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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.
In the Roman family, the husband and father were the head of the family. “Paternal authority” (patria potestas) lasted as a rule for life. It died out only with the death patris familias. Then the wife of the deceased (if she was subject to his authority), his children (but not grandchildren) and further descendants became persons sui iuris ([persons] of their right).
Octavian Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire (27 BCE – 14 CE), from the beginning of his office, proclaimed the need to correct morals, criticizing promiscuity and a taste for luxury. As it turned out, he had to start repairing Roman society from his own home.
Many of the nicknames of Roman emperors in use today were not used in official documents. Caracalla even got his nickname because of his fondness for a long Gallic cloak with a hood (the prototype of the monastic habit), which in Rome was called caracalla.
One of the tendencies existing in early Christianity, which was difficult to resist, was syncretism. It manifested itself in the desire to inscribe the new faith into the general cultural context of the epoch. Thanks to this, Christianity had a chance for dissemination, because people absorbed new ideas much easier when they were shown the connection with those they had been professing so far.
When members of the Roman Senate came to Julius Caesar to inform him of the award of special distinctions, he did not get up at the sight of them, as was customary, and did not show respect to the esteemed body. This behaviour of Caesar was one of the main reasons for the decision to assassinate the dictator.
Titus Livius mentions an interesting clash. In 349 BCE Roman Republic was still conducting numerous wars with its neighbours, aimed at gaining dominance in Italy. There were also fights with the Gauls – from the beginning of the 4th century, the deadly enemies of Roma. When the Romans were encamped near the Pontic marshes, columns of Gauls were about to approach them.
The emperor’s biographer Octavian Augustus, Patricia Southern, is convinced that the first emperor had a specially delegated group of specialists who took care of the ruler’s good image and publicity.
As we know, the ancients were extremely promiscuous in their paintings and other works of art. There are many examples of Roman frescoes with visible phallus or inscriptions referring to sexual matters. As it turns out, the Romans also liked to use sexual comparisons in colloquial speech.
Haruspices were priests who were active long ago. Originally, they appeared in the state of Mari (northern Mesopotamia) and the Hittites. Then the haruspices appeared in Etruria. Etruscans were taken over by the ancient Romans. Haruspices began to appear in Rome during the Punic Wars (mid-3rd century BCE). Haruspices gave advice to both the state and individuals.
Tourism and holidays are not just modern inventions. Already in Roman times, the inhabitants of the Empire often travelled and went on vacation. The Romans began to travel on a massive scale during the reign of Octavian Augustus (reigned 27 BCE – 14 CE).
