fun facts about the Romans
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fun facts about the Romans
Lol, this probably sounds a bit elementary to some of you but can we start a list of fun facts about the Romans? I'll start:
100)The Romans used powdered mouse brains for toothpaste (ewww)!
100)The Romans used powdered mouse brains for toothpaste (ewww)!
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I believe gladiator sweat (or rather the mixture of oil and dirt scraped of a gladiator's body) was considered to be an aphrodisiac (sp?) by Roman ladies.
Also the penalty for a young woman who violated her vows as a vestal virgin was to be buried alive. I believe the punishment was actually caried out during Domitian's reign, as both Pliny the Younger and Suetonius attest.
Also the penalty for a young woman who violated her vows as a vestal virgin was to be buried alive. I believe the punishment was actually caried out during Domitian's reign, as both Pliny the Younger and Suetonius attest.
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Being a magister of a primary school was horrible, because the boys were so despicably rude and badly-behaved (O tempora, O mores). So either the teacher let the chidren take over, or the birch became a well-used item.
***Can we add pictures?*** It's my first image ever. Please?
A bride on her wedding day would have to surrender her childhood toys, toga praetexta and renounce her childhood. Walnuts were thrown to ensure fertility (some confetti; I hate walnuts!) After the wedding, they would go to the groom's house, and the bride was required to act reluctant to consummate the marriage, and the groom would have to comfort her, and etc. etc. so as to have them addressing each other with "husband" and "wife". Parents would hate their daughter less, after they married (that was phrased deliberately).
***Can we add pictures?*** It's my first image ever. Please?
A bride on her wedding day would have to surrender her childhood toys, toga praetexta and renounce her childhood. Walnuts were thrown to ensure fertility (some confetti; I hate walnuts!) After the wedding, they would go to the groom's house, and the bride was required to act reluctant to consummate the marriage, and the groom would have to comfort her, and etc. etc. so as to have them addressing each other with "husband" and "wife". Parents would hate their daughter less, after they married (that was phrased deliberately).
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And there's Catullus' friend who "brushes his teeth in the Spanish fashion" (was that Egnatius?). I certainly think one of the benefits of living in a civilised society is that we use Colgate.My teacher said something about urine being used as a detergent for togae.
Also I believe that the colloseum (sp?) had special rooms for it - VomitariaIn late Rome, it was common to vomit during the meal to prolong the pleasure of eating.
If you want any other trivia regarding the Roman emperors, Suetonius' the 12 Caesars is a good source. It pleased my tremendously infantile mind with tales of the various sexual exploits of the roman emperors.Augustus spent one day a year begging in the streets of Rome because he'd been instructed to do so in a dream.
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I agree. The Romans were insanely brutal. I find it disturbing.Episcopus wrote:Why do we accept laughingly? I can neither imagine nor ever comprehend the brutality of burying some one, animal or human, alive. How disgusting they were.
Nevertheless, I'm enjoying this thread immensely. Please keep posting.
When they tossed the walnuts, did they crush them first, or toss them whole? Just curious.
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I guess they were whole.Democritus wrote:When they tossed the walnuts, did they crush them first, or toss them whole? Just curious.
I'm sure you all know the funeral ritual of placing a coin in the deceased's mouth for Charon, but does anyone know that when a Roman is about to die, the nearest relative would catch the last breath with his/her mouth (a kind of farewell mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?)
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I just read about this and it seemed to me that it was religious in that it was an attempt to ease the passage of the spirit. The spouse or the nearest kin would try to do this. It was a part and parcel of the rites for the family ancestors.Michaelyus wrote:I'm sure you all know the funeral ritual of placing a coin in the deceased's mouth for Charon, but does anyone know that when a Roman is about to die, the nearest relative would catch the last breath with his/her mouth (a kind of farewell mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?)
- Tim