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Unknown Facts are curiosities revealing little-known, surprising, or rarely discussed information from the world of ancient Rome and antiquity. This category includes unusual details, curiosities, and facts that offer a less obvious perspective on the Roman Empire.
Octavian Augustus (63 BCE – 14 CE) like virtually every famous personage, and even more so the ruler had to reckon with numerous rumours about himself. One of them was allegedly the emperor’s adoration of deflowering virgins, whom Livia was to send him from various parts of the Empire.
Roman medicine had its high level, especially in the legions. Celsus, a Roman scholar in the 1st century CE, claims that military doctors knew human anatomy much better than their colleagues in private practice.
From the end of the 3rd century CE, the emperor ceased to be princeps to become “domine” – dominat. We owe the new type of government to Diocletian, who ruled from 284 to 305 CE. The emperor was now omnipotent, he could change the law as he pleased, and the appearance of a republic vanished.
