Chances are that most of the classic philosophers of ancient Greece are regarded as living peaceful, contemplative life, which winds down into a productive old age before they finally shuffle quietly out of existence, knowing that they've given the world a little more to think about in the process. That would be a dignified way to go, and I'm pretty sure that it's exactly the sort of demise that Aeschylus - known as the father of tragedy - would have preferred. But what actually happened was by far more hilarious: Aeschylus was the victim of a hit and run at the hands of an eagle. One day, whilst minding his own business in the woodlands of Gela, Aeschylus was struck on the head by a tortoise dropped by the aforementioned eagle, which apparently mistook the writer's bald head for a rock normally used to shatter shells. And if that wasn't ridiculous enough, the highly respected playwright was only outside at the time as he was supposedly attempting to avoid the prophesy told to him that he would be struck by a falling object. A fittingly tragic, and extremely comic end for a man who held so much respect from the public.
