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Curiosities of ancient Rome (Unknown facts)

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.

Pugilatio – bloody sport of antiquity

Probably everyone who was in Rome and visited the Palazzo Massimo Alle Terme museum drew attention to the famous “Qurinal boxer” – a bronze sculpture found near the ruins of the Baths of Constantine. A naked, muscular man in a sitting position looks to the side, slightly up. The more attentive would have noticed deep, bloody wounds on his body.

Ancient sculpture of a boxer from Palazzo Massimo Alle Terme

Shops of ancient Romans

What is a store and what is done in it probably everyone knows. It may come as a surprise to some that shops already existed in ancient Rome.

Trajan's halls in Rome

Galen and mental problems

Galen was a Roman physician of Greek descent who lived in the 2nd century CE. He was considered in his time to be a great expert in human anatomy and a physician. Interestingly, he also dealt with mental health disorders.

Galen

CE and BCE: where did “eras” come from?

Have you ever wondered when marking dates according to the time that has passed since the death of Jesus appeared? As it turns out, the matter is not as obvious as it might seem. It turns out that for a long time, several systems competed with each other and at first it was not at all certain that it was the date of Christ’s birth that would become the determinant for marking dates.

Roman agricultural calendar from the 1st century CE

Emperor Augustus’ workshop

I am always fascinated by the possibility of “touching” the elements of reality that 2000 years ago accompanied the heroes of my novels. The Roman historian Suetonius writes about Octavian Augustus: “If ever he planned to do anything in private or without interruption, he had a retired place at the top of the house, which he called “Syracuse”​ and “technyphion”1.

Emperor Augustus' workshop

Unusual legend about creation of Tiber Island

Tiber Island is one of the most picturesque places in Rome. No cars, greenery and the sound of water – this is a place with a small-town charm, where even at the peak of the tourist season you can take a break from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Tiber Island

Few words about Forma Urbis

There is no doubt that Rome is a big city. It was already big in antiquity and just like today’s cities are divided into districts, so Rome was divided into the so-called. regions. During the times of Octavian Augustus, the Eternal City had 14 of them. Each of them had a separate administration to facilitate the management of the entire city. This was not easy, because under Emperor Constantine I the Great, Rome had 322 important intersections and 423 streets.

Reconstruction of a fragment of the Forma Urbis with the Pompey Theater audience

Lugii – ancestors of Poles?

Lugii/Longiones were a people of not entirely clear origin, just before BCE and in the first centuries CE they inhabited the upper basin of the Oder and Vistula rivers, i.e. the area of ​​today’s southern and central Poland.

Lugii

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