Useless Roman Trivia

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

 
I am a total fan of all things from the Roman Empire.  Whenever I get a chance I look at the Roman ruins which are found in almost every city in Europe, England, the middle East and North Africa.  Julius Caesar was, of course, one of the most famous Romans of all times.  When he conquered Gaul (France) he rewarded those towns that sided with him.  For example in the small city of modern day Arles, France, Caesar built many structures for the citizens.  One of these structures was an amphitheater (stadium) that was built over 125 years before the Coliseum in Rome.  It is still used for concerts and bull fighting.  (Mostly French bull fighting where the bull is not killed.)

 

 

 

And now for the useless trivia.  I have been following a story for several years and just a couple of weeks ago the exact spot where Caesar was assasinated was opened to the public for the first time in almost 2,000 years.  Caesar was assassinated in the Curia of the Theatre of Pompey where the Senate was meeting while new Senate chambers in the Roman Forum were being built.  The Emperor Augustus declared the site a "locus sceleratus" or cursed place and had it walled up.  Over the millenia new buildings were built on the foundations of the old and the site was buried until the 1920s.  The past few years based on ancient texts and other sources as the site was excavated archeologists found the entrance to the curia, the spot where Caesar was assasinated.

 

The first photo is a reconstruction of the Theatre of Pompey.  The curia was the building on the right.  The green arrow is pointing it out.  The theatre had offices and shops before getting to the actual 17,500 seat theatre on the left.  The shops and theatre are mostly long gone.  There was a four temple complex in front of the curia by the green arrow.  The remains are visible in the second photo.  Finally the red box shows the steps to the curia and the floor where Caesar was assassinated.  This place is on my bucket list.

 

 

 

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

WOW!   Good stuff, thank you.

[Tex Jones, SASS 2263]

Cool.  Just don't go on the 15th of March. 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

39 minutes ago, Tex Jones, SASS 2263 said:

Cool.  Just don't go on the 15th of March. 

Julian calendar

[Alpo]

Here is some useless Roman trivia.

 

Whenever three roads would meet, Rome would put up signboards where there would be posted items of local interest.

 

Three roads - tri via.

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

Alpo, more road tri via - the Romans did not use curves in their roads.  They built them using straight lines like this.

 

 

They could build curves but their engineers believed building in straight lines was more efficient and saved materials.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Ok, here’s some more Roman trivia that folks will argue about.

 

there are those who say that the Brits drive on the left because knights had swords in there right hands.  Bunk!

 

a thousand years before that…. At the quarries where rock was hauled one can find two pair of wagon tracks. The pair on the left were deeper than the pair on the right, indicating that the full wagon leaving the quarry used the left tracks and the empty wagon used the other.

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

Worlds oldest bottle of wine.  Roman c. 325 AD.  Although it looks icky scientists think it is still drinkable.  Ongoing debate over whether it should be opened and the contents tested to learn more about how the Romans made wine.

 

 

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[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

A subject I never tire of, either. Happen to be halfway through a re-read of The Roman Revolution, by Ronald Syme (1939), the seminal one-volume study of the late-Republic-- early Empire; Pompey and Julius Caesar through Caesar Augustus.

 

Probably the most written-about period, but endlessly interesting. I re-read  Syme every few years not just for the history itself, but for the writing and the insights into human nature and politics.

[John Kloehr]

"And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him two."

 

Any Roman soldier could compel anyone under occupation to carry their pack for 1,000 steps. And not a step more.

 

This passage was an instruction for civil disobedience, to carry the Roman soldier's pack for 2.000 steps. This brought dishonor on the soldier and the Roman empire, the soldier was now in the position of ordering the local resident to put the soldiers pack down, to stop carrying it.

 

The Roman soldier could (and sometimes was) actually be punished for not stopping the carriage of his pack beyond the authorized mile (1,000 steps).

 

The lore suggests this led to Roman soldiers not making use of locals to carry their packs even a single step... It simply was not worth the risk it might be carried further.