Curiosities of ancient Rome (Unknown facts)

In source messages, we can find information that confirms how widespread and important to ancient Romans was counting on the fingers. An example is Quintilian, who mentions that knowledge of numbers is needed not only for speakers but also for anyone who can write. A speaker who can not perform basic calculations shows hesitation and shows abnormal gestures with his fingers immediately loses confidence.

Tironian notes (notae Tironianae) were a Roman system of rapid writing, which appeared in the last years of the Roman Republic. It assumed usage of shorthand.

People had to deal with sexually transmitted diseases in antiquity. One of them was, for example, herpes, for which the Romans invented two, not very popular methods of treatment. The first major plague epidemic appeared during the reign of emperor Tiberius, at the beginning of the first century CE.

Spolia opima (“great loot”) was a martial custom in republican Rome. According to it, the person who defeated in the direct duel the general of the hostile army was granted the honor of putting the armor drawn from his body and the rest of the gear in the temple of Jupiter Feret’rius on the Capitol.

Pollice verso (also referred to as verso pollice) was a gesture condemning the defeated gladiator in ancient Rome to death. Contrary to common beliefs and the image disseminated by cinematography, it is uncertain whether in ancient Rome this gesture was actually in the form of a thumb pointing downwards

During the funeral of a wealthy Roman slaves had to fight with each other. This was done because it was thought that the blood calms the gods, and the show relaxed a family in mourning. This custom was initiated by the Brutus family, when in 264 BCE a family member died – Decimus Brutus. Then, a fight between three warrior pairs was arranged. 

With the rise of the empire, the first person in the Roman state became the emperor, who gradually became equivalent to the Roman gods. Therefore, in the second century CE, there was created the whole funeral ceremony, was aimed at a worthy farewell to the beloved emperor.

“Exception that proves the rule” (Exceptio probat regulam) – these were the words that come up during the defense of Cornelius Balbus in ancient Rome. Cornelius Balbo was not a Roman by birth but received Roman citizenship. This decision was contested, arguing that there are agreements prohibiting the granting of citizenship to members of certain tribes.

Emperor Tiberius is judged very differently by posterity. The reign of Tiberius was a period of peace and good management for ordinary people in the provinces but for the spheres of the Roman aristocracy a time of increasing tyranny and terror. His last years of reign have gone down in history, which he spent in isolation on the island of Capri. There, according to Suetonius, he was supposed to organize really perverse games.

Bull Felix was a legendary Italian bandit operating in the years 205-207 CE, during the reign of Septimius Severus. He gathered under his command a band of about 600 men: escaped slaves, freedmen and former soldiers of the praetorian guard expelled by the emperor. He competed with Roman legionaries and could not be caught. The story of this rebel comes from the message of Cassius Dio, a Greek historian and Roman senator, and it is believed that it became the prototype for later legends about “good” bandits like Zorro, Scarlet flower or Robin Hood.