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The world of ancient Romans abounded in a number of amazing curiosities and information. The source of knowledge about the life of the Romans are mainly works left to us by ancient writers or discoveries. The Romans left behind a lot of strange information and facts that are sometimes hard to believe.
Pliny the Elder in his “Natural History” (Book XXXVII, Chapter 12) described the electrostatic properties of amber. He noticed that when rubbed with the fingers, under the influence of heat, it attracted light objects such as chaff, dry leaves and fibers. This observation of Pliny shows how ancient scholars observed and described natural phenomena that were not explained scientifically until many centuries later.
Pliny the Elder described in his “Natural History” that ostriches would bury their heads in a bush to hide from danger. This belief has persisted to this day as a popular myth, despite the lack of evidence for this behaviour in these birds. In reality, ostriches would place their heads low to the ground to hide, which may have given the impression that they were “burying it in the sand.”
Today, lettuce is a light appetizer or side dish, but for the ancient Romans it was much more functional. They considered it a medicinal plant — especially helpful for sleep and digestion problems.
The ruins of Horrea Piperataria – former storehouses used to store valuable spices from Asia and Egypt, such as pepper, cardamom and anise – are located in the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo in Rome. These buildings also housed incense, which played a crucial role in religious ceremonies and medicinal practices.
Bust of Roman matron. The sculpture is in the British Museum.
In ancient Rome, there was a praegustator – usually a slave- whose job was to taste food intended for important people (patricians or emperors) to make sure it wasn’t poisoned.
In ancient Rome, there was a special type of slave called a nomenclator whose job was to remind the Roman patrician of the names of everyone he met.
A common image of social life in ancient Rome is of patricians reclining on their sides in the triclinium (dining room), wine and food during long feasts. The popular imagination is that all Romans ate this way—rich and poor alike, on every occasion. But this is a myth.
Roman fresco showing figs and bread. The object is in the British Museum.
In ancient Rome, spells and curses were written on thin lead tablets called defixiones. The Romans used them to curse a rival for reasons of love, rivalry, or pure envy. The tablets were often placed in tombs, wells, or temples to “send” a message to the underworld.
