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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.
Under Roman law, the woman who got married was still in her father’s family (but that was not the rule) and not just the spouse. With the divorce, she lost parental rights over children who were only among her father’s family.
A man ruled the Roman house, but he often entrusted his wife with some duties, for example, looking after the treasury or managing slaves. Traditionally, it was considered that the only work a free woman could do was spinning wool.
Roman women did not have unique names. They usually took the female form of the family name. This is how Julia came from the Julius family, and for example, the daughter of Marcus Tullius Cicero was called Tulia. This name-surname was the first member of the name of a woman, and for a very long time, until the end of the republic, the only one.
Hair dyeing was extremely popular among Roman women. The most famous colours were red, black and blonde. The latter was popular thanks to the Germans and Gauls with whom the Romans began to come into contact. Prostitutes were even legally obliged to have a blonde colour to distinguish themselves from ordinary Romans. However, this did not prevent the residents from dying their hair.
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.
