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People are curiosities dedicated to figures from the world of ancient Rome and antiquity. This category includes lesser-known facts, anecdotes, and interesting information about emperors, generals, politicians, thinkers, and other heroes of the Roman Empire, revealing a lesser-known side to them.
Calgacus was the first Caledonian (inhabitant of present-day Scotland) mentioned in Roman sources. Tacitus describes him as the leader of the Caledons, a man of self-respect and an excellent orator. He had red hair and a powerful build. His name in the Celtic language meant “having a sword”.
Attila – the leader of Huns, one of the most important figures in the history of the late-antique world. Together with his brother Bleda, he inherited power from his uncle – Ruas. In the year 445 CE killed his brother while hunting, allegedly mistaking him for a bear. He then became the independent ruler of the Hunnic Empire. In the 40s of the 5th century, the Eastern Roman Empire paid Attila several thousand pounds of gold of various kinds of tribute and tribute.
For hundreds of years in Rome and around the world, a model of civic virtue was one Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (“Curly”), also known as Cincinnatus. He was a patrician and Roman consul in 460 BCE. In 458 BCE he was proclaimed dictator of Rome by the Roman Senate during the war with the Aequi people. According to legend, the senate made the choice while Cincinnatus was ploughing the field.
Living at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, Apollodoros of Damascus was one of the most famous architects of antiquity. He worked for Emperor Trajan, for whom he was extremely useful, e.g. during the so-called Dacian Wars – designed a bridge that was thrown over the Danube to enable the Roman legions to cross the river. In addition, he designed the Trajan’s Forum, the emperor’s triumphal arches in Benevento and Ancona, perhaps he participated in the creation of one of the wonders of ancient architecture – Pantheon1.
Poppea Sabina was the mistress and then the second wife of Emperor Nero. Poppaea led a lavish lifestyle and was known as a beautiful, calculating woman. Some of her beauty treatments gained great fame (e.g. baths in donkey’s milk). It was she who persuaded Nero to murder his own mother – Agrippina the Younger. Probably Nero himself led to the death of Poppaea in 65 CE.
An uprising of Spartacus in 73-71 BCE was a very serious threat that the Roman state had to deal with. It was then that Cato the Younger and probably Julius Caesar took their first steps into the Roman army.
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.
