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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.

Roman women and ancient business

Women in the Roman world did not have the same position as men; e.g. they could not vote in assemblies or hold public office. On the other hand, they could own land, write their own wills, and testify in court. However, this independence was limited.

Portret kobiety rzymskiej

Lyon Tablet – speech of Claudius

A so-called “Lyon Tablet” is a preserved bronze plaque on which the words of the speech given by Emperor Claudius (41-54 CE) before the Senate in Rome during the year 48 CE were placed. It was a proposal to recognize Roman citizens from distant Gaul as worthy of admission to the senatorial state, after achieving an appropriate level of wealth.

Lyon Tablet - speech of Claudius

Searching in Roman style

The persecution of Christians under Emperor Decius (249-251 CE), unlike many previous ones, covered the entire empire. Initially, the action was carried out very consistently, and hundreds, if not thousands, were killed. One of the most significant was Pope Fabian, Bishop of Rome from 236-250 CE.

Damnatio ad bestias

Iberia or Iberia?

Today’s area of ​​Spain and Portugal is known as the Iberian Peninsula, or simply – Iberia. This name was known in antiquity. However, in those days it also applied to a region almost four thousand kilometres away – modern Georgia…

Colchis and Iberia in the 4th-3rd century BCE - shown on a map from 1833 by Félix Delamarche

Roman Mysteries

Ancient Romans worshipped many gods and, like the ancient Greeks, performed mysteries and took part in cult ceremonies, often of an orgiastic nature. Many of them are still shrouded in mystery and little can be said about these practices.

Bacchanalia

What arts did ancient Romans like?

In the work “Daily Life in Ancient Rome” by Jérôme Carcopino, the author writes that the ancient Romans chose primarily dramas with macabre content, full of horror that made the viewer tremble.

Visualization of the Roman theater in Verulamium (today's city of St Albans, England) from around 180 CE, by Alan Sorrell

Baths of Caracalla were largest baths in empire

The Baths of Caracalla were the largest baths in the empire. Built in 216 CE the baths could simultaneously accommodate 1,500 people. The bathing plan was as follows: upon entering, you entered the bathhouse, then into the heated tepidarium room, preparing the body for hot baths in the caldarium.

Baths of Caracalla

Infamy for gladiator

According to Roman terms, every person participating in gladiatorial fights was put under infamy, a loss of honour. This was associated with the deprivation of most public rights, limitation of legal capacity, deprivation of legal protection (e.g. torture could be used). In a legal sense, therefore, each gladiator (with very few exceptions) was on the margins of Roman society.

Russell Crowe as General Maximus in Gladiator

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