Sep 14, 2018
Image: Woman of Ancient Rome – clipartpanda.com
Amazing, isn’t it what we thought we knew about Rome yet never learned in school! The second part of our foray into life in Ancient Rome from trend-chaser.com tells us even more bits and pieces of what it was really like in the time of the Caesars.
Ancient Romans Were Ahead Of Their Time
It may appear that folks of the Roman Empire hardly batted an eye towards same-sex marriage. Emperor Nero, who reigned for 13 years during the Roman Empire, married two men during his reign.
During the Saturnalia, Nero married Pythagoras, a freedman under his rule. Nero acted as the wife in the ceremony during this marriage. Of course, Nero did marry some women, but after horribly murdering one of them, he took a young boy named Sporus as his new wife. He even had Sporus castrated to make him more womanlike.
It Wasn’t As Great As It Seemed
For how much we are taught about the Roman Empire, it makes it seem like it was pretty vast. You’d be surprised to learn, however, that it really wasn’t. The Roman Empire was only the 28th largest empire in the world’s history.
Not only that, the Roman Empire only accounted for just 12% of the world’s population at its peak! So in actuality, the Roman Empire was quite small, but that certainly doesn’t take away from how much they’ve contributed to history. After all, they did last for centuries despite their small size in comparison to the rest of the world.
The Fanciest Horse In The Roman Empire
Emperor Gaius Caligula favored his horse Incitatus so much, that he decided to make his horse a senator. At least, that’s what ancient historian Suentonius would have us believe. Incitatus was loved so much, that Caligula outfitted him with marble stalls, an ivory manger, and his own house!
Incitatus also owned a jeweled collar and was fed a lovely diet of oats mixed with gold flakes. Many scholars try to discredit this story, suggesting that Caligula joked about making his horse a consul. Still, he really did love that horse so stories about its digs are possibly true.
Ancient Romans Shared A Poop Stick
We know by now that citizens of the Roman Empire pretty much had no clue about personal hygiene. So it might come as no surprise when you learn that these guys used a communal sponge on a stick to clean themselves up after going number two.
You read that right, communal! They shared this special sponge on a stick amongst themselves, disgustingly enough. In Ancient Rome it was called a tersorium and they had them in public latrines. Of course, they washed the stick in a bucket of salt water and vinegar, but it was pretty much useless against the spread of disease.
Wives Took A Mandatory Three-Day Vacation
Wives in the Roman Empire had to be vigilant enough to leave their homes for three days in the year. The “usuacpio” laws dictated how long you could possess something before it was legally yours. These laws also applied to humans.
If a wife stayed in her house for a whole year than she legally became her husband’s property. Luckily, women were somewhat entitled to their freedom, so many of them left their homes for three consecutive days to avoid becoming their husband’s property.
Fathers Had Too Many Rights In Ancient Rome
In the early days of Ancient Rome, there weren’t many laws prohibiting fathers from doing whatever they felt so inclined to do. He could force marriage or divorces, sell kids into slavery, and even had a right to abuse — and sometimes kill — his family members.
Fathers could abuse their children for misbehaving and sometimes the abuse was so bad it turned into murder. In those days there were no laws against this, but eventually, after the first century BC, they decided that that was insane. After they applied some laws to the situation, fathers could only legally murder their sons for committing crimes.
The Color Purple Was Absolutely Off Limits
In history, purple was often reserved for royalty and those in higher classes, and it was no different in Ancient Roman society. Emperors of the Roman Empire often donned purple-colored togas and such, but they wouldn’t let anyone else wear it.
It was so serious that it was made into a law and is one of the “sumptuary laws” of the time, which prevented lower-classes from making extravagant displays of wealth. These laws were in place so that Romans could know someone’s social standing just by looking at them, and they didn’t want to waste time being polite to a peasant.
Fathers Could Sell Their Kids Into Slavery
Ancient Roman dads definitely put their kids to work and that included selling them into slavery. The arrangement, however, was kind of like a lease since the buyer had to return the kid at a certain point.
Fathers did this all the time apparently, but there were limits. You could only lease off your kid as a slave up to three times. If you tried to do it any more than that, you’d be considered an unfit father and therefore, your kid would earn emancipation from you. This is why it was helpful to have more than one kid, so you could lease off each one at least twice.
Don’t Mess With Someone Who Got Struck By Lightning
If a citizen of the Roman Empire was struck with lightning, no one did anything about it. This sucked for people who witnessed their friends get struck then die because they didn’t even get to give them a proper burial.
This is because Romans believed that getting struck by lightning was an act of the god Jupiter. If something was struck by lightning, that simply meant that Jupiter didn’t like it. The same went for humans. If you tried to bury someone who died from a lightning strike, it was equivalent to stealing a sacrifice from Jupiter. If you did this, you’d get sacrificed to Jupiter as punishment.
Women Were Publicly Shamed For Having Affairs
No one likes to be cheated on, but it happens, even in Ancient Rome. If a man cheated on his wife, the wife couldn’t do anything about it but cry. However, if a woman cheated on her husband, she got the ultimate punishment.
According to some sources, the husband would lock up his wife with her lover. He’d then have about a day to call up everyone he could so that they could come to check out the guy she cheated with. Then, the husband made a public declaration about the affair, providing as many details as possible before he was legally obligated to divorce her.
They Eventually Had To Ban Crying At Funerals
A traditional funeral in Ancient Rome often started with a procession. People would walk the deceased body through the streets and wept as they did so. In those days, if you had a lot of people mourning you during the procession, it showed how popular and established you were.
Some people wanted to impress, so families would hire mourners to walk in the procession and cry. Some women got so into it that they would scratch their faces up and rip out their hair to seem believable. It got so intense, that eventually crying at funerals was outlawed to prevent people from hiring actors.
There Was Less Income Inequality Than There Is In Modern-Day America
According to some historians, the wealth in Ancient Rome was spread out more evenly than it is in the present-day U.S. Research shows that Ancient Rome’s top one percent of earners only controlled 16% of society’s wealth. These days in the U.S., the top one percent control 40% of the country’s wealth.
While studies have shown that this inequality is what helped the expanse of the empire, it is also part of what ultimately led to the fall of the Roman Republic. As the rich got richer and the poor got poorer, eventually Julius Caesar came along and put an end to all of it.
Ancient Romans Thought Early Christians Were Cannibals
As we’ve learned, the refusal of early Christians to acknowledge the Romans’ traditional pagan gods meant that they were considered to be atheists. It turns out that the Romans also had another negative impression of Christianity.
The ancient Romans believed that Christians were cannibals! This stems from the fact that they “drank” Christ’s blood and ate of his body during their communion services. The early Christians invited Roman authorities to come and observe their communion practices to prove that they weren’t literally eating human beings or drinking blood.
Emperor Caligula Might Have Had Incestuous Relationships With His Sisters
Emperor Caligula ruled the Roman Empire from AD 37 to AD 41. His reign was filled with scandal and lurid tales about his luxurious lifestyle, sadism, and perversion. Caligula had a voracious appetite for pleasures of the flesh and was known to enjoy the company of other men’s wives.
It was also accused that he committed the sin of incest with his sisters, Drusilla, Livilla, and Agrippina the Younger. Caligula may have even sold their services out to other men. The sensational stories about Caligula and his reign have not been proven. As one author of a book about the Emperor said, “a lot of the evidence is pretty shaky.” But it’s still fascinating to read about.
Flamingo Tongues Were Considered A Delicacy
In Ancient Rome, flamingo tongues were considered a great delicacy. In fact, Pliny the Elder wrote in the Encyclopedia of Natural History that one famous food-lover said that they have “a specially fine flavor.”
Whole flamingoes were also eaten. A cookbook from the time gives these instructions for turning a flamingo into a meal: “Scald the flamingo, wash and dress it, put it in a pot, add water, salt, dill, and a little vinegar to be parboiled. Finish cooking with a bunch of leeks and coriander, and add some reduced must [grape juice] to give it color.” Sounds delicious.
The Word ‘Salad’ Originated From The Roman’s Eating Habits, And More On Salt’s Importance
As we’ve read, the word “salary” was derived from “salt” due to the seasoning’s huge value in the Roman Empire. Another common word also arose because of salt’s importance: “salad.” The Ancient Romans salted all their vegetables and leafy greens, and these foods became known as “salads.”
As Time reported, “Of all the roads that led to Rome, one of the busiest was the Via Salaria, the salt route, over which Roman soldiers marched and merchants drove oxcarts full of the precious crystals up the Tiber from the salt pans at Ostia.” Salt was certainly an important commodity in Rome.
Slavery Was A Big Part Of Life In Ancient Rome
Slavery was an unfortunate but important part of Ancient Rome’s economy. One estimate is that slaves accounted for 10–15% of the total population of the Empire. It was the most widespread between the Second Punic War to the 4th century CE.
As PBS has reported, “Most slaves during the Roman Empire were foreigners and, unlike in modern times, Roman slavery was not based on race. Slaves in Rome might include prisoners of war, sailors captured and sold by pirates, or slaves bought outside Roman territory.” It’s also worth repeating that it was not rare for people to sell their children into slavery during desperate times.
The Fabled Story Of Cincinnatus
One famous story about Ancient Rome centers around a man named Cincinnatus. He was a simple farmer with only four acres to his name. According to Ancient History, “Cincinnatus was plowing his field (others believe he was digging a ditch) when approached by a delegation from Rome.” The delegation asked him to help them defend Rome against the Aequi, a neighboring tribe to the east.
Legend has it that Cincinnatus led the Roman Army to victory in just 15 days. But instead of becoming a ruler of the Empire after winning the war, Cincinnatus returned to his humble life as a farmer.
America’s Statue Of Liberty Might Be Based On A Pagan Goddess
In 238 BC, the pagan Roman goddess Libertas received a temple in her honor on the Aventine Hill. Centuries later, she helped inspire the Statue of Liberty, which stands in a Roman gown on Liberty Island in the Upper New York Bay.
Libertas, the female embodiment of liberty and freedom, has also appeared on the currency of many countries including Switzerland, and North Carolina in the United States. Additionally, she is depicted on the Great Seal of France.
The Romans Used Some Gruesome Execution Methods
The Ancient Romans weren’t messing around when it came to punishments for people who had broken the law. The Empire’s execution methods could be extremely brutal. As mentioned earlier, the punishment for killing one’s parents involved being tied up in a sack with deadly animals, such as a hungry wolf or a venomous snake. The sack might also be thrown into the water, leaving the person inside to drown.
According to historians, the punishment for infidelity was burning at the stake. Strangulation was frequently used on enemies of Rome, and Vestal Virgins who broke their vows were buried alive. Brutal!
The Romans Were Fond Of Keeping Pets
Just like modern people, ancient Romans had a fondness of keeping animals as pets. In fact, according to The Classical Journal, “The ancient Greeks and Romans were [even] more lavish than the modern world in their expressed affection for beasts.”
Dogs and cats were favorites, and were frequently spoiled. Some Romans opted to keep apes and monkeys as pets, and others preferred birds and even snakes. In the Journal, it’s reported that after a visit to Macedonia, Alexander the false prophet said he had seen “great serpents, quite tame and gentle, so that they were kept by women, slept with children, let themselves be stepped on, were not angry when they were stroked, and took milk from the breast just like babies.”
The Roman Empire Was Very Densely Populated
We’ve already learned that the Roman Empire was only the 28th largest empire in the world’s history. But it sure packed a lot of people into that small(ish) area. One estimate posits that at its largest, the empire covered around 4.4 million square miles.
And as it was home to about 57 million people, that means that it was super densely populated. While Ancient Rome’s population density came nowhere near modern-day New York City’s, it was certainly up there.
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