50 Insane Facts About the Roman Empire You Didn't Know

Bizarre Roman Beliefs and Practices

• 💡 Ancient Romans believed gladiator bodily fluids held special powers, with blood used as a tonic for epilepsy and sweat coveted as an aphrodisiac.
• 🎭 Gladiator fights were often not to the death for the professionals; only specific classes like criminals, known as Nuxie, were typically executed as entertainment.
• 🍰 Romans ate a delicious layered cake called placenta cake, which is actually the origin of the word 'placenta' in anatomy, not the other way around.
• ✍️ For some Romans, writing horny poems dedicated to the Roman boner god Priapus was a form of prayer or tribute.
• 🧼 Urine was widely used by Romans for cleaning, whitening teeth (ineffectively), as a disinfectant, and in laundry, even leading to a urine tax.
• 💜 A sumptuary law forbade commoners from wearing Tyrrhenian purple dye, which was extremely expensive and derived from thousands of sea snails.
• 🏺 Monte Testaccio is a hill in Rome made entirely of broken ancient Roman pottery, primarily amphorae used for transporting oil.
• 🤼 Ancient Roman wrestling matches were often fixed, with evidence of agreements for fighters to lose for a price.
• ⚡ Gladiators consumed a special drink made of ash, vinegar, and water, believed to be history's first workout supplement for its high calcium content.
• 🦩 Flamingo tongues were considered a delicacy among the wealthy Romans.
• 🐶 Romans mourned their dogs with epitaphs inscribed at their graves, showing deep affection for their pets.
• ⚔️ Julius Caesar was a dictator, not an emperor, and his assassination was partly due to fears of his monarch-like power.
• 👩‍🎤 Ancient Rome had female gladiators, known as gladiatrices, who fought in the arena, sometimes against each other.
• 🥳 During the festival of Saturnalia, masters and slaves would temporarily swap roles, with slaves criticizing masters and even giving orders.
• 💀 A brutal punishment called Pena Kool involved being thrown into a sack with animals and then into a river for killing a family member.
• 🌉 Emperor Caligula reportedly built a three-mile-long bridge out of ships across the Bay of Naples.
• 👱‍♀️ In ancient Rome, sex workers were encouraged to wear blonde wigs or dye their hair blonde to appear exotic.
• 👑 Emperor Elagabalus is suggested by some classical documents to have been a transgender woman.
• 🏟️ Vomitoriums were not places for vomiting but rather passageways in stadiums and theaters that expelled people after events.
• 🎖️ Rome provided military pensions and good wages to its soldiers from the Aerarium militare treasury.
• 🐺 Romans believed in werewolves, calling them 'werepeli,' meaning skin changers.
• 🤬 Romans practiced cursing rituals by etching pleas for revenge on lead and dropping them into sacred springs or wells.
• 🍆 The fascinus, a sacred charm representing the phallus, was used for good luck and appeared on jewelry and amulets.
• 💨 The Romans believed in miasma theory, attributing disease to bad air, yet paradoxically used urine for cleaning.
• 🔮 Haruspicy involved dissecting animal entrails to tell the future, a respected practice guiding important decisions.
• 🚢 Julius Caesar, as a captive, demanded a higher ransom from pirates who had captured him, believing he was worth more.
• 🦠 Despite advanced sanitation, Roman public toilets showed fossilized evidence of intestinal parasites, indicating widespread infection.
• ⚰️ Vestal virgins who broke their vow of chastity were buried alive, while their lovers were beaten to death.
• 🌋 Some citizens of Pompeii returned to their buried city after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius to salvage goods and even grow vegetables.
• 🐎 The story of Caligula making his horse a senator is likely an exaggeration to show his power to appoint anyone.
• 🔟 The word decimate originates from a Roman military punishment where every tenth soldier was killed.
• 🐘 Hannibal marched across the Alps with elephants to invade Rome, a tactic that surprised the Romans.
• 🔪 Emperor Nero had his mother and step-brother assassinated to secure his power.
• 💍 The sister of Emperor Valentinian III, Justa Grata Honoria, attempted to arrange a marriage with Attila the Hun.
• 🚪 Roman religion had specific minor gods for doors: Janus (doorways), Carda (hinges), and Limentinus (thresholds).
• 🧑‍🏫 Enslaved people in Rome came from various backgrounds and performed diverse jobs, with some even running businesses or earning money for manumission.
• 🧴 Romans cleaned themselves by covering their bodies in scented oils and scraping off dirt and dead skin with a strigil, not soap.
• 🎨 Roman statues, now appearing as pure marble, were originally painted in shockingly bright colors.
• 🗣️ Julius Caesar's name was likely pronounced 'Kaisar' in Latin, influencing words like 'Kaiser' and 'Tsar'.
• 🚒 Emperor Augustus created the Vigiles Urbani, a combined police and fire brigade using water buckets and axes.
• 🎲 Despite being considered a vice, gambling was popular in Rome through dice, board games, and betting.
• 💰 Enslaved people could earn tips, save money, and eventually purchase their freedom through manumission.
• 🎽 Most Romans wore tunics as they were practical and easier to wash than togas or stolas, which were status symbols.
• 🍲 Romans had fast food establishments called thermopolia, serving commoners without kitchens.
• 💋 Public kissing was indecent, but women gave daily osculum (mouth kiss without tongue) to male relatives to prove they hadn't been drinking alcohol.
• ✍️ Graffiti in Pompeii included humorous messages, such as calling out Epaphra for being bald or bad at games.
• 💪 Emperor Commodus commissioned a bust of himself as Hercules to project an image of manliness.
• 🌍 The Roman Empire was not the largest in history, significantly smaller than the Mongol or British Empires.
• 💩 Sturilinus (or Sturkus) was the Roman god of poop, protector of toilets and teacher of using manure for fertilizer.
• 💨 Emperor Claudius was known for his flatulence, even joking about issuing an edict allowing farting at dinner.