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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.

Foreigners in Rome

Nowadays, many emigrants who come permanently to other countries bring with them their cultural achievements, their language, traditions and customs. Whole districts of emigrants arise, which are reminiscent of their home sides.

Reconstructed appearance of one of York's inhabitants from the 4th century CE

Opium – remedy known to ancient Romans

Opium – a narcotic substance produced from opium poppy capsules (Papaver somniferum) – was already known in antiquity, from about 1000 BCE. We also have evidence that the cultivation of these plants was also present in ancient Rome.

Opium was already known in ancient Rome

Graeculus – “little Greek”

The ancient Romans had a strange approach to the Greeks. On the one hand, they considered them worse, but on the other hand, due to their culture, they placed them on a higher pedestal, next to the Persians, and lower than the northern peoples: Gauls or Germans.

Greece - the birth of the city

Proscription in ancient Rome

Proscription (proscriptio, pl. proscriptiones) was originally in ancient Rome announcing the auction of the debtor’s property, and later enlisting of outlaws – political opponents and in consequence depriving them of their citizenship, property and sentencing to exile. Prudential children and grandchildren were marked with infamy.

Print showing the announcement of the proscription lists

Did Romans wear rings as sign of love?

In the Roman world, there was no distinction between the wedding ring and the engagement ring. Roman on the occasion of the wedding was donating a ring to his chosen woman. However, this was not proof of love, but rather a subordination of a woman and recognition of her as property. In this way, the future husband clearly stated that the woman he married belongs only to him. It is brutal, but this is what the paternalistic Roman society looked like.

Roman ring showing connected hands

Casta and incestum – Roman values

Roman social relations were based on the existence of two values. For example, a Roman woman who remained loyal to her husband and proved herself as a good wife was referred to as casta, meaning “pure”. THe phase castitas allowed a man to commune with the gods and make sacrifices.

Roman newsletter

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