10 Weirdest Ways Famous Ancient Greeks Died
6. Draco of Athens — Smothered by Too Many Gifted Cloaks
This less than fondly remembered ruler of Athens paid a fateful visit to the theatre one day, only to be showered with so many cloaks and other garments as gifts, that he was smothered beneath the fabric deluge.
Athen's first recorded legislator was infamously harsh when creating his code of law for the city-state. Eventually, he was driven from Athens, whereupon Solon, his successor, repealed all but one of his laws. Draco fled to the island of Aegina, where he met his irregular fate.
Visiting the theatre one evening, his supporters there lavished him with a traditional show of support: they tossed shirts, cloaks, hats, and other garments at him. Regrettably for Draco, so generous and effusive was this display of affection, and so gargantuan the pile of clothes, that he was suffocated beneath the mass.
Rather aptly, the locals had Draco buried in the very same theatre as a mark of respect. It isn't recorded whether everyone awkwardly took their clothes back from the big pile, but I'm sure we can imagine they did.