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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.
Plutarch mentions a story about a senator whose wife questioned him about what the Senate was debating on. To silence his curious wife, the senator replied that the congregation was considering whether the appearance of a lark in the sky with a golden helmet and a spear was a good or bad omen. By the way, he asked his wife to keep a secret when he left the house.
Roman mosaic showing Neptune in a chariot, accompanied by Triton and Nereids. In the corners and sides of the work, we can see figures and animals that symbolize specific seasons – and so olives and wild boar symbolize winter; roses and dog, spring; lion and grain, summer; leopard and grapes, autumn. The object was found in Chebba and dates back to the middle of the 3rd century CE.
Cassius Dio mentions that Domitian (ruled 81-96 CE) did not shy away from spilling blood among his family as well. On his order, Flavius Clemens was related to him, grandson of Titus Flavius Sabinus (brother of Vespasian, and uncle of Domitian) and the husband of his niece, Flavia Domitilla.
Roman tile, with the imprint of a small child’s foot. A frequent find from Roman times are the remains of tiles from ancient houses. Probably the imprint was made on a clay tile still wet and drying in the sun.
Ancient Romans used two methods to count the past years.
Laughter in ancient Rome could be met in religious rituals (ritual laughter). The combination of laughter with sacrum was seen in many peoples. He performed at the ancient Romans during Lupercalia, agrarian (Liberaria) festivals, Consualia – in honour of Consus, triumphs, wedding processions and funerals.
Portrait of a mummified woman from Roman Egypt. The object was found in al-Fayyum (the so-called Fayum portrait) and shows a woman wearing beautiful jewellery. The artefact is dated to the 1st century CE; it is currently located at Royal Ontario Museum in Canada.
The decline of the Roman republic changed the iconography of coins. During the reign of Julius Caesar, he first appeared in 44 BCE on the Roman coin as an image of a living man – the dictator of the time. This custom quickly found numerous followers. During the battles fought after the death of Caesar by the leaders of the falling Republic, almost all: Mark Antony, Octavian, Sextus Pompey, and even the defender of republican traditions – Marcus Junius Brutus, put their own image on the coins.
The sarcophagi were created in order to be able to hide the bodies in stone coffins that could stand on the surface of the earth. In this way, it was possible to save space on valuable land in rocky surroundings – there was no need to “waste” them on cemeteries because stone sarcophagi could be placed on unprofitable, from the agricultural point of view, rocks.
