“Death comes to us all,” as the saying goes. The mystery is how and when death will knock at your door or in our case, when the bucket will knock you out. It’s usually a sad affair but, there’re funny ways to go for sure. When thinking about emperors and royals, wealth and immortality immediately come to mind especially, in the golden old days where they were glorified and immortalized. In dying; it was easy to imagine them closing their eyes and giving up their ghosts to go to wherever the peasants thought they go.
Let’s meet Constance II, the Byzantine emperor from 641-668 AD. As he was preparing to lead a crusade to rescue Christians in Egypt who were invaded by the Islamic Syria led by Khalif Umar; he travelled to Rome. While he was there one day, enjoying the ancient waters of Rome in a bath, closing his eyes, probably thinking about the battle ahead which was either going to lead to his victory or death, BANG! He got knocked on the head with a silver bucket-soap and water included- by a servant; some called it a soap dish. The servant ran away and was never caught and the emperor died the following day. The end. Granted, he was a cruel and unpopular: It was said that he killed his brother in pursuit of power.
One thing I never understood was why these royals, emperors etc., were assisted to bathe. Tell me why you’d have people watch you as you strip, enter the bath, and clean yourself or be cleaned? Privacy must have had a different meaning then. Anyway, funny way to die, right?
What we learn from the story is, please bathe alone and do not be hated by people🙃