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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.
Galen (Aelius Galenus) was a Roman physician of Greek descent, who lived in the 2nd century CE he was regarded in his time as a great expert on human anatomy. Roman law forbade autopsies from 150 BCE. Thus, Galen relied only on dissections of animals (mostly monkeys and pigs).
Self-immolation was a way of taking one’s own life that had been used since ancient times. Most often it showed the courage of the unfortunate and expressed a kind of protest against injustice.
Gladiators were taught to kill and die stoically. Defeated, who failed to obtain the so-called missus or grace, could choose the way of death. He could kneel on the ground in front of his opponent, lean over and wrap his left arm around his left knee, thus exposing his neck. One quick cut to the throat severed the major arteries and ensured a quick but bloody death.
When having war elephants, it was extremely important to have experienced drivers of these animals, i.e. mahouts. Their task was to take care of the animal every day: feeding, watering, cleaning, and in the event of wounds or illness, special care. In addition to caring for the elephant, the mahout’s most important function was guiding the elephant.
In ancient Rome, urine was a versatile and valuable commodity that had many uses, from medicine to cleaning to manufacturing. While some of these uses may seem strange or even repulsive today, it’s important to remember that the Romans were skilled and resourceful people who used every resource available to them.
According to the original social rules in ancient Rome, it was the family of the victim who chose the type of punishment for the murderer. We do not have any written laws, in the set of XII tables, that govern the laws of a murderer.
Two researchers of ancient items believe they may have solved the mystery of why people living during the Roman Empire used “crooked” dice in their games. In their article published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, Jelmer Eerkens and Alex de Voogt describe their research on bones.
Period of civil wars of the 1st century BCE was a time of a great fratricidal struggle between the very citizens of Rome. As Marcus Favonius, Cato’s friend, noted: “Civil war was worse than the most illegal monarchy”1.
War of the allies (so-called bellum sociale) fought in 90-88 BCE was a conflict between the Roman Republic and its Italian allies (socii). For years, the policy of “divide and conquer” allowed to keep many cities and peoples of Italy under the rule. The controversial death of the people’s tribune, Marcus Livius Drusus, who pushed for, among other things, the granting of civil rights to all free inhabitants of Italy, as well as the division of all public lands, caused a violent outbreak of rebellious Italian tribes.
Banishment was commonly used in ancient Rome. One of its variations was the punishment interdicere aquae et ignis (“to prohibit fire and water”). The convict was forced to leave Roman lands and automatically lost his property to the state. If the exile returned he was still treated as an outlaw; had, among others forbidden to use fire and water, and could be killed without trial.
