10 Mini History Lessons: Benjamin Franklin's Keyword Method
Master Benjamin Franklin's keyword writing method with 10 disgusting history lessons. Ancient toilets, plague doctors & more gross facts
Lesson 1: Ancient Roman Toilets
Historical Paragraph: Ancient Roman public toilets were disgusting communal experiences where dozens of people sat side-by-side on marble benches with holes, sharing sponges on sticks instead of toilet paper! These "foricae" had no privacy walls, and Romans would chat about politics while doing their business. The shared sponge-sticks were rinsed in vinegar or salt water between uses, spreading diseases rapidly. Wealthy Romans paid slaves called "pedisequi" to sit on cold marble seats first to warm them up. The toilet tax was so expensive that many Romans preferred using pots at home, then dumping waste out their windows onto unsuspecting pedestrians below.
Franklin's Keyword Outline: I. Romans, toilets, communal
- marble, benches, holes
- sponges, sticks, sharing
- vinegar, salt, diseases
- slaves, warming, seats
- pots, windows, pedestrians
Academic Enhancement: Use temporal sequencing adverbs (first, then, finally)
Lesson 2: Medieval Plague Doctors
Historical Paragraph: Medieval plague doctors wore terrifying bird-like masks stuffed with aromatic herbs, believing bad smells caused disease! Their long leather coats were rubbed with fat and wax to repel "evil vapors," while they carried wooden canes to examine patients without touching them. Most plague doctors had no medical training whatsoever - they were often fruit sellers or gravediggers who took the dangerous job for extra money. Their treatments included bleeding patients with leeches, burning aromatic woods to "purify" air, and prescribing crushed unicorn horn (actually powdered narwhal tusk) that cost more than a house. Many doctors fled cities when plague struck, leaving behind fake physicians who sold useless potions made from bat wings and crushed pearls.
Franklin's Keyword Outline: I. Doctors, masks, herbs
- leather, fat, wax
- canes, touching, avoiding
- fruit, sellers, gravediggers
- leeches, bleeding, burning
- unicorn, narwhal, fleeing
Academic Enhancement: Include subordinate clauses beginning with "while" or "although"
Lesson 3: Ancient Egyptian Mummification
Historical Paragraph: Ancient Egyptian mummification was a revolting 70-day process that began with shoving a long iron hook up the corpse's nose to scramble and extract the brain! Embalmers then made a slit in the abdomen to remove all organs except the heart, which they believed was needed for the afterlife. The liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines were dried in natron salt for 40 days, then stored in canopic jars topped with animal-headed gods. The body cavity was stuffed with sawdust, rags, and natron salt, then wrapped in hundreds of yards of linen strips soaked in tree resin. Poor people received budget mummification where embalmers simply injected cedar oil into the body through the rectum, dissolved the organs, then drained out the liquid mess.
Franklin's Keyword Outline: I. Egyptians, mummification, revolting
- hooks, nose, brain
- abdomen, organs, heart
- natron, salt, jars
- sawdust, rags, linen
- cedar, oil, rectum
Academic Enhancement: Employ descriptive adjectives to specify quality and condition
Lesson 4: Viking Berserkers
Historical Paragraph: Viking berserkers were terrifying warriors who fought naked or wearing only bear skins, working themselves into psychotic rages before battle! They would bite their shields, foam at the mouth, and howl like wild animals while consuming mysterious mushrooms that made them feel invincible. During their battle-frenzy, berserkers felt no pain and would continue fighting even with fatal wounds, sometimes attacking their own allies in blind fury. Some historians believe they suffered from rabies contracted from biting infected animals, while others think they used henbane or fly agaric mushrooms as drugs. After battles, berserkers would collapse for days, completely exhausted and often unable to remember their violent actions.
Franklin's Keyword Outline: I. Vikings, berserkers, naked
- shields, biting, foaming
- mushrooms, invincible, frenzy
- pain, wounds, allies
- rabies, animals, drugs
- collapse, exhausted, forgetting
Academic Enhancement: Incorporate causal conjunctions (because, since, therefore)
Lesson 5: Medieval Castle Toilets
Historical Paragraph: Medieval castle toilets called "garderobes" were basically wooden seats built over sheer drops that sent waste plummeting into moats or onto castle walls! Knights and nobles would sit on these precarious perches while enemy arrows flew overhead during sieges. The waste created massive, stinking piles that attracted rats, flies, and disease, making castle moats more like sewers than defensive barriers. Some clever besiegers would climb up the toilet chutes at night to infiltrate castles, leading to very unpleasant surprises for midnight bathroom users. Castle builders eventually learned to install iron gratings and sharp spikes in toilet shafts after too many successful "rear-guard" attacks through the privy system.
Franklin's Keyword Outline: I. Castles, toilets, drops
- wooden, seats, moats
- arrows, sieges, perches
- rats, flies, sewers
- climbing, infiltrating, surprises
- gratings, spikes, attacks
Academic Enhancement: Use participial phrases beginning with present tense verbs (-ing forms)
Lesson 6: Ancient Chinese Foot Binding
Historical Paragraph: Ancient Chinese foot binding was a horrifying practice where young girls' feet were broken and wrapped tightly to create tiny "lotus feet" only 3 inches long! Starting around age 6, girls' toes were folded under their feet and bound with cloth strips soaked in herbs and animal blood. The process broke multiple bones, caused constant infections, and created permanently deformed feet that made walking extremely difficult. Mothers would tighten the bindings daily while daughters screamed in agony, believing small feet would help them find wealthy husbands. Women with bound feet could barely walk and often fell over, requiring servants to carry them or support them with special walking sticks that became status symbols.
Franklin's Keyword Outline: I. Chinese, binding, breaking
- lotus, feet, inches
- toes, folded, strips
- bones, infections, deformed
- screaming, agony, husbands
- servants, sticks, symbols
Academic Enhancement: Begin sentences with prepositional phrases indicating time or manner
Lesson 7: Roman Gladiator Fights
Historical Paragraph: Roman gladiator fights were blood-soaked spectacles where criminals, slaves, and prisoners fought wild animals or each other to the death for crowd entertainment! The Colosseum could be flooded with water for naval battles featuring real warships, crocodiles, and sharks that devoured losing fighters. Gladiators drank a disgusting mixture of ash, bone powder, and gladiator blood believing it would give them strength and courage. Some fights featured exotic animals like elephants, lions, rhinoceros, and hippopotamuses imported from Africa at enormous cost. The arena floor was covered with sand to absorb blood and gore, while underground tunnels housed elaborate elevator systems that could suddenly lift wild beasts or new fighters into the arena through trapdoors.
Franklin's Keyword Outline: I. Romans, gladiators, blood
- criminals, slaves, death
- water, sharks, warships
- ash, bone, drinking
- elephants, lions, tunnels
- sand, gore, trapdoors
Academic Enhancement: Employ complex sentences with relative pronouns (who, which, that)
Lesson 8: Medieval Barber Surgeons
Historical Paragraph: Medieval barber surgeons performed gruesome operations without anesthesia using the same razors they used for shaving and haircuts! These untrained "doctors" would pull teeth, amputate limbs, drill holes in skulls, and perform bloodletting using dirty instruments that spread deadly infections. Their red and white striped poles represented blood and bandages from their surgical work, not just barbering services. Patients were held down by strong assistants while barbers sawed through bones with carpenter's tools, cauterized wounds with red-hot irons, and stitched cuts with whatever thread was available. Many patients died from shock, blood loss, or infection rather than their original ailments, making barber surgery often more dangerous than the diseases they claimed to treat.
Franklin's Keyword Outline: I. Barbers, surgeons, razors
- teeth, limbs, skulls
- poles, blood, bandages
- assistants, saws, bones
- irons, thread, shock
- infections, dangerous, diseases
Academic Enhancement: Include contrast conjunctions (however, nevertheless, despite)
Lesson 9: Byzantine Greek Fire
Historical Paragraph: Byzantine Greek Fire was a terrifying secret weapon that burned even on water, creating floating infernos that destroyed entire enemy fleets! This mysterious liquid was shot from bronze tubes mounted on Byzantine warships, creating streams of unquenchable flames that stuck to enemy ships like ancient napalm. The exact recipe was such a closely guarded state secret that it died with its inventors, though historians believe it contained petroleum, sulfur, and lime. Enemy sailors who jumped overboard to escape burning ships found the water itself on fire around them, making escape impossible. The Byzantines used Greek Fire to defend Constantinople for centuries, with the weapon's psychological terror often causing enemy fleets to retreat without fighting.
Franklin's Keyword Outline: I. Byzantines, fire, water
- bronze, tubes, flames
- petroleum, sulfur, lime
- sailors, overboard, escape
- Constantinople, centuries, terror
- fleets, retreat, fighting
Academic Enhancement: Use appositive phrases to provide additional information
Lesson 10: Medieval Trial by Ordeal
Historical Paragraph: Medieval trial by ordeal forced accused criminals to undergo horrific physical tests, believing God would protect the innocent and punish the guilty! Suspects had to carry red-hot iron bars, plunge their arms into boiling water, or walk barefoot across burning coals while priests watched for divine intervention. In trial by combat, accused people fought their accusers to the death with swords, maces, or clubs, with survivors declared innocent by divine judgment. Trial by water involved throwing bound suspects into rivers or ponds - if they floated, they were guilty witches, but if they sank and drowned, they were innocent! These barbaric practices continued for centuries because medieval people truly believed God controlled the outcomes, making justice a matter of surviving torture rather than examining evidence.
Franklin's Keyword Outline: I. Medieval, trials, ordeal
- iron, boiling, coals
- combat, death, swords
- water, floating, drowning
- witches, innocent, barbaric
- torture, evidence, justice
Academic Enhancement: Incorporate conditional statements using "if/then" constructions
Franklin's Method Instructions:
- Read the historical passage carefully (3 minutes)
- Study the keyword outline to understand the structure (2 minutes)
- Cover the original paragraph completely
- Write your own version using ONLY the keywords as memory aids (8 minutes)
- Include the specified academic enhancement in your writing
- Compare your version with the original to assess retention (2 minutes)
Franklin believed this method strengthened both memory and composition skills by forcing writers to reconstruct ideas from minimal cues, leading to more original expression and deeper understanding.
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