Ancient Rome. The Empire, The Gods, The Wine… We all know the most popular associations with Roman Empire, but did you know any of these facts about the ancient Romans?

In honor of God Saturn, Ancient Romans had a holiday every December 17th, but did you know that it lasted until December 23rd and that after many banquets, carnivals, parties, gift sharing masters would become slaves and Slaves became masters for just one day? Crazy huh?

II Famous Fountain di Trevi is indeed a stunning piece of art however the truth is, each day 3000 Euros is collected from it and handed over to “Caritas” which is a Catholic non-profit organization that uses this money to help the poor and unfortunate.

III This is a good one. Ancient Romans had Goddess of Toilet, Goddess of Sewage named Cloacina and even a God of Excrement called Sterquilinus!

IV Ancient Romans hunted flamingo birds and considered eating their tongue a delicacy…

V Did you know that the ancient Romans used a sponge which was soaked in water filled with loads of sea salt and after cleaning they would put it back for reuse?

VI First gay or same gender marriage happened in Rome. Nero had two gay marriages and both with slaves. Second was a replacement for a concubine he executed. Ouch…

VII During the time of seventh century, famous Vestal priestesses were obliged to be virgins until retirement in age 30 or else they would bury them alive.

VIII Urin was used for washing cloths and bleaching them when necessary.

IX Sirmium or modern-day Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia, was one of 4 capital cities in Roman Empire. 17 Roman Emperors were born there. The most famous Emperor Flavius Valerius Constantinus or better known as Constantine the Great was born in Naissus, today’s city of Nis, Serbia.

X High status slave owners were very thoughtful of their slaves by never physically punishing them instead they invented bonus as encouragement to be harder worker. XI Concrete was Ancient Roman invention. Concrete and cement were used as far as 2100 ago.

XII Ancient Romans called early Christian’s atheists since they didn’t worship their Gods.

XIII At its peak, Roman Empire was only 12% of Worlds population.

XIV It is believed that in gladiator fights, around 500.000 human lives and over million of wild animals perished.

XV Time was relative in those days of old. An hour could last 77 minutes in summer and and only 44 in winter. They tolerated if anyone is late.

XVI Roman men liked women with connected eyebrows because they considered it to be a sign of high intelligence. Women used fake brows made from goat’s hair just to look intelligent.

XVII Since there was a danger of being poisoned, Roman Emperors would drink small doses of poison to gain immunity in case someone plotted against them in this manner.

Check out our blog tomorrow since we are going back to the story line… The Marriage is the theme… Don’t miss out!

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