Moses of Crete, Death Toll: probably over a hundred. That picture is the original Moses, not Moses of Crete, of whom no picture exists. Moses of Crete was a 5th Century Jewish teacher and would-be Messiah, living at a time when the Jewish people had been forced out of the Holy Land (by the Romans) and had little prospect of returning to it anytime soon. Some Talmudic experts of the time believed that old prophecies indicated that the Messiah would reveal himself sometime in the second half of the 5th century, and Moses of Crete claimed he was that Messiah. He told his followers that God had chosen him to restore the Jewish State, and that like his biblical namesake, he had the power to allow them to march through the waters (in this case, of the Mediterranean) to return to the Promised Land. His followers sold all their properties, packed up for the journey and followed Moses to a bluff on the coastline; he ordered them to believe, and charge off the promontory. They jumped, and of course fell into the sea and drowned. We don't know if Moses was a con-artist of some kind, or just insane; we're also not totally sure what happened to him. One account claims he too jumped into the sea and died, but the another claims that he just disappeared after the terrible events, possibly fleeing with his ill-gotten gains.