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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.
The first century BCE was an extremely turbulent period in the history of ancient Rome. During this time, there were struggles for power and influence between the populares and the optimates. The main enemies were Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who committed a huge number of murders.
Roman glass cups from Weklice (Warmińsko-Mazurskie Province). Discovered during archaeological research in 2010 in the graveyard of the Wielbark culture. Together with wine-drinking vessels made of bronze, they constituted a set given as a grave gift. The cups were imported from the area of the Roman Empire. They are perfectly preserved, which is unique in itself.
Lucius Cornelius Sulla is the first Roman citizen who, after the fall of the monarchy, practically took over full power in the Roman state. His rivalry with the populares led by Marius and Cynna led to the death of many Italians.
Roman bas-relief was probably made around the 1st century CE. It depicts Hermes (Mercury in the Roman Pantheon of gods), as indicated by the MP’s cane, not visible in the photo above. It was made in the so-called archaic style – consciously imitating the works of the Greek archaic era (ca. 800-480 BCE).
According to Pliny the Elder, already in ancient times jealousy and disbelief towards other people were visible if they achieved great success. A great example is Gaius Furius Cresimus – a farmer from Italy.
Ancient Romans created a society in which slavery was used to a large extent. It is worth emphasizing that the Romans valued slaves born in captivity (so-called vernae; in singular verna) the most because such people had never experienced a sense of freedom and considered their life situation to be a normal state.
After Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, consul for 238 BCE, commanded the Roman army in the fights with the Gauls, and Iberians, and then pacified Sardinia, a huge number of slaves began to flow to Rome. The saturation of the Roman market was so great at that time that, especially after the conquest of Sardinia, the phrase “cheap as Sardinians” began to be used, which referred to the situation that the price was extremely low and the supply exceeded the demand.
Fetials (fetiales) were a twenty-member college of priests dedicated to Jupiter. Priests were elected for life. Their task was to declare war and conclude an alliance, which was associated with special magical formulas. Their activities were closely related to religious rites and surrounded by the highest secrecy.
The son of Septimius Severus, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, known by the nickname Caracalla, after the Gallic coat he willingly wore, was greatly fascinated by the figure of king Alexander III of Macedon. His fascination was so great that from what the historian Cassius Dio described, he created troops of legionaries, who not only referred to the formation of troops of the conqueror of the Achaemenid Empire with the name phalangarii, but were also recruited from the territories of Macedonia and Thrace, and even their armament was supposed to imitate Macedonian ones (wearing cloth armour and using long spears).
Domitian was nearly 18 when his father was proclaimed emperor by the legions in the east, and his brother Titus suppressed the Jewish uprising. For several months before his father came to the capital, the young member of the imperial line became the de facto master of the capital.
