Here is a whimsical and captivating collection of odd facts,
strange beliefs, outlandish opinions, and other highly amusing
trivia of the ancient Romans. We tend to think of the Romans as a
pragmatic people with a ruthlessly efficient army, an exemplary
legal system, and a precise and elegant language. A Cabinet of
Roman Curiosities shows that the Romans were equally capable of
bizarre superstitions, logic-defying customs, and often hilariously
derisive views of their fellow Romans and non-Romans.
Classicist J. C. McKeown has organized the entries in this
entertaining volume around major themes--The Army, Women, Religion
and Superstition, Family Life, Medicine, Slaves,
Spectacles--allowing for quick browsing or more deliberate
consumption. Among the book's many gems are:
. Romans on urban living:
The satirist Juvenal lists "fires, falling buildings, and poets
reciting in August as hazards to life in Rome."
. On enhanced interrogation:
"If we are obliged to take evidence from an arena-fighter or some
other such person, his testimony is not to be believed unless given
under torture." (Justinian)
. On dreams:
Dreaming of eating books "foretells advantage to teachers,
lecturers, and anyone who earns his livelihood from books, but for
everyone else it means sudden death"
. On food:
"When people unwittingly eat human flesh, served by unscrupulous
restaurant owners and other such people, the similarity to pork is
often noted." (Galen)
. On marriage:
In ancient Rome a marriage could be arranged even when the parties
were absent, so long as they knew of the arrangement, "or agreed to
it subsequently."
. On health care:
Pliny caustically described medical bills as a "down payment on
death," and Martial quipped that "Diaulus used to be a doctor, now
he's a mortician. He does as a mortician what he did as a
doctor."
For anyone seeking an inglorious glimpse at the underside of the
greatest empire in history, A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities offers
endless delights."
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