept developing in Zamenhof’s head - one language for all people, for all nations.  With much patience and will, he studied language textbooks and lexicons, and his working desk was full of books and dictionaries. Using the roots of Roman, Germanic and Slavic languages, Zamenhof was creating a new international language.

After finishing high school in 1879, Ludwig left his father’s home and went to Moscow. Before leaving, he promised his father that, at least temporarily, while studying at the university, he will put aside his work on the new language. He reluctantly parted from his notes, poems and translations.

In Moscow, Zamenhof conscientiously studied medicine. While working with his scalpel in the dissection hall, he thought about the internal mechanism of the human body. “The human beings are equal, they are creatures belonging to the same mankind. They all have a heart, a brain, generating organs, an ideal and needs, only the language and the nationality differentiate them."


After two years spent in Moscow, young Zamenhof returned to Warsaw. It is not difficult to imagine the despair of young medic when he heard that his father burned all of his workbooks and notes. But, already in August of 1881, Zamenhof had a completely new textbook and even richer dictionary of words. Locked in his room, he read aloud pages full of text he written with his new language.

The first book

After he successfully graduated medicine in Warsaw, in 1885 Zamenhof went to Vienna to acquire specialization. He returned to Warsaw as an ophthalmologist and, in 1887, he married Klara Silbernik who was for many years his faithful companion and collaborator.

Thrilled with the work of his son in law, Zamenhof’s father in law paid the printing of his first book - a new language textbook.  On June 2, 1887, it was printed in Russian language, but soon followed editions in Polish, French, German and English language. The book contained poetry and prose, 16 rules of grammar and 900 roots of vocabulary. 

Already in the first edition of his book, he renounced himself and his descendants of all personal rights, stating that "an international language, like every national one, is the property of society”. In the end, he signed himself with "Doktoro Esperanto" which, literally translated, means: Doctor Hopeful.

Zamenhof sent out all over the world a large number of copies of his book – to writers, educators and others. And that’s how the history of Esperanto began.

After a long and painful anticipation, responses from all around the world began to arrive. Questions, advices, opinions ...some were even written in Esperanto. And Grabowski was already translating the works of Goethe and Pushkin. In one Russian magazine, Tolstoy wrote: “I found the volapük very complicated and, on the contrary, very simple Esperanto. It is so easy that having received, six years ago, a grammar, a dictionary and articles of this idiom, I could arrive, at the end of two early hours, if not to write it, at least with usually reading the language. … the sacrifices which any man of our European world will make, by devoting some time to his study are so small, and the results which can result from this so immense, that one cannot refuse to carry out this test.”

Zamenhof personally responded to all letters and in that way he linked Esperantists from many different countries. The movement spread rapidly, despite the resistance of several well-known linguistic experts. And after nearly 400 failed attempts to create a common, international language, Esperanto is the only one that managed it. 

Guest at the first World Congress of Esperanto

In 1905, in company of his wife, Zamenhof visited France and the first World Congress of Esperanto. The Mayor of Paris paid him tribute and the French Minister of Public Instruction awarded him with National Order of the Legion of Honor. At the top of the Eiffel Tower, the creator of Esperanto had lunch with the most famous scientists of France.

A city of Boulogne-sur-Mer offered hospitality to all followers of previously unknown Warsaw doctor. And at every step of this little city a new language was heard. 800 Esperantist from 30 different countries eagerly expected the official opening of the congress. Noticeably excited, doctor Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof went on the podium and, in Esperanto language, began his speech with these words:

“I greet you, dear comrades, brothers and sisters from the great world human family who gather together from near and far lands from the world to shake your hands one another in the name of the great idea which links us together. Let us be fully aware of all the importance of this day, because today within the generous walls of Boulogne-sur-Mer have met not French with English, nor Russians with Polish, but people with people”.

In the following years, he visited congresses in Geneva, Cambridge, Dresden, Barcelona, Washington, Antwerp, Paris and Cracow. 11th Congress was organized in 1915, in San Francisco. Only Americans attended it because European Esperantists fought on the battlefields of World War I.

Doctor Zamenhof followed the horrors of war in Warsaw. This good man who loved people so much and wanted peace between nations, now listened about destruction and killings every day. Worn with years of work and overwhelmed with tragic events the humanity faced, his health started to deteriorate. On April 14, 1917, his heart stopped beating.

This great man, who had friends and followers in all parts of the world, was buried modestly. Only Warsaw’s Esperantists, including the loyal Antoni Grabowski, attended the funeral. Because of war, nobody else couldn’t attend.

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Compensation – Admiral Lord Nelson

When he lost his right eye in a naval battle, famous British Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) demanded monetary compensation for his injury from the Royal Navy. He was told that he could not receive any kind of compensation if a ship doctor didn’t immediately recorded how exactly he lost his eye.

Nelson pursued this issue for several years, and eventually got a very small amount of money.

In the meantime, he also lost his right arm. Once more, he had to pursue monetary compensation from the Navy, but this time even longer.

“I guess I'll be rich when I loose a leg because it’s larger than both, the eye and the hand!” – Nelson said angrily when he was forced to humiliate himself in front of doctors.

Nelson, however, never lost his leg. He lost his life in the Battle of Trafalgar, in 1805.

In his testament, he emphasized that he doesn’t want to be buried in Westminster Abbey, along with other British great men. Allegedly, he had heard that the abbey was built on the landslide and that all the dead will slip into the Thames.

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Ashes - D. H. Lawrence

Five years after the death of English writer David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930), his widow Frieda Lawrence decided that the remains of her husband, who was buried in France, are dug up and cremated so that they can be moved and rest in Taos, New Mexico – according to Lawrence’s wish before he died.

She assigned that job to her new lover, Angelo Ravagli. Frieda's new companion did what his loved one asked of him.

However, several years later, Ravagli admitted that he felt very uncomfortable carrying Lawrence’s urn from Europe so he sold his ashes already in France.

Whose ashes did he brought to New Mexico?

He had no idea. He bought the urn with someone’s ashes in New York.

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Cure for insomnia – Vincent van Gogh

Famous Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) suffered from insomnia.

He struggled to get some rest during the night for a long period of time until an idea came to him.  He took a large dosage of camphor (aromatic odor) and poured it all over his mattress and pillow.

And it worked. This strong aromatic odor would stun him and put him to sleep.

Unfortunately, Vincent van Gogh was also suffering from anxiety and increasingly frequent bouts of mental illness throughout his life. Camphor didn’t helped him with that. At the age of 37, Vincent shot himself in the chest with a revolver. He died two days later in extreme agony.

His last words were: "The sadness will last forever" (La tristesse durera toujours).

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The faithful servant – Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (Giuseppe Balsamo)

During Count Alessandro di Cagliostro’s (1743 – 1795) lifetime, and especially after his death, many incredible stories were circulating among the people about his wizarding powers.

One of many was a rumor that he had discovered the potion of “eternal youth” and that he was more than 300 years old.

Unfortunately, curious people were unable to confirm nor refute these rumors.

One of them asked Cagliostro’s servant if he knew how old his master really was.

Bearing in mind the kind of answer the curious man was expecting, witty servant replied:

- I have no idea how old my master is! I am in his service for merely a century!

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Dead man's hand – James Butler Hickok (Wild Bill)

On August 2, 1876, legendary Sheriff James Butler Hickok (1837-1876), also know as Wild Bill, walked into a Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood, Dakota. He went there for a game of poker.

Since he had developed a fear that someone might shoot him from behind, as a precaution, he usually sat with his back to the wall.

Unfortunately, on that day, the only seat available was a chair that put his back to a door.

While playing, he asked twice the other players to change seats with him, but they refused.

After a while, a former buffalo hunter named John McCall walked into the saloon unnoticed.  He approached Hickok from behind and shot him in the back of the head.

Hickok was killed instantly.

In his hands he was holding a pair of aces and a pair of eights, all black.

Since then, this hand in poker is called “dead man’s hand”.

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He was no elephant – John Sedgwick

In 1864, during the American Civil War, General John Sedgwick (1812-1864) led the forces of the Union against the Confederate troops when the two armies clashed in Virginia.

Since Confederate forces started advancing, General Sedgwick realized that his soldiers needed encouragement. Therefore, he started shouting:

“What? Men dodging this way for single bullets? What will you do when they open fire along the whole line? I am ashamed of you, dodging that way. They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist…”

The General probably wanted to say “distance”, but he never finished his sentence.

He was fatally shot.

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Memorial University – Stanford University

In 1884, Charles William Eliot, 21th president of Harvard University, was visited by parents of recently deceased son who died at the age of 16. Eliot received the sad couple and expressed his deepest condolences. In a conversation with him, the sad parents expressed a desire to establish some kind of fund in memory of their lost son.

- I assume that you have in mind an annual scholarship for the best students – said Charles William Eliot.

- Well, we thought of something more useful than that. Perhaps some building… - said the sad parents.

Eliot refused their kind offer telling them that although that would indeed be useful, it is too expensive investment. 

With tears in their eyes, the sad parents got out of his office.

After some time, Eliot was informed that a check worth $26 million was sent to Harvard. It was dedicated to a memory of Leland Stanford, Jr.

Thanks to that money, the famous Stanford University was founded. 

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Marilyn Monroe - Madness and her last days

In the book “Fragments”, which is based on diaries, letters and various writings of Marilyn Monroe, sex symbol of the 20th century, it is revealed that after a series of psychiatric sessions she ended up in mental hospital’s solitary confinement, and that doctor Greenson came there to examine – her breasts.

"Alone!!! I am alone-I am always alone no matter what." – with this begins the earliest of several diaries written by Marilyn Monroe, sexiest and most desirable women of the 20th century, according to "Playboy". Her diaries, sketches, poems, letters, various notes and rare photographs, dating from between 1951 and 1961, are published (in 2010) in a book called "Fragments". They are significant because, for the first time, Marilyn Monroe explains herself – she is presented outside of Hollywood splendor, myths and legends that were woven around her name in recent decades.

That book revealed her fears of sexual abuse, betrayal of her third husband, ghosts of inherited madness, traumas from psychotherapy to which she was forced, and an eerie testimony about the mental hospital in which she was involuntarily taken.

Of countless men who have passed through her life the most famous was John F. Kennedy, the most faithful was Joe DiMaggio… but the most trace in her life left her third husband, playwright Arthur Miller, who managed to make her the happiest and most unhappiest woman in the world.

Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller were probably in their happiest phase during the summer of 1957, which they spent in a rented house on Long Island. They spent their time there swimming and taking long walks on the beach. She looked splendidly on the photographs from that period. That was the time when she happily stepped into her husband’s world - She was joyful and witty at the dinner in the company of writers Carson McCullers and Isak Dinesen, she became friends with Truman Capote,  and met some of her literary heroes such as poet Carl Sandburg and writer Saul Bellow, with whom she had dinner while she waited for the premiere of “Some Like It Hot" in Chicago. The sexiest blonde knocked Bellow of his feet.

Writers and books were not a coincidence in her life. "Esquire" once published a photo of her reading James Joyce’s “Ulysses”. There was also a photo of her reading the poetry of Heinrich Heine. Magazine “Life” once depicted Marilyn reading a book in front of a shelve with books. She had her personal library with 400 volumes that included works of history, philosophy, fiction...

In London, where they traveled in the fall of that same year to film her "The Prince and the Showgirl" movie with Laurence Olivier, Miller caused her greatest disappointment in life. 

Marilyn and her husband moved to a magnificent estate in Surrey, near London. Everything seemed perfect. She was producing a film in which played (and was directed by) one of the most respected actors of her generation and she lived in a large country house with the man she loved the most. As an artist she couldn’t have felt more fulfilled, until a coincidence buried her otherwise very fragile self-confidence and her trust in her husband.  She ran into a Miller’s diary in which he complained that he was disappointed with her and that sometimes he is ashamed having her in his company in front of friends. After reading those entries, Marilyn was destroyed.  One of her biggest fears came true - that she will disappoint the man she loves.

Formally speaking, Marilyn Monroe was not an orphan because her mother Gladys Monroe Baker eventually outlived her famous daughter. But since Gladys was a schizophrenic who spent years going in and out of psychiatric institutions, Marilyn was virtually abandoned and raised in a number of adoptive families, including the family of her mother’s close friend Grace Goddard.

Her first husband, James Dougherty, liked the idea of saving a shy and nice girl, who left high school to marry him. It is not surprising that their marriage fell apart - they divorced in September 1946. “My relationship with him was basically insecure from the first night I spent alone with him,” Marilyn wrote in her diary.

Her second marriage with baseball player Joe DiMaggio, who was one of the most famous names in sport‘s world, also failed. Their marriage lasted only nine months. DiMaggio was almost in his forties and he wanted, with all his heart, for his wife to leave Hollywood and become a housewife. Instead, he became "Mr. Monroe”, and that was too much for his jealousy and frustration. However, when she died, for twenty years DiMaggio sent flowers to her grave three times a week.

She began to visit psychotherapists at the urging of her acting teacher Lee Strasberg, to whom she went in the spring of 1955 because she wanted to become a serious actress. Strasberg was more than a teacher to her; he was almost a father she never met. By the wish of Marilyn Monroe, Strasberg became executor of her will, which was then heavy about 13 million of dollars. After Strasberg’s death, his widow, Anna Mizrahi Strasberg, inherited that right. She even today earns about a million dollars thanks to Marilyn Monroe’s name.

Persuaded by Strasberg, and after breaking up her marriage with DiMaggio, Marilyn visited a psychiatrist five times a week. Dr. Margaret Hohenberg managed to pull out from Marilyn’s subconscious memories of a difficult childhood, including memories of sexual abuse and harassment of her aunt, Ida Martin, with whom she stayed a few times when she was between 11 and 13 years old.

Two years later, in 1957, Marilyn stopped seeing Dr. Hohenberg. Strasberg then recommended her another doctor, Marianne Kris, who later caused one of the greatest traumas in Marilyn’s life.  During sessions with her, Marilyn discovered that she was always “deeply terrified to really be someone's wife” because she knew “from life one cannot love another, ever, really”.

Three years later, after being totally rejected by Miller (he didn’t even came to her funeral), Marilyn Monroe became Yves Montand’s mistress. Her new doctor became Ralph Greenson – it is not known how much he managed to help her, but it is certain that he was obsessed with Marilyn. Greenson’s daily therapeutic sessions lasted about five hours, but nevertheless, in 1960, in a state of complete emotional disintegration, and upon the recommendation of Dr. Kris, Marilyn ended up in a psychiatric hospital in New York.

Practically, as soon as she entered, Marilyn started requesting to leave. But the more she was persistent about it, the employees of the hospital was more confident in her disease, and they eventually put her into a solitary confinement. Marilyn wrote a letter to Greenson in which she described what were they doing to her, but instead of getting her out of that hospital, he came to examine – her breasts. From hell that lasted for three days she was rescued by DiMaggio.

Marilyn became acquainted with Kennedy brothers in 1961, but she met some members of that family at least five years earlier. She wrote in her diary, that she fears that Peter Lawford, Kennedy’s brother-in-law, wants to hurt her - the feeling of violence I’ve had lately about being afraid of Peter he might harm me, poison me, etc.

In August 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead. It is assumed that she committed suicide by drinking a large quantity of sleeping pills.

Childhood – Her guardian wanted to rape her when she was just six years old

In her diaries, Marilyn also wrote about her first marriage with an intelligent and attractive James Dougherty. She married Dougherty on June 19, 1942, when she was just 16, and he was five years older. Marilyn described her loneliness and insecurity in that sudden marriage, which was less love and more of a way for Marilyn – then Norma Jeane Baker – to seize the opportunity to escape from the life of an orphan, while her guardians, Grace and Ervin Goddard, were in California. Especially because Ervin tried to rape Marilyn when she was just six years old.

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Cleopatra, the first tycoon in the history of human kind!

With the wealth that was worth today’s hundred billion dollars, this Egyptian queen was also and the first victim of tabloid writing: the myth of her as a "queen of whores” was created by her biggest adversary, Emperor Octavian.

She was a child of incest, born as a goddess, queen at the age of 18 and the richest leader in the Mediterranean before she turned 20.  When she was 21, she slept with the most powerful ruler of that time to protect the best interests of her country. She married her own brothers when she needed them and killed them when they ceased to be useful. She became a mother of four children, and never had family problems, because the fathers of her children, already married, lived on the other side of the sea. We are talking about Cleopatra, the last in line of the great Egyptian Pharaohs.

She was not Egyptian, as many believe – she was Greek. Her hair was not black, it was more likely the color similar to mead. Although she is remembered as a seductress, it is difficult to speak of her as beauty by Hollywood standards. She was nothing like, for example, Angelina Jolie: she was tiny, like a little bird, and had a distinctive hooked nose. She spoke several languages and was a gifted speaker. She loved sex, but she loved more a good conversation. She wasn’t a nymphomaniac - she lost her innocence with Julius Caesar. If she and her ancestors were killing each other, they didn’t think of it as a crime; if they practiced incest, there was no word for it in their time.

Cleopatra VII was already in her time (she was born in 69 BC) something that we call today “celebrity”. During her lifetime, myths, rumors and speculation surrounded her, and they followed her name even when she died. If she was, with the wealth that was worth today’s hundred billion dollars, the first tycoon in the history of human kind, she was also and the first victim of tabloid writing.  The myth of her as a “queen of whores”, which follows her name to this day, was created by the Romans, who preferred to deal with her looks and alleged lust more then with her extraordinary intellectual capacity.

In her latest book “Cleopatra. A Life”, American historian and Pulitzer Prize winner, Stacy Schiff claims that the idea of sexually insatiable queen, dangerous and starved with blood and power, was created by Cleopatra's biggest adversary, Emperor Octavian.

Cleopatra grew up in a luxury of Alexandria. A whole squad of servants and teachers took care of her. Thanks to them, she gained an excellent education, which was generally Greek. Her schoolbooks were works of two historians, Herodotus and Thucydides. She mastered the oratory skill and spoke at least nine languages. 

Such education was not reserved just for her. Women in Egypt always had a lot of rights, and in Cleopatra’s time, their independence was almost equal to that which exists today. When it comes to marriage, women themselves chose their husbands, and in case of divorce, to which they also had the right, the stronger half had to support his ex-wife until he pays of the dowry. Woman’s property was sacrosanct, and in divorce proceedings, the court was always on the side of women and children.

Schiff states that women had very active role in social life: they were able borrow money, to be priestesses in temples, they initiated court proceedings and steered boats.  They dealt with a variety of jobs and were more than successful. It is believed that women possessed a third of Egypt’s wealth.  Herodotus wrote that Egypt is a country in which "women urinate standing up, and men sitting down".

Cleopatra came to the throne at a time when Egypt began to decline, and Rome was expanded to its borders. However, despite that decline, in the height of her power she ruled over the entire eastern coast of the Mediterranean. Schiff says that she was more than capable ruler: she was skillful, cunning, she knew how to suppress the rebellion and to relieve hunger, how to manage money and when to build a fleet.

According to her father's will, Cleopatra shared the throne with her ten-years-younger brother Ptolemy XIII, with whom she was married. It is likely that even her parents were brother and sister, because in Egypt, incest was a tradition for centuries.  Cleopatra's ancestors, Greeks from Macedonia, adopted that tradition and they have ruled Egypt since the death of Alexander the Great. Schiff says that this means that Cleopatra was Egyptian, just as much Elizabeth Taylor was. 

However, Cleopatra didn’t want to share the throne with her brother. She got rid of Ptolemy XIII in a civil war while they were still teenagers, and later on the rest of her closest family – she poisoned her second brother, with whom she was also married, and after him her own sister, which was showing way too much ambition.

Besides being a skilled ruler, she was adorned and with persistence and enthusiasm. When she ended in exile because of her manipulations, she returned to the palace, from which she was thrown out, smuggled in a sack. Julius Caesar was already in the palace, because he used political turmoil to rule over Egypt.  Although it is concluded that the royal couple was tied with their charisma and intellect, and that there was a strong sexual attraction between them, it still isn’t possible to find an answer to a question how did Cleopatra succeeded to persuade Caesar to support her and independent Egypt. Whatever she did, it will still remain recorded in history that Cleopatra saved her country by seducing Caesar.

Very soon, they had a son whom Cleopatra named Caesarion - Little Caesar. She presented her lover to her people by sailing the Nile with him for nine weeks. Whether because of Cleopatra or something else, Caesar was fascinated with Egypt. Alexandria, from where Cleopatra ruled her Empire, was wonderfully beautiful city, with fascinating mechanical wonders such as hydraulic lifts and machines that used coins to work.  In short, Rome was a simple province in comparison to the capital of Egypt. However, Caesar was not just thrilled with architectural solutions. Inspired by Egypt, on his return to Rome he launched a series of reforms, laid the cornerstone of the public library, asked for a census and envisioned a series of constructions that were similar to the sophisticated Egyptian dams and dikes.

When Caesar was killed in 44 BC, Cleopatra enthroned Caesarion as the ruler. But she still needed the support of Rome, and that is, Mark Antony. Cleopatra mesmerized the new Roman ruler, who was considered as a great womanizer, to such extent that Mark Antony gave her the library at Pergamom, Cyprus and almost all cities on the Phoenician coast.

Cleopatra remained with him for ten years. Mark Antony, in contrary to Roman custom, even demanded to be buried in the same grave with her. Death eventually separated them.

In a civil war for power over Rome, Octavian defeated Mark Antony. After that, Mark Antony committed suicide. After his suicide, Cleopatra tried to negotiate with the new Emperor her future and the future of her children - Caesarion and three other she had with Mark Antony. Despite all her intelligence, skill and education, she wasn’t successful. Octavian killed Caesarion as the oldest child, and spared the lives of younger children.

Cleopatra ended her life by committing a suicide.  According to legend, she poisoned herself. At the time of her death, she was only 39 years old.

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Wise prediction – Louis XI, King of France

Louis XI, King of France who lived in the 15th century, believed in astrological interpretations. He often made decisions according to predictions of his personal astrologer who took care of his daily horoscope.

The King was unpleasantly surprised when one day his astrologer told him that one very influential person from his court - female - will die in eight days. Believing that this prophecy, and the event itself, could in some way, threaten his reign, Louis XI gave order to his men to kill the astrology expert, by will throwing him from the highest tower of his castle.

However, curiosity, and belief in the power of stars, gave no peace to the king. Without mentioning that he gave the order to kill him, the king called his astrologer.

"You claim to know everything about the position of stars and their impact on human destiny. Now tell me, what is your destiny? Do you know when you will die? " the king asked his astrologer.

"Of course I know, " replied the wise astrologer. "I will die exactly three days before you!"

After that, of course, Louis XI canceled his order and let his astrologer live.

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Quick Recovery – Dave Swarbrick

The famous British violinist, Dave Swarbrick (born 5 April 1941), was stunned when read in 1999, news in the "Daily Telegraph". They wrote that he was dead and put an obituary for him.

But he was even more surprised when he read the next day’s editorial correction in the same newspaper.

Daily Telegraph wrote: "Mr. Swarbrick - on whose death our newspaper wrote yesterday - has recovered remarkably.”

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Finally! - King George IV

British King George IV (1762-1830) did not like his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, at all, and has done everything in his power to end this marriage.

But his people liked Caroline and often shouted, "God Save the Queen." The king always answered to that: “God Save the Queen' - and may all your wives be like her!”

When Napoleon Bonaparte died (in 1821), the king's adviser cheerfully informed him: "Sir, your bitterest enemy is dead!"

"Is she, by God!" - joyfully replied King George IV. “May she rest in peace.”

He was, of course, convinced that his queen finally died.

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Life is Too Short! - George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), Irish playwright, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925,  twenty years before that decided that he and his wife settle in a small village Ayot St. Lawrence in Hertfordshire. He later explained why he decided to do that:

-We visited the local cemetery and saw a nice tombstone on which was written: "Mary Ann South. Born 1805. Died 1895. Her time in this world was unfortunately too short." I figured, if this is a place where people believe that ninety years is too short, then it is the right place for the two of us!

And he was right. George Bernard Shaw lived for 94 years.

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Fear - Arnold Schoenberg!

Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg (13 September 1874 – 13 July 1951) suffered from triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number thirteen.

This artist (father of atonal music, as he was called) was convinced that he would die on the thirteenth day of the month, so on each such day he stayed at home, taking care of what he drank and what he eats, and sometimes he did not even get up out of bed...

 

This was the case and on 13 July 1951.

Convinced that his end was near, Schoenberg was just loafing on that day. Late that night, his wife finally said that the clock struck midnight and that it was 14 July, and went to bring him some tea.  When she returned to the room, she found her husband dead.

He died, however, on 13 July. The clock in the bedroom was not accurate. When she found him, it was 5 minutes until midnight.

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The Old Man Who Was Creating Trouble!

When the Romans, in 189 BC, defeated the army of King Antiochus III of Syria, at Magnesia in Asia Minor, they demanded that Antiochus military adviser, the famous military commander Hannibal (247-183 BC) is immediately handed over to them.

But, the cunning Hannibal fled to Crete, and then for a time hid in Asia Minor.

Roman soldiers eventually managed to find him...Realizing that there is no way out, Hannibal took a bottle of poison which he always carried with him and drank the deadly liquid.

"Let us relieve the Romans from the anxiety they have so long experienced, since they think it tries their patience too much to wait for an old man's death"

Those were the last words of Hannibal.

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