Ancient Rome was one of the leading and largest empires in human history in terms of its civilization. The Romans made the biggest number of mistakes and that’s why they were number one. When you read history, you will find that in nearly every field and area of life they have left a landmark with a good number of fallacies and mistakes. In medicine, architecture, pharmacy and other fields, they introduced to humanity countless inventions that have remained with humans for years to get revived again in the modern world. The following are the top ten most exciting facts you may not know about Ancient Rome.
10 Left-handedness
Being left-handed used to be a stigma in all countries all over the world and specifically ancient Rome. In ancient Europe, homosexuals were referred to as left-handed in a respectful way to speak about the issue. In Roman language, the word left is associated with the meaning of evil actions and bad luck. Conversely, the Roman gladiator who was left-handed was highly appreciated as he used different techniques in fighting with his hands.
9 Vomiting for eating
To eat too much food until you fill your stomach is not a strange thing since many people do this, but to vomit in order to be able to continue eating more food is the weirdest thing that you may hear about in your life. Wealthy Romans were known for their extravagant banquets and they were set for long hours to the extent that the Romans were vomiting to be able to eat more.
8 Great buildings
Romans were known for their great buildings that stood for so long years and hardly got eroded or tumbled down. Their architectural intelligence emitted from making the right mixture to use in building; they were among the first to put lime in the concrete so that the buildings do not get eroded easily.
7 Vampires’ behavior
The Roman gladiators were highly respected as we said above that they got excluded from the left-handedness stigma, but there is a sequel to the story. It was thought that their blood has the ability to cure serious diseases such as epilepsy and infertility. People were so infatuated with this idea that they would buy the warm blood of the freshly killed gladiators. Not only gladiators, but criminals as well since their blood was taken after executing them.
6 Urine tax for washing
The Roman emperor Vespasian was the one who came up with a law ‘urine tax’ that gives people money in return for their urine. They used it for washing clothes because the ammonia in urine has the ability to bleach them and this is why the Romans used to collect urine from the public baths.
5 Medical excellence
Though we call them ancient, Roman people accomplished scientific feats, specifically in the field of medicine, which we are rediscovering just nowadays as having absolute curing effects. Their medical brilliance is not something new; they were the first to use cobwebs with vinegar and honey as bandages for healing wounds while we just have recently started to think about it.
4 Lecherous emperors
Though Emperor Gaius, who is commonly known as Caligula, used to call himself a god and even considered his horse as a priest, he was far away from even a right or normal human being. The feminine clothing and behavior of this powerful emperor were landmarks of his lecherous character.
3 Crucifixion for Non-Romans
It is well-known that Jesus Christ was the first person to be crucified, the concept of crucifixion itself got associated with him. However, the first people to use crucifixion as a common punishment were the Romans. They did not use it with their people since it was only limited to strangers once they commit a crime whatever it may be.
2 The first toilets
While their backward counterparts were still using bedpans to get rid of their shit, Romans were doing exactly like modern humans. They had the first sewer system, plumbing, toilets and used underground flowing water to get rid of waste. They had even managed to supply hot and cold water in what resembles the faucets in modern houses.
1 The first to notice and record UFOs
Over the ages, people used to admit seeing unidentified objects that fly in their skies and claim that they came from space. Romans were the first to record such a claim. It is not just a word of mouth, it is recorded. They recorded seeing ships, beasts and more, but still there is no explanation for this to this day.
“Other interesting facts you won’t believe about ancient Rome”
♦ Using phalluses as good luck charms to be worn as necklaces and even hung at homes.
♦ Being the first to build shopping malls such as Trajan’s market and its building that consists of two levels to accommodate up to 150 different shops.
♦ Using urine as a medicine.
♦ Making the purple clothing limited to senators and emperors.
♦ Socializing at the public baths.
♦ Dyeing hair to be red or blonde.
♦ Avoiding using soap to get their bodies cleaned and instead of this they were using perfumed oils and strigils.
♦ Releasing Eagles to bear the souls of emperors to heaven when they die.
♦ Rubbing teeth with sodium carbonate or potassium after being burned to whiten teeth.
♦ Toothpaste was expensive and using it was limited to those who could afford it.
♦ Taking the blond hair of foreign slaves for making wigs that were worn by wealthy women.
♦ Girls were marrying while they were still 13 or 14 years old.
♦ The Roman divorce was fast and easy.
♦ Training some female slaves to fight like gladiators.
♦ Having no slaves means extreme poverty.
♦ Ordinary Romans depended in their diet on starchy food which resulted in making most of the children suffer from malnutrition.
♦ Coins were used like media for publicizing emperors and their achievements.
♦ Using hippopotamus skin by men for growing hair.
♦ Removing hair for both men and women by using hedgehog ashes or bat’s blood.
♦ Mixing oil with earthworm ashes for coloring hair and preventing it from becoming gray.
♦ Rome’s population fell from one million people to just 50,000 people after the fall of Roman Empire.
