Ancient Leaders Who Were Really Weird People

Ancient leaders were programmed to be extra-paranoid. First, there was the problem where there was always someone who wanted to overthrow you, and anyone not trying to overthrow you this week was going to try next week. So you were constantly on the lookout for poison, assassins, and honey-covered slaves who were really sick of standing around attracting flies all day long. That kind of paranoia was bound to nurture lesser paranoias, which would often morph into irrational behavior.

Such was the case of Fu Sheng, who was blind in one eye and was sure everyone was making fun of him for it. In fact he was so sure that he not only made it a crime to talk about his one lesser eye, but to talk about one lesser anything. According to Ancient Origins, Fu Sheng banned the words "less," "lacking," "missing," and "without," which means if you were hanging out with Fu Sheng and you said the words, "Crap, I left the house without my coin purse this morning," you'd be executed.

Fu Sheng wasn't just a jerk about the whole eyeball thing, he was pretty much just an all-around jerk. When his astrologers prophesied that there was going to be some major royal death in China if he didn't mend his ways, he decided he was just going to fulfill the prophecy deliberately. So he executed his wife, his father-in-law, and his uncle. Take that, prophets.

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