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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.
In ancient Rome, not having at least one slave meant living in poverty. It is worth mentioning that about 25% of the population of ancient Rome was enslaved at the end of the existence of the Republic.
As it turns out, the Romans took magic very seriously, because they even regulated its use legally in their famous 12 tables.
Wigs were worn in ancient Rome. Julius Caesar reportedly wore a wig and a laurel wreath to hide his progressive baldness. The Emperor’s wife herself Marcus Aurelius – Faustina the Elder (c. 100-141 CE) – had an impressive collection of at least 300 wigs.
Romans were very superstitious. They believed in many things that they could not logically explain. For example, the old superstition was known – kissing a female mule in the nostrils cured hiccups and a runny nose. It was also believed that some people were capable of hurting others just by looking at them. Such superstition was called the “evil eye”.
The price of slaves in ancient Rome varied greatly. After a victorious military campaign, in which many slaves were captured, the price was naturally low due to the multitude of goods. Plautus (c. 250 BCE – 184 BCE) mentions that the conservative Cato the Elder was willing to pay between 500 and 1500 denarii for a slave.
Roman children (both boys and girls) were home-schooled Latin, elementary reading, writing and arithmetic. During this period of their lives, their most important teachers were their parents, who were to prepare them for life in the state.
Roman children played games similar to those we know today. They probably played a variant of hopscotch, they competed in tug of war, tug of war or hide and seek. Paper, scissors and stone were played in Rome and Egypt. The boys probably played war with the use of wooden swordtails and recreated the siege of Troy, popular in ancient times.
According to Carl Gustav Jung, the individual culture of antiquity was higher and more developed than the modern one, at the price of a collective culture, which was handicapped compared to our times. For wonderful literary works by people like Cicero, multitudes of slaves had to work, whose efforts guaranteed the well-being of the upper classes.
In ancient times, the Romans originally did not have great respect for doctors. Their knowledge and possible remedies came from rural life. Treated with simple home remedies. Cato the Elder writes that the father of the family – pater familias should have the appropriate knowledge.
