Curiosities of ancient Rome (Society)

The rich Roman matrons did not breastfeed their children. For these purposes, slaves or freedmen were usually used.

Brushing teeth in Roman times was an inseparable element of personal hygiene. However, modern people would not use the substances used by the Romans. They believed, for example, that hard ingredients allowed teeth to maintain strength – for this purpose, crushed bones and oyster shells from which the mixture was made.

Subligaculum was underwear, worn e.g. under a toga, which was formed by a linen loincloth. Both men and women wrapped in a belt of material around the waist to cover intimate places. 

The ritual of maturing a young Roman consisted of shaving a beard and removing his bulla, an amulet worn to protect him from evil spirits. The young man dedicated a bull to the house deities, Lares.

There is a widespread – mistaken – belief that the ancient Romans always wore sandals and dressed in tunics to withstand the warm climate in the Mediterranean. It must be remembered, however, that Roman legions conquered also Gaul, Germania or Britain. There, temperatures, like today, were lower and in the winter heavy snow was falling. The Romans, wanting to survive in such conditions, had to protect the body against hypothermia.

Woman in ancient Rome certainly had much more free life than in Greece. For example, during the classical period (up to 323 BCE), Greek women not only did not have civil rights, but they were also under the rule of a man. First, fathers, later husbands, from whom they were completely dependent. The whole life of an Athenian woman was limited to focusing on the home and children; on weekdays the woman was locked in her room, and only during the holidays she could leave hit. The relative improvement of the Greek woman’s status took place in the Hellenic period (323-30 BCE).