Curiosities of ancient Rome (Unknown facts)

Cataract of the eyes, a disease leading to blindness, was treated in ancient Rome. In 29 CE in De Medicinae, in the work of the Roman encyclopedist Aulus Cornelius Celsus, you can find a way to treat this disease. We also have evidence of numerous operations on the eyeball under the Romans.

In ancient Rome, the she-wolf ( magnifying glass ) was synonymous with the harlot. Hence the origin of lupanar – a synonym for a brothel. The term is also derived from the legend of Romulus and Remus.

With the conquests of the Roman Republic at the end of the 2nd century and throughout the 1st century BCE works of Greek art began to flow to Rome and Italy as spoils from the Mediterranean. The victorious chiefs wanted to celebrate their triumphs and decorate the city.

The Roman social and moral “miracle” was that foreign influences were assimilated without losing their cultural identity. The visualization shows a reconstructed appearance of one of York’s inhabitants from the 4th century CE. The city was multicultural and the exemplary woman had black and white ancestors, which was certainly common during the Empire.

It is assumed that by the end of the 1st century BCE, nearly 90% of the free population of Italy had ancestors of slave origin. 

The ancient Romans had no problems presenting the love aspects of social life in public. To this day, there are many mosaics depicting acts of love.

As Michael Grant writes, ancient Roman sources are unclear and difficult to interpret unequivocally. Ancient rites were recorded in holiday calendars. What we have learned of this contains some material that goes back to the time of the Roman kings. Such religious events – the completion of annual religious rites – initially had the best chance of being remembered by the Romans.

Ancient Romans rather despised beggars and believed that they were closer to slaves than to fellow citizens. If someone was supported, it was only for political gains.

Average water consumption per capita of ancient Rome ranged from 370 to 450 litres of water per day. In order to meet the needs, the city had to have adequate supplies.

The Capitoline and Albanian Agon were competitions, first of all, poetry. The very word agon translated from the Greek (ἀγών) means competition, competition. Their tradition referred to Greek culture and the local sports and literary competitions.