Throughout history, professions have flourished then suddenly died out. Some disappeared because technological advances made them redundant, others went because changes in our cultural tastes rendered them superfluous. Most of these dead careers seem alien to our 21st century minds, yet understandable in the context of history. Some however were just plain weird. Like the man who was employed by Henry the 2nd to fart on cue, or the people whose job it was to plan orgies for the Roman elite. There were those who had to whip dogs to stop them interrupting church services, the doctors who ripped live toads apart to heal people, and the kids who had to scavenge for excess cotton in mills and often ended up getting scalped by the looms above them. These and more are some of the strangest things that anyone has ever done to earn a living
10. Orgy Planner
Today we have wedding planners, town planners, party planners and all manner of other people who can take the arduous task of organising something out of our hands. In ancient Rome they had them too, and one of the weirdest was the Orgy Planner. He was responsible for every aspect of an orgy: from what food and drink was served, to what music was played. They even selected which women (and boys) would attend so guests could have the most enjoyment from the events more important proceedings. If the Orgy Planner was particularly good at his job, hed even get an invite to attend. Unfortunately, outside of the upper echelons of society, Orgy Planners were pretty much despised, either because they didnt invite people from the lower classes, or because the lower classes saw the whole thing as too opulent and decadent. Gaius Petronius Arbiter, who worked with Nero, was the most famous Orgy Planner, and he is believed to have also written the novel Satyricon, which fictionalised the debauchery that went on during the 5th Emperor of Romes reign.
