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Author Topic: Chicken Trivia  (Read 1145 times)

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Offline Tacitus

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Chicken Trivia
« on: July 15, 2019, 11:13:52 am »
Without looking this up, let's see if anyone knows the answer. 

The Sacred Chickens of Rome. ... When the chicken watcher notified the Consul that they were not eating, which constituted a bad omen, he replied, 'Since they do not want to eat, let them drink!' and had them hurled into the sea. The naval battle which ensued saw the near annihilation of the Roman fleet.

The Consul then returned to Rome in shame.  He was impeached, stripped of his Consulship and banished.  Not because of the loss of the fleet, but because he dared to defy the Gods.

Who was this consul?

Offline cicerokid

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Re: Chicken Trivia
« Reply #1 on: July 15, 2019, 11:35:26 am »
Consul Sanders.
Timeo Danaos afferentem coronas

Offline Carausius

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Re: Chicken Trivia
« Reply #2 on: July 15, 2019, 11:39:40 am »
I recall it was First Punic War, but I cannot remember the Consul's name!  The below bronze currency bar was issued many years earlier than this naval catastrophe,  but shows how seriously the Romans took their sacred chickens:


Offline Carausius

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Re: Chicken Trivia
« Reply #3 on: July 15, 2019, 11:40:50 am »

Offline marylannin

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Re: Chicken Trivia
« Reply #4 on: July 15, 2019, 12:11:39 pm »
Publius Claudius Pulcher

Offline Mat

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Re: Chicken Trivia
« Reply #5 on: July 15, 2019, 12:27:40 pm »
MY GALLERY

MJB Ancients

Offline Tacitus

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Re: Chicken Trivia
« Reply #6 on: July 15, 2019, 12:29:43 pm »

Offline Meepzorp

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Re: Chicken Trivia
« Reply #7 on: July 15, 2019, 06:04:54 pm »
Hi folks,

The term "Sacred Chickens" reminds me of a sentence in a spoof of the "Hail Mary" that my uncles used to recite all the time when I was a kid back in the 1970s.

It goes like this:

"Holy Mary, mother of God, chased the chickens around the yard." :)

Meepzorp

Offline JBF

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Re: Chicken Trivia
« Reply #8 on: July 15, 2019, 10:25:57 pm »
After Kaddish, a merchant presented a chicken to the Pharaoh (unknown before that time).
The Pharaoh looked at it and said, "it doesn't look like much, and its voice is not very pleasant."
at which point, the merchant said, "yes your highness, but it lays an egg a day."
The pharoah was impressed and brought it home with him on his royal barge.

 

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