Curiosities of ancient Rome (Unknown facts)

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).

Roman civil wars in the 1st century BCE, they harmed the good name of the nation and the state to such an extent that the first emperor – Octavian Augustus ordered the destruction of all documents related to this fratricidal fight.

Plutarch recognizes Gaius Gracchus as the person who, for the first time in the Roman Republic, ordered small stones to be placed by the road so that the horseman could, without any help, mount his horse.

The Latin phrase – furor teutonicus (“Teutonic fury”) – was used to describe the aggressive actions of the Germanic peoples. It first appeared in Lucan’s Pharsalia to convey the qualities he attributed to the Teutons: cruelty and battle frenzy. At the end of the 2nd century BCE northern Italy was invaded by the Germanic tribes of the Teutons and Cimbri, whose invasion threatened Rome’s sovereignty.

A slave in ancient times is a captive man, considered a subsistence animal because it benefits the owner. The food expenditures allocated to him are returned with the use of the slave’s energy and work.

Roman thermal baths were certainly one of the favourite places where a Roman could relax his body. Tepidarium was probably the first place visited by bathers and was a kind of introduction to further hot (caldarium) or cold (frigidarium) baths.

Pertinax was the first emperor (January 1, 193 – March 28, 193 CE) of plebeian origin. He was the son of a freedman trading in timber. He made a career in the army, where he was a military commander.

Distinguishing species of animals similar to each other, for example, all kinds of felids (and biodiversity was then, i.e. in the times of Pliny the Elder much greater than it is now), posed many difficulties.