10 common misconceptions about ancient Rome and its people that many believe

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The Romans are often portrayed today as a civilization of debauchery and decadence, a great empire that ruined itself by gluttony and debauchery. And all these outrages happened while watching bloody battles in the gladiatorial arena. In fact, Roman society was based on strict laws that took into account the rights of ordinary Roman citizens. Citizens were expected to live up to the mos maiorum moral code, which outlined the virtues expected of them, including honesty, thrift, sincerity, perseverance, and community service. And the image mentioned above is mainly due to Hollywood. So, what are the "known to all" facts about the Romans, which in fact are false.

1. They didn't build vomitoria to eat more

According to a popular myth, special "vomit rooms" were attached to the dining halls - vomitoria, in which guests could empty a full stomach with the help of vomit so that they could continue their meal. It even sounds a little funny, because why was there a special room for vomiting?

Although vomitoria did exist, they were more like lobbies … rooms into which a crowd of people could "erupt" from the main hall. For example, the Roman Colosseum had 80 vomitoria. And while the Romans certainly held grand banquets, there is no evidence that they used to vomit during them. And if they did, they were probably using the toilet.

2. What the Thumb Up / Down Gestures Really Mean

It is widely believed that when gladiators fought in the arena, the emperor (and sometimes a crowd of spectators) decided the fate of the defeated fighter. In fact, in Rome, the thumb gesture meant "swords down" or "stop fighting," which meant that the losing gladiator must live to perform another time. Moreover, battles to death were rare.

Gladiators were highly skilled professionals and underwent intensive training. If they were regularly killed, it would essentially mean that a lot of time and money was wasted. More often than not, gladiatorial fights were designed for endurance. After all, constantly swinging a sword is a tedious exercise. One of the gladiators was declared the winner when the other was wounded or so exhausted that he could not continue the fight. Very rarely, sponsors paid extra money to make a fight fatal and had to compensate the losing gladiator's trainer for lost income.

Despite the obvious risks, gladiators were celebrities. Slaves could win their freedom in the arena, and those who chose to fight afterwards often became trainers. In 2007, archaeologists discovered the remains of a gladiatorial cemetery. Some of the skeletons bore marks from healed wounds, indicating that they were treated after being wounded, while others were found with marks from apparently fatal blows from swords and tridents. Interestingly, the latter often also had a blunt skull injury. It is believed that a mortally wounded gladiator in the arena was finished off with a hammer on the head to relieve him of suffering.

3. They spoke not only Latin

It is generally accepted that everyone in ancient Rome spoke Latin, but this is not the case. Latin was the official written language of Rome, but many languages were spoken both in Rome itself and throughout the vast territory of the empire. Some of the most common languages of the Romans were Greek, Oscan, and Etruscan. Latin was the unified language throughout the empire, but there were many local variations.

At the beginning of the 14th century, Dante Alighieri counted more than 1000 variants of Latin, which was spoken only in Italy. At least some uniformity existed only in written documents. Even the Roman patricians probably did not speak Latin all the time, and Greek was considered the language of the educated elite. Due to the enormous size of the Roman Empire, a single language was necessary for orderly government, so Latin was used throughout the Roman world for official affairs, but Roman citizens did not always speak Latin in the "sheet".

4. The plebeians were not poor and ignorant

Today the word "plebeian" is considered an insult, and to be a plebeian is to be a lower class. In 2014, a member of the British Parliament called the policeman a plebeian. The scandal that erupted in the media forced him to resign from his post in the ministry. In Rome, however, being a plebeian simply meant being an ordinary citizen, not belonging to the patrician ruling class.

Although initially the plebeians were not allowed into public service, they fought for their rights and repeatedly tried to form their own government. In the end, their rights were recognized. The patricians were descendants of the original ruling families and thus formed the Roman aristocracy. But the plebeians gradually defended their rights until they received equal status with the patricians, and the old order did not collapse.

5. They didn't wear togas all the time

If you watch any Hollywood movie about Rome, it is easy to notice that the actors are all dressed in togas. This is not surprising, since the work of dressers was facilitated in this way. In fact, many styles of togas existed throughout the empire over the centuries. A toga is simply a long piece of cloth that is worn slung over the shoulder. In fact, only men wore it, and then only on special occasions. Early togas were simple in design, while later versions were complex, heavy, and often unwieldy robes.

There was a hierarchy of togas, much like in the case of uniforms, so that at a glance it was possible to determine the social status of the wearer (for example, only emperors could wear a purple toga). For everyday wear, however, the Romans preferred something more practical. They often wore tunics made of linen or wool. The soldiers wore leather jackets, and some even preferred bear skins or big cat skins. A short tunic signified that its owner was of low birth or a slave. Women, slaves and exiles from Rome were forbidden to wear togas. Towards the end of Roman rule, citizens even began to wear trousers, which were previously considered the lot of exclusively barbarians.

6. They did not fall asleep with salt Carthage

Rome and Carthage (now part of Tunisia) fought three wars in about a century. Carthage was finally destroyed in 146 BC when 50,000 prisoners of war were sold into slavery by the victorious Romans. The Third Punic War was, of course, cruel and bloody, and when Rome won, the city of Carthage was destroyed to the ground, while the victors "left no stone unturned." However, the story that the Roman army covered the local land with salt, making it sterile for many generations, seems to be a myth.

Modern scientists have no evidence that the earth was covered with salt. Moreover, at that time salt was a valuable mineral, and to make the soil sterile, it would take a huge amount of it. Therefore, it is unlikely that, having sold the Carthaginians into slavery and destroyed the city to the ground, the Romans would have spent time and effort (and a lot of money) on filling the Carthaginian land with salt.

7. Nero did not play the violin while Rome burned

According to Nero's biographer, Suetonius, Nero "practiced all kinds of obscenity, from incest to murder, and was cruel to stray animals." Suetonius described how, during the Great Fire in Rome in 64 AD, Nero, dressed in theatrical clothes, climbed the city wall and wept while reading lines from an epic poem about the destruction of Troy. A later historian, Dio Cassius, developed this theme, and theatrical clothing "became the outfit of a guitar player." Kitara was an early forerunner of the lute, which later became the progenitor of the guitar. Thus, one might think that the emperor was so indifferent to the citizens of Rome that he played the violin, watching the flames devour them. NS

Shakespeare, in his play Henry VI, wrote that Nero played the lute "contemplating the burning city." However, the lute became a violin in 1649 when the playwright George Daniel wrote: "Let Nero play the violin at the funeral of Rome." That is the whole story of the appearance of this delusion.

8. The Romans did not invent the Nazi fireworks

There is a widespread belief that the Nazi salute (when the hand was extended with the palm downward in front of you and slightly upward) comes from the Roman Empire. However, there is very little evidence for this. There are no documents from this period describing this form of greeting, although it almost certainly existed. The myth of the Roman salute may have arisen from the painting "The Oath of the Horatii", painted in 1784, which depicts a group of soldiers raising their hands in just such a greeting. But it is quite possible that it was fiction.

Early Hollywood movies (yes, Hollywood again) reinforced this myth. Mussolini's fascist party, wanting to highlight its glorious Italian past, copied what it considered to be the salute of its ancestors. And Hitler borrowed this idea from Mussolini (by the way, he also "pioneered" the swastika from Buddhists).

9. Caligula never made his horse a senator

The name Caligula conjures up all sorts of images, and not all of them are good. His life is surrounded by so many myths that it is difficult to know which ones are really true. Modern perceptions of his reign mainly come from the writer Seneca, who may have been biased due to the fact that the emperor almost executed him in 39 AD for communicating with conspirators. It is known that Caligula became emperor at the age of 25. He started well enough, declaring amnesty for all who had been imprisoned under the previous emperor, abolishing taxes and organizing some Roman games. However, he fell ill a few months later.

Whatever the reason, he contracted a "brain fever" from which he never recovered. Caligula began to show signs of paranoia, killed several of his closest advisors, kicked out his wife, and forced his father-in-law to commit suicide. Rumors soon spread that Caligula had slept with his own sister, but there is little evidence of this beyond the general rumor that they were close. Soon Caligula declared himself a living god and began to sit in his temple, waiting for offerings. Instead of running Rome, he spent almost all of his time on all sorts of entertainment. He once ordered hundreds of ships to be tied up in order to build a bridge over which he could cross the Gulf of Naples on horseback.

Caligula certainly loved his horse, which is possibly the source of rumors that Caligula made the animal a senator and "followed his advice." However, there is no contemporary evidence that he ever put his horse into government. Suetonius' letter says that Caligula announced that he was going to do this, and not that he actually did it.

Caligula died in 41 AD after somewhat foolishly announced that he planned to move to Alexandria in Egypt, where he believed he would be worshiped as a living god. He was stabbed to death by his own three guards.

10. Gladiators were not all slaves

The myth of the gladiator as a beautiful slave, with or without a dimple in his chin, is only partially true. Some gladiators were slaves, others were convicted criminals, and still others were people who volunteered to participate in arena battles, in pursuit of fame and money.

Most of the gladiators were ordinary plebeians, but some were patricians who had lost their fortunes. Moreover, some of the fighters were actually women. The first recorded gladiatorial games were held in 264 BC. In 174 BC. 74 people were registered in the games lasting three days. In 73 BC. a slave named Spartacus led a rebellion among the gladiators, but the games continued to grow in popularity. Caligula brought variety to gladiatorial combat by ordering to throw criminals to be torn apart by wild animals in the arena.

By 112 A. D. the sport became so popular that when Emperor Trajan hosted the Roman Games to celebrate his victory in Dacia, 10,000 gladiators - men, women, rich, poor, slaves and free - fought in battles for several months.