Curiosities of ancient Rome (Unknown facts)

Music in ancient Rome was often associated with work. The singing was supposed to give it a rhythm and a good pace. For example, rowers worked listening to the so-called hortator, that is, they rowed to the rhythm of the music.

In ancient Greece, women waxed the bikini line with tar in the shape of a triangle. Roman women depilated themselves in a semicircle, which was confirmed by the plaster casts of the victims of the eruption of Vesuvius in Pompeii in 79 CE.

Seneca the Younger, a Roman philosopher and writer from the 1st century CE, wrote a satire about Emperor Claudius in revenge for his exile to Corsica in 41 CE. He titled his work: “The Pumpkinification of (the Divine) Claudius” (Apocolocyntosis divi Claudii). Naturally, he wrote his work during the reign of Nero, after Claudius was murdered in 54 CE.

In 1726, a great tomb (columbarium) was discovered at via Appia, in which, as it turned out, the ashes of almost a thousand slaves and freedmen belonging to the first empress Livia were buried. In the tomb, there were also badges with names and professions written on them.

According to ancient sources, at the beginning of his reign, Domitian (81-96 CE) was to lead to the expulsion of philosophers from Rome and Italy and forbid the Romans to deal with philosophy.

Form Urbis Romae also called (Form Urbis Severiana) is from the times of the Severan dynasty (193-235 CE) a map of ancient Rome. It is the only plan of this type preserved from antiquity.

Already ancient s had different opinions about Emperor Nero; some even gave some “positive” feedback. When asked by the flatterers, the philosopher Apollonius of Tyana replied, “I think of him better than you, for you think he should sing and mine should be silent”¹.

Holy water is associated with the Christian faith. It is used in baptisms, blessing and expelling evil. Few, however, realize that the holy springs occurred in other religions, including the ancient Greeks and Romans.