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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.
The plan shows a typical Roman house (domus) in ancient Rome. Obviously, the number of rooms and the structure changed, depending on the times and wealth of the host; nevertheless, the layout and location of the rooms in the house were basically similar.
The word “brutus” literally means “dumb”. It came from Lucius Junius Brutus – known as the freedman of Rome, the first consul who expelled Tarquinius Superbus (the last Roman king). He was pretended to be a fool to survive at Tarquini’s court.
The Roman game ludus duodecim scriptorum (also called XII scripta) was a board game with 3 rows, each with 12 markings. To this day, no one knows how the game was played.
Julius Caesar said “Veni, vidi vici!”. However, the pronunciation of Latin in ancient Rome has little to do with medieval, later and modern pronunciation.
Thermopolium was an antique street bar that literally means “the place where you sell (something) warm”. This type of place was popular in Greek or Roman cities among the poor who could not afford their own kitchen. Today we could describe such a place as “fast-food”.
Secret Museum or Secret Cabinet (Gabinetto Segreto) are terms referring to the collection of erotic and sexual objects found in Pompeii and Herculaneum, which is located in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy.
Ancient Romans called amber as lyncurium (other names are lyngurium or ligurium), meaning “lynx urine” because according to the beliefs, the golden object was created from the petrified urine of this predator (apparently the best came from male urine).
Where did the division of the week into 7 days come from? Most people would point out the Bible and the process of creating the world written there. However, it is not so certain that the Hebrews were the creators of the 7-day week used to this day.
Marcus Tullius Cicero in his work “Brutus” describes many great Roman orators. His opinions are extremely valuable for historians and researchers because they allow them to explore the era and events of that period.
Excessive consumption of food and excess was something the ancient Romans believed should be avoided at all costs. The ideal Roman should be devoted to the gods, his family and homeland, and above all, he should live a simple life and does not demand glory. However, as it always happens, in practice it was different and the Romans, as conquerors of the world, departed from their ideals, e.g. they indulged in boisterous feasts and decadent dishes.
