Ivan the Terrible was the Fourth Russian Ivan. He was the first tsar of Russia. He was born on August 25, 1530 and went on to great beyondor more probably to Hades, on March 18, 1584.
You can read about Terrible Ivan at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_the_Terrible
Ivan the Terrible had an unhappy childhood.
To make matters worse, he was married seven times, which also guaranteed him an unhappy adulthood.
I was crazy, crazy, crazy. He threw cats and dogs out of the Kremlin windows. That has not been pretty.
Ivan accidentally killed his son. It was during an argument about what may have been accidentally on purpose.
Some people just didn’t like Ivan. When they dug up the old bones of him, they discovered that he had been poisoned with mercury.
Some say he wasn’t poisoned on purpose. Some say he was.
Syphilis
Those who say that Ivan the Terrible was not poisoned think that he was simply taking mercury to cure a social disease called syphilis.
Syphilis is a nasty STD that you don’t want to catch. Here are some facts:
Syphilis is caused by a bacterium. Its name is Treponema pallidum. Never trust him!
Syphilis can be passed from mother to child during pregnancy. That is a very sad fact.
Syphilis comes from sexual contact with an infected partner. Some strains, such as those from Korea, are very persistent. That means they just won’t go away with normal treatment.
Syphilis goes hand in hand with HIV. They love to attract each other.
African Americans appear to be more attractive to Treponema pallidum. Watch out for that bug!
Syphilis occurs in Stages 1, 2, Latent, and 3. Treatment is available and is especially effective in the early stages.
If you are sexually active with multiple partners, or are being treated for any other STD, ask your doctor or health care provider to test you for syphilis.
If you have symptoms of syphilis, tell your friends to get tested too.
In the later stages of syphilis, Mr. Treponema pallidum attacks every organ in your body. It can make you blind, deaf, or crippled. It can stop your heart over time. It can destroy your nervous system.
During World War II, the military showed “VD Films” showing syphilis victims in the last stages. The objective was to promote the use of condoms and venereal disease prevention kits. The result was that he scared the soldiers very badly.
If you have a sore of any kind in the genital areas, especially if the sore is NOT painful, see a doctor right away. the sore called chancre will go away, but Mr. Treponema pallidum is still snorting. Later you may have a rash.
Read information provided by the National Institute of Health and Human Services at [http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/stdsyph.htm]
To learn about the origins of syphilis, visit http://www.archaeology.org/9701/newsbriefs/syphilis.html
Ivan the Terrible did not have our modern methods of treatment. He did what he could.
More about Ivan the Terrible
Read more about Ivan the Terrible at [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/ivan/ivanmain.shtml] Y [http://www.auburn.edu/academic/liberal_arts/foreign/russian/art/vasnetsov-ivan.html]
I couldn’t find any Ivan the Terrible jokes. I guess he just wasn’t funny. Well here is one of mine:
Question: Why did Ivan the Terrible throw cats and dogs out of the Kremlin windows?
Answer: He corresponded with Galileo Galilei (1564-1642).
So how bad was Ivan the Terrible?
Well, Jozef Stalin admires him. (Read about Stalin’s cruelty at http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/stalin.htm)
so it definitely was IVAN THE TERRIBLE!
copyright©2006 John T. Jones, Ph.D.