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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.
In 1900 a groundbreaking discovery was made near the French town of Nantes. A certain Felix Chaillou found there over a thousand Roman coins from the second half of the third century. However, one unique coin attracted the greatest attention of scholars. A unique copy of an antoninianus with an image of a certain Domitianus, an unknown usurper emperor, on the obverse.
Marcus Tullius Cicero is considered a great politician, thinker, philosopher, lawyer, and above all a speaker and defender. His main occupation was defence and prosecution before Roman courts. Without even realizing it, many repeat his sayings or famous parems, and young lawyers learn to speak from his speeches.
Gaius Julius Zoilos was born in the first half of the 1st century BCE in the Roman city of Aphrodisias (today’s southern Turkey). The excavations carried out there over the last fifty years have revealed his magnificent tomb. At first, archaeologists thought they were dealing with an aristocratic person until an inscription was discovered identifying him as “Gaius Julius Zoilos, freedman of the divine Julius Caesar”.
Lucius Papirius Cursor (c. 365 – after 310 BCE) was one of the most valued and respected Romans in history. He held the office of consul five times and was a dictator twice. It was thanks to him that the Romans won the so-called Second Samnite War (326-304 BCE) and took revenge for the shameful defeat of the Caudine Forks in 321 BCE. Lucius Papirius Cursor received his nickname Cursor (“Runner”) because of his outstanding speed and efficiency in running.
Marcus Porcius Cato Licinianus was one of the sons of the famous Cato the Elder known as the Censor, who became famous for his ruthless attitude towards Carthage and an extremely strict approach to life. Licinianus was born in 192 BCE and he an example of a young Roman who came from the upper classes of society. As his father was a distinguished soldier for the Republic, a Roman tradition called for his son to follow in his footsteps.
Spartacus, the leader of the greatest slave revolt in Roman history, was most likely of Thracian origin, as evidenced by his fighting style in the arenas. He was incorporated into the Roman army as a soldier of auxiliary units.
Cassius Chaerea was a Roman soldier serving in the Roman army during the fighting in Germania. However, we are best known from the accounts of Suetonius as the person who killed the emperor Caligula for personal reasons.
“Sulla is a mulberry sprinkled o’er with meal” – this is how Lucius Cornelius Sulla was ridiculed by mocking Athenians1. It was an allusion to his red face and a harsh rash against which piercing blue eyes gleamed. How does he describe the life of this Roman chief, Plutarch?
