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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.
Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138-78 BCE) became famous as the first Roman politician who gained unlimited power in practice. After winning the civil war in 82 BCE he appointed himself a dictator without a time frame. Finally, however, of his own free will, he resigned in 79 BCE from office and retired.
Most historians agree that epilepsy is the most likely candidate for Caligula’s disease. There are several details in Caligula’s biography that support this argument. It is suggested that members of Julius’ family suffered from epilepsy. Additionally, several historians point out that during his childhood, Caligula had episodes of sudden falls during which he lost consciousness and had difficulty staying upright. Analyzed from a modern perspective, these episodes may indicate atonic seizures.
Gaius Lalius Sapiens was a Roman politician in the mid-2nd century BCE and friend of the famous Roman leader Scipio Africanus the Younger – the conqueror of Carthage in 146 BCE. Lelius received his nickname Sapiens, meaning “Wise”, from his contemporaries for the decision to abandon the proposal to reform the law on agricultural land.
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.
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).
In Roman sources, Mithridates VI Eupator appears to us as the leader of the wars that the Romans had to wage for about 25 years in the East. Mithridates was to strive to create a regional power from Pontus and displace Roman influence from the territories of present-day Turkey. But can we really speak of Mithridates as an aggressor, or rather a victim of Roman imperialism?
Lucius Licinius Lucullus (117 – 56 BCE), is a somewhat forgotten figure. He lived in interesting times, which is why many mentions of him have been preserved by various authors. A great commander, and at the same time a person who was unable to win over the soldiers. This is how Cassius Dio characterized him in his “Roman history”:
An interesting inscription from Philippi (Greece) has been preserved to our times, describing the life and military service of a certain Decimus Furius Octavius Secundus. He was a Roman soldier in the first half of the 2nd century CE. The artefact perfectly shows us what a career in the Roman army was like.
The later dictator of the Roman republic, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, also known as Felix because of his allegedly favourable fortune throughout his life, could start a political career thanks to his acquaintance with a person through whom his contemporary political career could rather collapse completely.
Murder of Commodus at the end of 192 CE it ended the reign of the Antonine dynasty and certainly the best period of the existence of the Roman empire. He was succeeded by Pertynax, a respected senator and efficient leader of Marcus Aurelius, chosen by the conspirators. Unfortunately, however, the financial and internal discipline that Pertinax tried to impose in Rome led to his murder by the praetorians in March 193 CE.
