14. Russian Tsar Peter the Great hated insects and his servants worked around the clock to keep his phobia at bay
Peter the Great ruled over Russian for more than 40 years. He was a giant of a man and a powerful ruler. He was also well-traveled and well-read. Indeed, for many Russians, he is one of the country’s greatest leaders of all time, and even today he is revered as a national hero. But Peter was just a man. He had fears and weaknesses just like everybody else. Above all, the Tsar was terrified of insects, and it was a fear he had to confront almost on a daily basis.
Nobody knows where Peter’s great hatred for creepy-crawlies originated, whether it was from childhood trauma or started during the tour of Europe he undertook as a young man. But what is certain is that the phobia had fully gripped him by the time he ascended to the Russian throne. It was said that the Tsar would send servants on ahead of him to check for insects. All rooms needed to be completely bug-free before he would set foot in it. Failure to keep the Tsar happy could have severe repercussions – as one loyal army officer reputedly found out when Peter punched him in the face after finding a cockroach in his house.
Peter the Great’s fear of insects may have been his most obvious weakness, but it was hardly the Tsar’s only phobia. In fact, the records from the time suggest that there were a number of things the mighty Russian wasn’t too keen on. For instance, it’s likely that he suffered from some degree of agoraphobia, preferring to stay indoors than head outside into wide, open spaces. This might be why he ordered his architects to refrain from installing high ceilings in the private quarters of his palace. Meanwhile, it’s also been alleged that Peter the Great also had a great fear of crossing over bridges, particularly ones that spanned rivers. Which perhaps makes his decision to found St Petersburg on a large expanse of marshland particularly confusing.