Ivan the Terrible was the Fourth Russian Ivan. He was the very first Tsar of Russia. He was born in August 25, 1530 and passed on to the Great Beyond, or more likely to Hades, on March 18, 1584.

You can read about Terrible Ivan at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_the_Terrible

Ivan the Terrible had an unhappy childhood.

To add insult to injury, he married seven times which guaranteed him to also have an unhappy adulthood.

He was crazy, crazy, crazy. He threw dogs and cats out the windows of the Kremlin. That was not nice.

Ivan accidentally killed his son. It was during an argument so it may have been accidentally on purpose.

Some people just didn't like Ivan. When they dug up his old bones they found that he had been poisoned by mercury.

Some say he was not poisoned on purpose. Some say he was.

Syphilis

Those who say Ivan the Terrible was not poisoned think he was simply taking mercury to heal a social disease called syphilis.

Syphilis is an unpleasant venereal disease which you don't want to catch. Here are some facts:

Syphilis is caused by a bacterium. His name is Treponema pallidum. Don't ever trust him!

Syphilis can be passed from mother to child during pregnancy. That is a very sad happening.

Syphilis comes from sexual contact with an infected partner. Some strains such as those in Korea are very persistent. That means they just won't go away with normal treatment.

Syphilis goes hand-in-hand with HIV. They just love to attract each other.

African-Americans seem to be more attractive to Treponema pallidum. Be ware of that critter!

Syphilis occurs in Stages 1, 2, Latent, and 3. Treatment is available and is especially effective in the early stages.

If you are sexually active with multiple partners, or if you receive treatment for any other venereal disease, then ask you doctor or health services provider to test you for syphilis.

If you have symptoms of syphilis, tell your friends to get tested too.

In the late stages of syphilis, Mr. Treponema pallidum attacks every organ of your body. It can make you blind, deaf, or crippled. It can stop your heart with time. It can destroy your nervous system.

During World War II, the military showed "VD Films"? showing victims of syphilis in the late stages. The object was to promote the use of condoms and venereal disease prevention kits. The result was that it scared the hell out of the GIs.

If you have a sore of any kind in your genital areas, especially if the sore does NOT hurt, see a doctor at once. The sore called a chancre will go away but Mr. Treponema pallidum keeps chugging away. Later you may get a rash.

Read the information provided by the National Institute of Health and Human Services at http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/stdsyph.htm

To learn about the origins of syphilis go to http://www.archaeology.org/9701/newsbriefs/syphilis.html

Ivan the Terrible didn't have our modern treatment methods. He did what he could.

More on Ivan the Terrible

Read more about Ivan the Terrible at http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/ivan/ivanmain.shtml and http://www.auburn.edu/academic/liberal_arts/foreign/russian/art/vasnetsov-ivan.html

I couldn't find any Ivan the Terrible jokes. I guess he just wasn't funny. Well, here is one of my own:

Question: Why did Ivan the Terrible throw dogs and cats out the Kremlin windows?

Answer: He was in correspondence with Galileo Galilei (1564-1642).

So how bad was Ivan the Terrible?

Well, Jozef Stalin admired him. (Read about Stalin's cruelty at http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/stalin.htm)

So he definitely was IVAN THE TERRIBLE!

copyright 2006 John T. Jones, Ph.D.