Is This Event From a Shakespeare Play or Real History?

In "A Winter's Tale," King Leontes is overcome with jealousy and is convinced that his wife Hermione is having an affair with his friend, King Polixenes. He declares her unfaithful, then declares the children illegitimate​ and orders their deaths.

Mexican General Santa Anna was severely injured by a grapeshot which was fired by a French cannon. In order to save his life, doctors were forced to amputate his leg. Once he assumed the role of president of Mexico, he paraded the leg around Mexico City and held an elaborate state funeral.

Sultan Ibrahim I of the Ottoman Empire had 280 of his concubines drowned in the Bosphorus after discovering that one of them had slept with another man. He later earned the name Ibrahim I the mad.

In the play "Romeo and Juliet," Juliet is seen lying in a tomb by her lover, Romeo,​ who does not know that she is under the influence of a sleeping potion. After mourning her death, he kills himself by drinking poison.

In "All's Well That Ends Well," beautiful Helena follows her uninterested love interest Bertram​ to Paris, where she miraculously cures the King of France of a terminal illness. As a reward, she is granted the husband of her choice.

Between the 13th and the 18th century, animals, including insects, were put on trial for a number of offenses, including criminal damage and murder. If convicted, they​ faced either execution or exile.

Peter the Great of Russia had his wife's lover, Willem Mons, beheaded after receiving​ a letter of the affair. He placed Mons' head in a jar with alcohol in order to preserve it and placed the decapitated head near Catherine, his wife.

In the play "King John," King John's nephew Arthur betrays his own uncle by conducting a rebellion with the French king. As a reward, the French king writes to the English king, asking him to step down as ruler in favor of his nephew.

In the play "Othello," Desdemona elopes with her love interest Othello, much against the wishes of her father Brabanzio. He goes to great lengths in order to separate the two, including accusing him of witchcraft in front of the assembled Senate​.

Henry II of Champagne's death is still unclear to this date. Many people claim that he tripped over his dwarf servant named Scarlet, who later tried to save him but also fell out of the window. Other sources claim that the lattice window gave way after he was​ leaning on it and Scarlet, who tried to save him, also fell out. Both men died.

Rumor has it that Emperor Gaius, also known as Caligula, planned on making his beloved stallion a senator but was assassinated before doing so. People speculated that it could have been as a result of insanity or as a joke.

In the play "Measure for Measure," the Duke of Vienna, Vincentio, leaves Lord Angelo in charge and pretends to dress as a friar in order to observe what would go on in his absence. Lord Angelo decides that there is too much freedom in Vienna and tries to rid the city of brothels and unwanted sexual activity. He arrests people, including Claudio, to make an example of him.

In the play "King Lear," the aging king of Britain decides to step down from his throne and divide his vast kingdom among his three daughters, but​ first asks them to tell him how much they love him.

In the play "Two Gentlemen of Verona," Proteus and his friend Valentine both fall in love with the same woman, Silvia, the daughter of the Duke of Milan. This leads to betrayal, banishment and a long lost love disguising themselves as the opposite sex.

In the play "The Taming of the Shrew," Baptista Minola has two daughters, Katherine and Bianca. Bianca is sweet and beautiful and has many suitors, but she is unable to marry because her older vicious and ill-tempered sister has to get married first.

One of the three things that Pope Gregory IX was remembered for was the demonization of black cats, as he believed that these cats were instruments of Satan. This event was potentially the catalyst for the Bubonic Plague, as the rat population increased.

Ancient pharaohs were known for taking everything from their most valuable possessions, pets and even servants to their graves. The practice was later discontinued and figurines of these servants were created instead.

In Shakespeare's play "Hamlet," the ghost of old King Hamlet comes back to describe his death. He explains that his brother Claudius, poured a poison into his ear. Young Hamlet is tormented by this news.

Early dentists created dentures from a number of compounds, one of which was real teeth. Live donors were hard to find, so teeth were pulled from recently killed soldiers, many of them coming from the battlefield at Waterloo.

Coriolanus is a character from the play "Coriolanus," who was best known for protecting Rome from its adversaries​. In doing so, he became disliked by the masses and many of his colleagues. In one of the riots, he suggested that they cut him to pieces.

Pope Pius II was known for his love of poetry. He himself was an author of numerous erotic poems, as well as the book "The Tale of Two Lovers."

Trial by ordeal was an old judicial practice by which someone's guilt or innocence was determined by a painful and dangerous event. If they emerged unscathed, they were considered innocent. One of these trials was placing an arm into boiling water. Another was asking the accused to walk over hot ploughshares while holding a hot iron.

In the play "Much Ado About Nothing," Claudio is convinced that his fiancée, Hero is seeing someone else. In a fit of rage, he denounces her at their wedding, then the friar arranges for her to be thought dead. After Claudio regains his senses, he mourns her death and agrees to marry one of her cousins, who is later revealed to be Hero.

For several centuries, especially during the 16th and 17th centuries, many Europeans, including nobles religious leaders and scientists, repeatedly ingested medicines containing blood, fat ​and bones from humans. The practice was thought to cure various ailments.

In the play "Love's Labour's Lost," The King of Navarre and his three companions swear to three years of celibacy in order to study. Not too long into their promise, they meet the princess of France and her ladies and almost immediately fall for them.

British King Cymbeline has one daughter, Imogen, who goes against his wishes and marries a lowborn gentleman named Posthumus, instead of his own stepson Cloten. The king then​ sends Posthumus into exile.

In the play "Pericles, Prince of Tyre," King Antiochus is engaged in an affair with his daughter. He keeps her unmarried and keeps the suitors at bay by giving them a riddle. If they are able to answer correctly, they can marry her; if not, they die​.

Emperor Commodos of Rome was known for his cruelty. One such act was collecting all of the dwarfs, cripples and people considered to be freaks in Rome and bringing them to the Colosseum where he made them fight to the death using meat cleavers.

Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup was a medication which originated in New York in 1840. It was used to regulate bowel movements and soothe pain. The pleasant tasting syrup contained morphine.

In Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" comedy, Viola finds herself stranded in a new land after being shipwrecked. She then disguises herself as a male named Cesario who finds work as a page for Duke Orsino. She falls in love with him but his love was directed to a noblewoman named Olivia. Olivia, in turn,​ loves Cesario, who is really Viola.

In the play "Macbeth," Generals Macbeth and Banquo are approached by a trio of witches prophesy that Macbeth will not only be made a thane of Cawdor, a rank of Scottish nobility, but he will also be made the king of Scotland, which eventually comes true.

In Ancient Rome, urine was used as a mouthwash, a practice which continued into​ the Middle Ages. It was also consumed in some taverns. The urine of deer was used as a leavening agent before baking powder was invented.

Before modern medicine could determine that people were truly dead, many people were buried alive. Because of the fear of premature burial, a series of coffins were invented which enabled a person who was incorrectly buried to signal that they had been buried alive by using either bells or whistles.

In the play Titus Andronicus, Tamora, Queen of the Goths was brought to General Titus as a prize for winning a war. Her angry sons take their vengeance by raping and mutilating Titus's daughter, including cutting off her tongue so that she is unable to tell anyone. Titus finds out anyway and gets his revenge by killing the brothers, have them baked into a pie, serve it to their mother and then telling her about it as she takes the last bite.

Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg was a German princess who married the Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus. After his death, the queen was said to have gone insane, refusing to bury his body. She mourned day and night and slept under a golden casket which contained his heart.