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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.

Roman bas-relief from Sudeley Castle

Roman bas-relief showing a figure that is not entirely visible. Perhaps it is the figure of a warrior drawing an arrow. The object was found in the 19th century in the grounds of Sudeley Castle in central England.

Roman bas-relief from Sudeley Castle

First dentures

From about 700 BCE the Etruscans, people who lived in Etruria (today’s Umbria and Tuscany in Italy), were the first able to create dentures and artificial teeth. The teeth were either from another person or from an animal such as an ox – they were placed in a golden rim with a metal pin/tang and fitted to the remaining teeth. Only the rich could afford such a “dentist”.

First dentures

Reconstruction of Hadrian’s nymphaeum in Perge

Reconstruction of Hadrian’s nymphaeum in Perge, in the south of Turkey. The ancient city existed even before the Roman rule, but it was the Romans who made the city one of the most beautiful in Asia Minor. To this day, in Perge there are remains of a pillared street, a bathhouse, a theater and a stadium.

Reconstruction of Hadrian's nymphaeum in Perge

Roman statue of Faun in impluvium

Roman statue – made of bronze – showing the dancing Faun. The object is located in the middle of the impluvium (rainwater pool) in the House of the Faun (Pompeii). Artifact dated to the 2nd century BCE.

Roman statue of Faun in impluvium

Roman tombstone of shoemaker

Roman tombstone of a woman named Septimia Stratonice, who was shown in the process of work. As we read on the inscription, she was a liberated slave and shoemaker in Ostia. The object is dated to the end of the 1st century CE.

Roman tombstone of shoemaker

Roman brick from Caerwent

Roman brick from Caerwent (Wales) with visible inscriptions. Perhaps someone learned to write, in wet clay before burning, its name – Bellicianus.

Roman brick from Caerwent

Pottery remains from Boudica times

Fragments of Roman pottery found in the area of ​​modern Colchester (East England) and the Roman city of Camulodunum. The artifacts are blackened from fire and heat, and have been found in a thick layer of burnt earth that has been preserved for nearly two thousand years.

Pottery remains from Boudica times

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