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Curiosities of ancient Rome (Other)

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.

Forum Boarium – animal market

In ancient Rome, one of the oldest forums was the Forum Boarium. The Forum Boarium together with Forum Holitorium1 were located at a strategic point on the Tiber at the first crossing of the river.

Arch of Janus

19th century reconstruction of Colosseum

This is not another computer visualization of a famous monument. It’s a work of art in itself. It was made in 1829 and its author is Louis Duc, a scholarship holder of the French Academy in Rome. Reconstruction was his scholarship work.

19th century reconstruction of Colosseum

Ancient Rome – visions versus reality

You have certainly come across many interesting visualizations on the Internet showing what Rome might have looked like in the times of the Empire. Impressive, right? However, it is always worth considering how much truth there is in these beautiful graphics. And I don’t mean only whether the structure of individual buildings was correctly drawn by a graphic artist, because the question of the architecture of the buildings in ancient Rome will always be a matter of interpretation of archaeological data, hypotheses, etc. I rather mean whether the appearance the city as a whole is realistic.

Computer reconstruction of Rome

Panorama of Pompeii from defensive walls

Panorama of Pompeii from the defensive walls. Pompeii (Pompeii), also called Pompeii, was considered one of the most attractive cities of ancient Rome. The buildings were built with harmony and beauty.

Panorama of Pompeii from the defensive walls

Marcia – how one adulteress saved Christians

A rescript issued by Emperor Marcus Aurelius in 176, prohibiting the practice of foreign religions, confirmed the persecution of Christians. The greatest intensity of persecution in that period occurred in 177 in Lugdunum, where Bishop Poteinos, who was over 90 years old, was killed. Saint Justin was martyred in Rome itself.

Commodus

Lagotto Romagnolo – dog breed that accompanied Romans?

There is a view that Roman civilization is a continuation of Etruscan civilization1. From this view, and from the history of the lagotto romagnolo breed2, it can be concluded that the ancestors of today’s truffle hunters already accompanied the ancient Romans.

Lagotto romagnolo

Roman mămăligă

One of the founding myths of the Romanian nation is its direct descent from those conquered by the Romans in the 1st century CE Dacians. To what extent is this true? An alternative theory is the origin of the Vlachs, the ancestors of the Romanians, from Romanian-speaking communities from the areas of today’s Albania, who fled from the Turkish threat to the north, to the Carpathians (participating in the ethnogenesis of our Boykos, Lemkos and Hutsuls) and to the Danube lowlands – let linguists and geneticists decide. The fact is that to this day, only in Romania can parents name their children Decebalus, Hadrian, Trajan or Ovid (the famous poet is buried in Constanta on the Black Sea).

Mămăligă

Herodotus’ description of preparation of Scythian burial

I have already written about the Scythian invasion of the Middle East in the 7th century BCE. Let’s stay on the topic of the Scythians, because when it comes to ancient history, I must admit that they are the people that fascinate me the most. The Scythians were famous for their customs, which were usually seen as extremely barbaric by the Hellenes. It was no different in the case of the preparation of the Scythian royal burial, the description of which was left to us by perhaps the most famous of the ancient historians, Herodotus.

Illustration of the Scythian funeral by Alexander Deruchenko

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