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.
Vegetation and love of greenery were known to ancient peoples, especially the Greeks and Romans. The Romans, as a typically agricultural people, referred to nature and appreciated the presence of plants in their surroundings.
According to Plutarch, the queen of Cleopatra VII after the defeat at Actium in 31 BCE for several months she picked up strong poisons, the effectiveness and degree of pain of which she checked on prisoners.
Clivus Capitolinus (“Capitoline Ascension”) road was the main road to the Roman Capitol. The road continued Via Sacra and stretched from the Forum Romanum to the Temple of Jupiter the Greatest. Clivus Capitolinus was the last and most important leg of the Roman triumphal route. It is worth mentioning that this road was one of the oldest in Rome.
In antiquity, salt, resin, honey and mouse droppings were considered abortives. At the Queen’s court, Cleopatra VII also used extracts of white poplar, juniper berries and fennel. Interestingly, modern medicine has confirmed the strong contraceptive properties of these plants.
Digital reconstruction of a Roman sculpture from the 2nd century CE performed by “Chapps”. The object that adorned one of the Roman villas depicts Cupid on a dolphin. The artefact is in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. The Roman sculpture was a copy of a Greek one.
Roman mosaic from Villa Winterton in Lincolnshire (England) showing the mythical Orpheus playing the lyre. According to Greek myths, the singing and playing of Orpheus was so beautiful that it was able to calm the weather and animals. The object is dated to the middle of the 4th century CE.
