deathmetal27

Context: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castrato

Edit: How they sound like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjvfqnD0ws

Context: After the Battle of Zama where Scipio defeated Hannibal, Hannibal went into a self imposed exile to avoid being captured by Rome. He took refuge in the court of Antiochus III in Syria, advising him on matters of war against Rome.

Seven years later, around 193 BC, Scipio went to the court of Antiochus III as part of a Roman delegation to settle a dispute. This is when both generals met each other face to face for the first time since the Punic war, with mutual respect for each other.

Roman historians were known to slander anyone they did not like. But in the case of women it was especially egregious since they were almost always described as being hypersexual. Most of their accounts were written several hundreds of years after their subject's death.

They have described Cleopatra as someone who frequents orgies, had harem of young men and that she was willing to sleep with anyone as long as they agreed to be executed in the morning. Pliny described the wife of the Emperor Claudius as secretly going to the brothel to prostitute herself and having won a competition with the most popular whore there.

The Duga radar were two over-the-horizon radar installations used by the USSR as early warning systems for incoming missiles. It was known to cause interference on shortwave radio that sounded like a woodpecker pecking wood, thus it was called the "Russian Woodpecker". It was a considerable nuisance at the time for radio operators.

When the western governments asked the Soviet government for the purpose of the antennas they said that they were TV broadcast stations. However everyone knew that it was bullshit because the USSR at the time only had like two or so TV channels.

Context: In 1967, a war broke out between a coalition of Arab countries and Israel. Despite being outnumbered and fighting on three fronts, Israel managed to win the war in six days.

Context: Baal Hamon was Carthage's chief deity. He was associated with agriculture. They were known to sacrifice children to him to improve harvests.

Context: Pyrrhus, the Greek king of Epirus invaded the Italian peninsula in 280 BC. The campaign lasted five years, with Pyrrhus being victorious in several battles against Rome. However, each victory also resulted in casualties on his end as well.

After the second battle of the war, Pyrrhus is recorded to have said, "If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined." He still went on to defeat Romans several more times despite heavy losses.

This is how the term "Pyrrhic victory" came to be. Meaning a battle where the victor wins but incurs such significant losses that it's as good as a defeat.