In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, one of the French soldiers who is tasked with guarding a castle tells King Arthur, “I fart in your general direction.” Though this humorous gag is merely intended for laughs, back in the 1st century A.D. a real-life riot broke out after a Roman guard farted at a group of Jews who were celebrating Passover. 

The ridiculous story was recorded by Josephus, a Roman-Jew historian. As Slate reports:

According to Josephus’ account in The Wars of the Jews, a Roman soldier bared his rear to an audience of Jews celebrating Passover, and thereby incited a furious riot that killed “upwards of thirty thousand.” However, a closer examination of Josephus’s account shows that the soldier was not mooning the crowd, but rather farting in their general direction. Josephus puts it more delicately: “One of the soldiers, raising his robe, stooped in an indecent attitude, so as to turn his backside to the Jews, and made a noise in keeping with his posture.”

Though other sources claim that the incident may have involved a pot full of urine, the strange gesture launched nearly a full-scale war between the Jews and the Romans.

So, the next time you watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail remember that the cheeky insults of the French castle guard are rooted in actual history.

(h/t Slate)