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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.

Caesar and his campaigns across Rhine

Julius Caesar is one of the greatest leaders in world history. This is evidenced by his victories in Spain (61 BCE), the conquest of Gaul (58-50 BCE), the invasion of Britain (54-53 BCE) or, for example, military campaigns east of the Rhine (55 and 53 BCE). Especially, the expeditions against the Germanic tribes prove how bold and ambitious Caesar was, who for the purposes of the campaign decided on an extremely complicated move for those times – the construction of a bridge over one of the longest rivers in Europe.

John Soane, Caesar Bridge on the Rhine

Roman silver ladle

Roman silver ladle. Object found in Pompeii and dated to the 1st century CE. It is now located in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.

Roman silver ladle

Gladiatorial fight – secutor and retiarius

One of the most popular gladiator fights in ancient Rome was the clash of secutor (“the chaser”1) and retiarius (“net-man”). Roman mosaic from the 3rd century CE depicts perfectly the way of fighting of the “net-man”, who tried to keep his distance and immobilize his rival at all costs by throwing a net with sinkers on him and then stabbing him with a trident.

Roman mosaic showing the fight of the secutor and retiarius gladiators

Mosaic showing feeding donkey

Extremely interesting Roman mosaic showing the scene of a donkey being fed by a man. The object is dated to the 5th century CE; now the artifact is in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum (Turkey).

Mosaic showing feeding donkey

Amor on winged phallus

Roman agate gemstone depicting Amor flying on a winged phallus with eagle legs. He holds lightning in one of the claws, while Amor holds a laurel wreath. Object dated to the 1st century BCE.

Amor on winged phallus

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