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.
Domitian was nearly 18 when his father was proclaimed emperor by the legions in the east, and his brother Titus suppressed the Jewish uprising. For several months before his father came to the capital, the young member of the imperial line became the de facto master of the capital.
Pliny the Elder left a message that the former consul Titus Petronius1 had a cup made of fluorite, an extremely valuable mineral for which he paid 300,000 sestertii. Before committing suicide, he smashed the vessel, not wanting the precious item to end up in the hands of a greedy ruler Nero.
In Roman historiography, there were not many events that could be described as rebellions of the population against the local elite or the emperor, in connection with, for example, problems with food supplies. This does not mean, however, that the rulers or aristocracy could remain indifferent to the voice of the people.
We are all well aware that an effective politician is one who has very good contact with the voter. However, there are behaviours that can effectively discourage a citizen from voting for a given politician. A great example of this is the story of the conversation between the Roman politician Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica and a random Roman citizen.
Polybius in “Histories” describes the figure of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the son of King Antiochus III the Great, who, after the defeat of the Seleucid monarchy in the war with Rome in 188 BCE, had to live in Rome as a hostage for over ten years. When his brother Seleucus IV Philopator died, the hostages were changed and Antiochus IV was to take the Syrian throne, and Seleucus’ son would go to Rome.
Vibia Perpetua lived at the turn of the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. She came from a wealthy Roman home, and her parents professed various faiths: her father was a pagan, and her mother was a Christian. Vibia went down in history as a Christian martyr from Carthage.
Nero kept fit the entire senatorial body. In 59 CE in the gardens of his palace, he organized an amazing gymnastic and artistic competition – Ludi Iuvenales – for senators and equites, which shocked the conservatives. Mostly young aristocrats (the so-called Augustiani) took part.
Valerius Maximus, a Roman writer from the 1st century CE, author of a collection of anecdotes in 9 books about famous deeds and sayings Factorum et dictorum memorabilium libri novem mentions one interesting anecdote from his life Cornelia, mother of the famous Gracchi brothers. Well, one day she hosted a patrician who flaunted her rich jewellery at every step.
Probably in 222 BCE, when Marcus Minucius Rufus assumed the office of Roman dictator, and Gaius Flaminius magister equitum (deputy dictator in political and military functions), a disturbing event occurred.
Gaius Verres was an example of a wicked and greedy Roman governor who, while in office (73-71 BCE) in Sicily, committed countless thefts of works of art, tax evasion and speculation on grain prices.
