Curiosities of ancient Rome (Unknown facts)

Nicolaus of Damascus was one of the few ancient historians that wrote about his times. His works have survived in a small part. He left accounts of the preparations for the murder of Caesar and the rumors that circulated at that time.

It has become common to say that Caesar’s killers were Cassius and Brutus. Brutus is the nickname of the Iunii branch. Iunii were a family from which the kings of Rome came from. The son of the sister of last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus was Lucius Junius called Brutus. In Latin, “brutus” means “blunt, stupid, goofy”.

The creators of the new movie about Ben Hur had plans to make the film in the Circus Maximus itself, the place where the great chariot races were once held. However, as it turned out, the producers were quickly brought back to Earth and due to “technical problems” they could not be able to shoot the famous scene of the race Ben Hur and Messala.

In 2015 happened another example of vandalism on the majestic monument of Rome. Two young (21 and 25 years old) American women carved with a coin letters on the ancient wall. Then they made a “selfie” on her background. Other visitors noticed this, and the protection called for the carabinieri. This is another act of vandalism on Roman monuments.

The dominant languages of the Roman Empire were Latin and Greek. Latin appeared as a “language of rulers” and was widespread in the Empire, especially in the western provinces in the army and the courts. The Greek, in turn, was the determinant of good education and birth. This language dominated the east and was very useful in diplomatic missions.

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”.