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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.

Greedy Roman financiers

Evil and greedy financiers, using the “gray man” for his own enrichment, are not just a “product” of our time. Already in republican Rome there were people operating in the financial and banking sphere, basing on usury.

Roman coins

Exploitation of Roman provinces

The governors of the Roman provinces had such power that they could use the subordinated territory in an absolute way. This situation took place practically throughout the entire period of the existence of the Roman state, but we have extensive knowledge especially about the first century BCE. Rarely then, there was a fair and reasonable administrator, the example of Cicero.

Pontius Pilate in the movie "Passion".

Roman women often died during childbirth

Childbirth in ancient times was a huge threat not only to the child, but also to the woman giving birth. Lack of proper sanitary conditions, infections or simply the lack of proper knowledge meant that childbirth was one of the most dangerous moments in a woman’s life.

A birthing scene on a Roman sculpture

Venatio – fight with wild animals

Venatio (plural venationes), literally “hunting”, it was a form of entertainment organized in Roman amphitheaters consisting of hunting and killing wild animals. Wild predators were brought to Rome from the depths of the Roman Empire and brought to the arena to the delight of spectators.

A bronze medallion depicting venatio: a man fighting a wild animal.

St. Ambrose from Milan – architect of Middle Ages

In 390 CE emperor Theodosius I, at the instigation of the Church, issued a bill under which every homosexual act is to be punished: “When a man marries [a man] as a woman offering herself to men (quum vir nubit in feminam viris porrecturam), what can he be seeking, where gender has lost its place; when the crime is one which it is not profitable to know; when Venus is changed to another form; when love is sought and not found? We order the statutes to arise, the laws to be armed with an avenging sword, that those infamous persons who are now, or who hereafter may be, guilty may be subjected to exquisite punishment”.

Anthony van Dyck, St. Ambrose and Emperor Theodosius

Slingers of Balearic Islands, Majorca and monuments

Balearii was a unit of soldiers from the Balearic Archipelago, who most likely derive their name from the Greek verb “ballein”, meaning cast. The name was given to them by the ancient Romans, but probably the warriors were already known in the Bronze Age.

Roman Majorca

Fish drug of ancient Romans

Ancient Romans taught their children how to identify and recognize which plants and animals can be useful and how to use them in everyday life and in crafts.

Sarpa salpa

Terrorism in antiquity

Roman historian, Tacitus reports that in the summer of 82 CE, three Roman warships were hijacked. The captains of two of them were killed; the survivor surrendered to the orders of the kidnappers.

Roman legionaries from the times of the principate

Toga impractical

Roman toga was the formal Roman citizen clothing that made him stand out among foreigners and slaves. Symbolism and representation of the Roman were associated with clothing. In this way, their strength, seriousness, significance and attachment to reason of state were shown. Interestingly, this outfit was not very practical.

Roman toga

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