Hot answers tagged ancient-rome
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Banking existed in the era of the Romans and earlier. In ancient Greece and Asia Minor temples served as a sanctuary where individuals could make deposits for safekeeping. This practice continued with the Romans (see this article titled "Temple Banking In Rome"). For instance, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus was the largest depository in Asia and served as ...
18
They were not supermen by any means :)
But yes, temperatures were higher, by more than 1 degree (Kent and Wales were famous for their wines, right now it's far too cold there for that for example).
And don't forget that in the Roman era, wars were fought in summer almost exclusively, later expanding into spring and autumn as the conscript army was replaced ...
12
Roman Infantry
There were two types of Roman infantry: the light and the heavy infantry. The average heavy infantryman had a helmet, a mail coat, greaves, a shield, a spatha(broadsword), five weighted darts, and a javelin (pilum). The pilum was five to six feet long with a tip of iron, weighing nine ounces. The total weight of the pilum ranged between ...
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Originally, only citizens with a certain amount of wealth were eligible to serve in the Roman army. They were responsible for the upkeep of their own equipment. Polybius records that each of the different types of soldiers had their own equipment made from the same standard materials and with the same standard measurements. More desperate times saw the ...
10
In addition to harper89's answer, some gladiators were in the games to repay debts. Once they were repaid, they would return to whatever life they left before. With some luck, they would have earned a lot more than the debt, and thus be able to live off those earnings or invest them.
The most successful gladiators were also treated like modern day ...
10
Once freed a Gladiator would become a Rudiarius and would be given a rudis which was a wooden sword that symbolized their freedom.
Some gladiators stayed near and with their rudis were able to take up training of other gladiators.
Others were even offered coin to return to the arena.
The Roman Emperor Tiberius (r. 14-37 AD) once offered 1,000 gold ...
9
Slaves cost around 500 denarii at the time of Augustus - fluctuated around that price though depending on the wars.They were trained everyday and expected to live past one or two fights.
Wild animals (untrained) were bought for the express purpose of being slaughtered, thus they would be purchased for much less. However, as they are rare they would obviously ...
9
No, they were not. The Ptolemys were the last dynasty to rule Egypt directly in the old fashion. When the Romans took over, they just treated it as another province in the empire.
In 30 BC, following the death of Cleopatra VII, the Roman Empire
declared that Egypt was a province (Aegyptus), and that it was to be
governed by a prefect selected by the ...
8
If you heard that the pouring of wine was to kill bacteria, you know it's a fake. You have to wait till Louis Pasteur for bacteria. Also, unless there was a whole lot of wine/alcohol poured, it would have no effect whatsoever on the water in the well. Wine was very expensive in Roman times -- up to several slaves for a barrel in Gaul around 50BC as Caesar ...
8
Let me wikipedia that for you. There are some reference at the end of the article that I would check instead of relying on wikipedia. The Battle of Gaugamela maybe a better reference with lots of references given.
Xenophon, in Cyropaedia (VI.2.17) states "[...] that scythes of steel have been fitted to the axles, and that it is the intention to drive ...
8
This is an addition to Mike Rodney's answer. The Twelve Tables, traditionally written in 450 BC, were some of Rome's most ancient laws.
The majority of Table III deals with banking. In particular Law I says that bankers can't steal deposits; Law II forbids usury†; Laws V through X concern treatment of delinquent debtors.
So banking was common enough 2500 ...
8
This (fun) site assumes 10 miles per day, while adding the necessary disclaimer "it depends".
However, I was not able to confirm this number in the cited source: John Pebbie's The Roman War Machine seems to refer to "10 miles" only in specific relation to a march undertaken by Caesar's army on its final approach to the Battle of Sabis.
The same book ...
7
Well, back in the 70's when I was in Army ROTC, I carried a M60 machine gun (23lbs), 4 bandoliers of blank ammo (about another 25-30lbs), maybe a grenade sim or 2, 2 canteens of water and C rations and other field gear. My total was probably around 90-100lbs. Later, in the USMC, I carried a M16 or a 9mm pistol, ammo and assorted field gear that probably ...
6
Octavian who would later become Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus:
My answer really focuses on the why as much as the who, because the reality may have been that in many ways he gave himself the title.
Octavian returned from Egypt with a wealth of treasure and a serious wealth of power. He was respected by his legions, of which he was commander of all sixty of ...
6
House numbering was introduced in Europe in the modern era, mainly
due to military-administrative reasons.
The Roman Empire had no official postal system. Letters and wares
were sent by slaves, servants or day labourers with sufficiently
exact instructions where to deliver.
6
They probably didn't
They would tell anybody where they lived in the same way that anyone in a rural location still does today, above the bakery / opposite the fish shop, in whatever district.
Anybody who wasn't in the army or didn't have a villa probably didn't know many people who could write.
6
One way to determine this is to go to a translation of the source, which should provide you with all the Tacitus you can eat on the subject.
In short, Tacitus suggests that Nero may well have been the primary motivation for the fire starting where and when it did, although Nero himself was in Antium when the fire started (again, according to Tacitus).
As ...
6
Urine was also widely used for improvement of leather. It was quite natural to try and put in it something else. Hmm... But I wouldn't call it "dry clean" :-)
Ancient cultures had so few chemical reagents to try, that they tried everything on everything. For example, they hardened steel in urine, too. Tried multiple materials to see what urine is the best ...
6
The Graeco-Roman world is a unique example of intertwined cultures, the geographical and historical proximity of the two civilizations is such that's it's often impossible to distinguish where the one ends and the other begins. In extremely broad terms, it wouldn't be inaccurate to say that the political system of the Romans were heavily influenced by the ...
6
Wikipedia to the rescue: This article on caligae (military boots) states that
Socks were not normally worn with caligae, although in colder climates
such as Britain, woolen socks were used.
This one on Roman military personal equipment mentions that
[The sagum and the paenula] were made from wool, which insulated and
also contained natural oil ...
6
http://www.romanarmy.net/coldweather.htm Seems to address cold weather clothing very well. It seems they did what we did, scarfs, multiple layers, hats, enclosed boots etc but with the exception of trousers, which they saw as barbarian. They went for lower leg coverings instead. I would point out these guys seem to manage without trousers.
Except actually ...
6
In 30 BC Cleopatra, Mark Anthony, and Caesarion (Ptolemy Caesar) famously met their deaths in the aftermath of the Battle of Actium at the dawn of the Roman Empire and the Augustan Age.
Ronald Syme (in The Roman Revolution) provides this account of the Ptolemaic dynasty's demise in Egypt:
The children of Cleopatra presented a more delicate problem ...
6
Pompey never attained the supreme power that Caesar (briefly, before he was murdered, did). Although he at times (such as when he was fighting the pirates or when he was consul sine collegio in the late 50s BCE) had great imperium, he was always either reluctant or unable to arrogate to himself the fount of this power. Therefore, he was always either a ...
5
Whele senators and ordinary civilians could justify a war with such considerations, the official pretexts for the wars were always different. All wars Rome conducted were officially motivated by international law. Particular motivations being:
Defending the allies (first and second Punic wars, Gallic war)
Breach of a treaty by the other party (second Punic ...
5
Different languages have different sounds that flow easily in that language. Names from another language are bound to be slightly mis-pronounced, especially if the new language doesn't have the original sounds easily available.
A great example of this is Chinese (Mandarin), which has its set of syllables, and isn't built to handle new ones. When I was in ...
5
I visited Rome and also Pompeii last week. According to our tour guide and the evidence left by the protection provided to the ruins of Pompeii by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, citizens of Pompeii in 79 AD did have street names and house numbers. Some even had signs in the entry way to their home warning “Cave Canem” or “Beware of Dog”.
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This week's episode of In Our Time on Epicureanism suggested that Epicurus and many of his followers could be valid examples of "atheists" in "polytheistic" ancient Greece.
According to one guest Epicurus' atomic theory (which build on Democritus') insists that each and everything, and thus including gods, is made of material atoms. Now whether this ...
5
According to this well sourced article, wine was diluted to reduce its strength, in order to avoid over-inebriation. Those who did not drink it diluted were seen as barbaric, uncultured, or besotted.
There are claims on wikipedia and other online sources that the ancients drank diluted wine or small-beer to avoid water-borne illness, but I can't seem to ...
5
The Roman armies of the early to mid-Republic were largely conscript based with the conscripts serving for a relatively short period. Only land owners were eligible for conscription. Conscripts were unpaid and expected to provide their own equipment. This worked well enough for a while but as the extent of Roman territory grew it proved increasingly ...
4
The major change from the Republic to the Empire was the decision to keep for life as the head of state first Caesar then Augustus. Thus it put the top job in the hands of one man as long as that man was alive. There was no peaceful way to remove the Emperor at this point and since they controlled the army (or they would not be emperor) they had military ...
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