Curiosities of ancient Rome (Unknown facts)

A longest word in classical Latin is the word subductisupercilicarptor [24 characters], meaning “a person who criticizes and raises his eyebrows upwards” – literally, this term was for an extremely critical critic. Aulus Gellius (2nd century CE) also mentions another long word in his “Attic Nights”: trisaeclisenex, which literally means “an old man living for three generations”.

Ave Caesar morituri te salutant! (“Hail, Emperor, those who are about to die salute you!”) was a greeting of gladiators before the fight to the emperor. We know about the existence of this phrase thanks to the preserved work of Suetonius. The only question is whether those words were uttered always before the fight?

In 2012, fire torches were lit on the remains of the Hadrian’s wall to commemorate the 1600th anniversary of leaving the Britain (412 CE) by the Romans. In total there were 500 points of light. A similar event took place in 2010.

Photograph from the early 1930s showing the remains of one of the two powerful ships of Caligula from Lake Nemi (Nemorensis Lacus) which, on the order of Benito Mussolini, has been drained.

Marcus Licinius Crassus was one of the richest Romans in history. One of his ways to become rich was organizing a “fire brigade”.

In Italy, the number 17 is considered unhappy. After converting Roman numerals XVII in such a way as to create the word “VIXI”. In Latin, the word means “my life is over.”

Pliny the Elder wrote that the white juice of lettuce calms the love enthusiasm, but also lowers the fever and also increases the volume of blood. What salad was it? Modern researchers have discovered that it was probably the so-called compass plant (lactuca serriola) – a wild plant, the ancestor of lettuce, resembling more dandelion than the familiar round vegetable.

Claudius Aelianus mentions that he heard that mares are the only animals that once pregnant allow stallions to copulation. He compared them to women. Mares are extremely passionate and therefore Roman strict moral censors called lascivious women “mares”.

It is possible that the customs associated with the celebration of Valentine’s Day refer to the ancient Roman feast, called Lupercalia, celebrated on February 15 in honour of Faun or the ancient god of the shepherds Lupercus, who protected their herd from wolves.

Claudius Aelianus presents the struggle of ichneumon (Egyptian mongoose, also called the pharaoh’s rat) with a cobra. Ichneumon does not move to attack the enemy without caution and rashly. Just as a man can defend himself in full gear, the ichneumon is first rolled in the mud until it is covered with a hard shell, which serves him as a safe and tight protection. If the mud is missing, it is washed with water and the whole wet one dips deep into the sand – only then it starts to fight.