If you have found a spelling error, please, notify us by selecting that text and pressing Ctrl+Enter.
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.
Ancient sources, both the unbelievable ones like “Historia Augusta” and those more sensible (Herodian), mention the Roman emperor Maximinus Thrax as a man of enormous size. According to “Historia Augusta”, his height was 250 cm.
Octavian Augustus, after the victory at Actium (31 BCE) and the suicidal death of Cleopatra and Antony, when he entered Alexandria, ordered to be taken to the tomb of the great Macedonian general, Alexander the Great. According to Suetonius, he honored the body, put a golden crown on his head and showered the body with flowers.
Pliny the Elder, author of the encyclopedic work “Natural History”, often relied on various and often unverified sources. The writer even mentions that if a mother wanted her child to have black eyes, she had to eat a shrew during pregnancy.
The Law of the Twelve Tables, in ancient communications, appears as a plebeian victory over an aristocracy. However, not everyone knows that, according to sources, their creation was associated with dramatic events and a private tragedy.
Hannibal was over 40 years old after the end of the Second Punic War. After signing the humiliating peace, Hannibal decided to focus on politics. He was elected a shofeṭ, the highest government official, with strong executive power and considerable legislative and judicial powers. As a result of his efficient reforms, seven years after the battle of Zama (202 BCE), Carthage was “rising from its knees”.
All the time we hear about sensational reports of observation of unidentified flying objects – UFOs. As it turns out, the ancient writers also left us interesting accounts.
According to ancient sources, during the First Punic War (264-241 BCE), consul Appius Claudius Pulcher attacked in 249 BCE Carthaginian fleet at Drepanum (today Trapani) in Sicily, despite the unfavorable behavior of the sacred chickens.
Gladiator Spiculus convinced himself that life in grace is uncertain and changeable and that nothing lasts forever. He fought in the arena, he was the favourite of the emperor, he gained fame and enormous wealth, which every Roman certainly dreamed of, but it was this that ultimately led him to destruction.
Ancient Rome was shaken by slave uprisings that were usually caused by the mistreatment of slaves. However, there was one uprising that was more romantic. Titus Vettius, who came from a good equities house, fell in love with a beautiful slave who belonged to another Roman.
In ancient Rome, at the beginning of the day, there was faith in divination, good and bad omen announcing future events and superstitions. Such faith did not always end pleasantly for everyone, especially if a man was considered to be the evil sign that heralded the misfortune that would come.
