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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.
What kind of pleasures Romans had thanks to the wine – prof. André Tchernia, a French historian, archaeologist and researcher of ancient wines, tied to find it out. He produced a liquor according to a recipe from the Roman Empire.
The rich Romans looked after their clients. The client was in a literal sense of the word parasite, which in exchange for protection he was ready every morning, according to the custom, at dawn, to appear at the patron’s house to greet him and offer his services. Sometimes the patron had to remind customers of their duties. Readiness to provide services gained great value during the election campaign.
In popular culture, we can hear about Roman generals fighting side by side with legionaries. It must be clearly stated that this was not entirely true. The Roman leaders were commanders, not warriors. Only in exceptional situations, when it was necessary, the commander was involved in the fight.
The Roman Empire gave birth to some truly outstanding philosophers such as Seneca the Younger or Marcus Aurelius. That does not mean, however, that the Romans, like the Greeks, considered meditation an important aspect of life. First, according to the Romans, philosophy was a Greek invention, and as they were conquered by the “sons of She-wolf”, it was not worthy for the Roman to deal with the matter invented by the Greek.
In ancient Rome, women could not drink wine, what was due to the paternalistic Roman society. Men’s domination caused that women were perceived as weak individuals who are susceptible to any negative factors. It was thought that wine could only expose women to dangers or encourage inappropriate behavior. The substitute for the wine was grape juice.
When the world is living an irreparable loss, which is the fire of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, it is worth mentioning that in this place at the turn of the first century before and in the era, Jupiter’s temple was definitely located.
In 452 BCE plebeians and patricians agreed on the creation of a ten-person college to deal with the codification of Roman law. Until now, all norms of social life were based on common law, whose familiarity and interpretation were reserved for pontificates derived from patricians – this only strengthened their power over the plebeians.
Suetonius reports that Augustus was a game lover to such extent that he invited his friends and family, gave everyone a sum of 250 denarii in order to encourage them to play. And he did not mind his own legal restrictions introduced in this matter. However, he was not a good player. In the letters he complained that he had suffered numerous losses due to gambling. Also Nero loved to play and was known for high bets. Apparently, they reached up to 400.000 sesterces.
How, tribes living in ancient times on current Polish territory, described Publius Cornelius Tacitus in De origine et situ Germanorum?
