Curiosities of ancient Rome (Unknown facts)

Pliny the Younger began his clerk career under Emperor Domitian, but withdrew from public life, discouraged by the universal terror. He returned to politics under Emperor Trajan, who trusted him and entrusted him with the governorship of the province of Bithynia and Pontus in 109 CE. At that time, he proposed to the ruler an extremely ambitious and interesting project – the construction of a navigable canal for Nicomedia, which would bypass the Bosphorus. It was also planned to build a series of aqueducts.

Strabo, a Greek geographer and historian from the 1st century BCE in his work Geography mentions the people of Cantabria with whom Rome was at war in the years 29-19 BCE They were finally defeated only in 19 BCE by the troops of Marcus Agrippa. The war was the last phase of the Roman conquest of Spain.

In addition to the Roman colonies being strategic hubs, whose inhabitants were full Roman citizens, so-called Latin colonies whose inhabitants did not have full political rights. The Latin colonies had autonomy and were obliged to provide Rome with a military contingent during the war.

Currently, the Mediterranean area is heavily deforested. Deforestation during the Roman period was the result of the Empire’s territorial expansion, population growth, large-scale agriculture and rapid economic development.

Certainly, the Roman shoemakers (sutor) were very good artisans and their products were widely worn throughout the Mediterranean. Most often, the inhabitants of the Tiber wore the most ordinary sandals (sandalia or soleae). Shoes (calcei – from the word calx meaning “heel”) were also popular, apparently, they looked best with a toga and thus were worn by the upper classes.

Demand for prostitutes was on the agenda and relatively high. The earnings of prostitutes were subject to taxation by the state, which also, thanks to appropriate legislation, secured the money invested in the lupanaras of that time.

The word “abracadabra ” first appears in Liber Medicinalis (known as De Medicina Praecepta Saluberrima), a medical book written in verse in Latin. It is believed that the author could have been Quintus Serenus Sammonicus, a court scholar of Emperor Septimius Severus (ruled 193-211 CE) and Caracalla (209-217 CE). In chapter 51 the author recommends that people suffering from malaria wear an amulet containing the said word in the form of a triangle: