Roman Emperor Elagabalus is probably one of the most decadent rulers in history, along with his frankly ridiculous appetite which included things like rice sprinkled with solid gold, he is also credited with creating one of the first known lotteries. However, because Elagabalus was a total ass, his prizes included things like dead dogs and bees.
However, the fact that these lotteries could win you things like houses or even a slave, meant that people still signed up to them, because, free slave, yo! Which is when Elagabalus got creative, instead of handing out tickets, he had them fired into the crowds of people instead. When watching everyone scramble and fight for tickets got boring, he mixed things up by cramming bunches of snakes into the mix too. Why? Because Elagabalus was freaking insane!
