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Curiosities of ancient Rome

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.

Father was not only head of family

Under Roman law, the father was not only the head of the family but exercised absolute authority over it. The fact that his wife gave birth to a child did not yet mean that he would become a family member. This happened only after the completion of the so-called ritual of elevation. It consisted in placing the newborn at the feet of the master of the house and awaiting his decision. If the pater familias, as the omnipotent father was called, took the child in his arms and walked around the house with him, he officially recognized him as his offspring.

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9 July 2022
Roman couple

“The dice have been cast”

On January 10, 49 BCE Gaius Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River in northern Italy and thus started a civil war against Pompey and the Senate. In the days of the Roman Republic, the Rubicon was a border river between Pre-Alpine Gaul and Italy, and due to the growing political power of Julius Caesar, the Senate drew a border on the river, which he could not cross due to your legions. It was supposed to be a safeguard against a possible coup d’état.

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8 July 2022
Roman dice

Dowry in Roman world

In ancient Rome, it was an unwritten rule that in the event of marriage the bride should bring a dowry (dos). The additional capital contributed to the husband was to facilitate the maintenance of the family (onera matrimonii) and the protection of the wife or children in the event of a breakdown of the relationship (divortium). Obviously, the larger the dowry the father of the bride could propose, the greater the chance that the husband would accept the woman’s hand.

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7 July 2022
Portrait of a mummified woman

Decency according to Valerius Maximus

In the work Factorum et dictorum memorabilium libri novem by Valerius Maximus, we can see the characters and behaviours that the author distinguished in the context of decency and dignified life.

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7 July 2022
Death of Aemilius Paulus, John Trumbull

Prohibition of service in Roman legions

In the light of social norms or Roman law, from the earliest years of its existence, the Roman state limited access to military service. Only Roman citizens (cives Romani) had the right or duty to serve in the legions, and foreigners (peregrini), slaves (servi) or criminals were not.

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7 July 2022
Battle of Argentoratum in 357 CE

Initium aestatis

Initium aestatis in Latin literally means “the beginning of summer” and it was not a holiday for the Romans – confirmation is the lack of such information in both Fasti Antiates Maiores, the official Roman calendar of public holidays, and in Ovid’s “Fasti”.

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5 July 2022
Forum Romanum in the summer

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