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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.
During the reign of Octavian Augustus (27 BCE – 14 CE), silk was an extremely popular material. Gaius Petronius refers to him as ventus textilis (“woven wind”). However, this product was extremely expensive and it was difficult to get it because it was produced in distant China, a country that guarded its monopoly.
Under Roman law, sexual intercourse qualified as incest, adultery or fornication (stuprum). This word is often used by Roman writers also in the context of the violation of Roman rights of freedom in relation to free-born women of both sexes.
Polybius went down in history as a Greek historian who, after his stay in Roman captivity, came under the protection of the consul Lucius Emilius Paulus, and then took part in more important military operations of the Romans in the middle of the 2nd century BCE, including the defeat of Carthage and the destruction of the city. Polybius in his “Histories” describes the history of Rome in the years 264-146 BCE, showing the Roman system as an example of the Greek ideal of a “mixed constitution”.
Silphium, that is, the sylphion was a plant that enjoyed extraordinary popularity in ancient times. Its juice was one of the main exports of the ancient Greek colony of Kyrene (today Libya), and it was known and used throughout the Mediterranean. To this day, it has not been possible to identify it unequivocally.
Most publications on the Polish market are full of errors in this matter. Konstantin Nosow is the most perfect in the described subject (Osprey’s publication “Gladiators. Bloody spectacle in the history of Rome”, Polish version by Bellona). The illustration shows the most typical gladiators’ helmets from the 1st-4th century CE. The text describes much more matter.
Gaius Verres was an example of a wicked and greedy Roman governor who, while in office (73-71 BCE) in Sicily, committed countless thefts of works of art, tax evasion and speculation on grain prices.
To this day, it seems to us that Julius Caesar was the first Roman who managed to reach almost unlimited power in the Roman republic. The truth is, however, that in 82 BCE it was Lucius Cornelius Sulla, after conquering Rome, who took full power in the state.
Ancient Romans weren’t as passionate about hunting as the Greeks. They treated it more as a sport and entertainment than an educational element. Hunting provided movement and exercise.
