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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 tombstone of Severius Acceptus

Roman tombstone of Severius Acceptus, a soldier of the legion VIII Augusta, who probably belonged to a separate special unit of vexillatio. The man died at the age of 26 after 6 years of service in the Roman army. On the tombstone, we can see the image of a man and some of his attributes. The object is dated to the 3rd century CE. The tombstone was found in northwestern Turkey and is on display in a museum in Istanbul.

Roman tombstone of Severius Acceptus

Porphyry

Porphyry has been used since ancient times to make sarcophagi, sculptures and a host of other items as well as architectural features. The most widely used type of porphyry was red porphyry, or rather porphyry andesite, characterized by the purple colour of the rock.

Red porphyry

Ancient discoveries in city Magnice in Poland

Within the suburbs of Wrocław, in the village of Magnice, archaeological excavations preceding the construction of a logistics center revealed the remains of a large settlement of the Przeworsk culture from the 60’s of the 2nd century CE. The dendrochronological examination of the wooden elements of the well casing elements discovered there set the construction date as the first years of the reign of Marcus Aurelius (ca. 162-164 CE).

Marek Aureliusza Street in Magnce and the hall where the Przeworsk culture settlement was once located

Assessment of Roman republican system by Polybius

Polybius went down in history as a Greek historian who, after his stay in Roman captivity, came under the protection of the consul Lucius Emilius Paulus, and then took part in more important military operations of the Romans in the middle of the 2nd century BCE, including the defeat of Carthage and the destruction of the city. Polybius in his “Histories” describes the history of Rome in the years 264-146 BCE, showing the Roman system as an example of the Greek ideal of a “mixed constitution”.

Roman columns

Silphium juice

Silphium, that is, the sylphion was a plant that enjoyed extraordinary popularity in ancient times. Its juice was one of the main exports of the ancient Greek colony of Kyrene (today Libya), and it was known and used throughout the Mediterranean. To this day, it has not been possible to identify it unequivocally.

Image of Silphium on the reverse of a Cyrene coin

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