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Table of Contents
Ancient Rome
Colosseum
There was a 98-foot tall statue of Nero erected near the Roman Colosseum. The huge statue, made of bronze, was called “The Colossus of Nero.” 1).
First shopping malls
Romans invented shopping malls. The first-ever shopping mall was ordered to be built by Emperor Trajan somewhere between 107-110AD. There were many goods sold there. 2).
Evil lefties
The Romans considered left-handed people untrustworthy and evil. Some history books suggest that the ancient Romans first believed the left side to be lucky but accepted the Greeks' way of thinking, meaning the lucky side is the right one. 3).
Homo homini lupus (est)
“Homo homini lupus (est)”, meaning “Man is a wolf to man”, is a paraphrase from Plautus' comedy “Asinaria”, summarizing the author's opinion on human nature. Titus Maccius Plautus (250 BC -184 BC) was a Roman comedy writer, one of the oldest Roman writers whose works have survived. 4)
Tullus Hostilius
King Tullus Hostilius was the third ruler of Rome from 673 BC. - 642 BC. After winning the war against the Sabines, the city was struck by a plague, which was blamed on the king and his troubled rule. Livius claims that to propitiate the gods Tullius participated in a secret cult of Jupiter. The carelessness of the ritual, however, angered the god and the king was burned in a fire in his own house, which caught fire from a lightning strike. 5)
Flavian Amphitheatre
The construction of the Flavian Amphitheatre (Colosseum) began in 70 AD under Vespasian, however, its construction was completed in 80 AD, i.e. under Titus. 6)
Horreum
Horreum was a type of public warehouse used in ancient Rome to store various goods. The huge Horrea Galbae in Rome was used to store grain, but also oil, wine, groceries, and clothing. By the end of the imperial period, there were as many as 300 horrea in Rome alone to meet the needs of the city's inhabitants. 7).
The Milliarium Aureum
The Milliarium Aureum (Latin: golden milestone) is a column erected by Octavian Augustus in 20 BC in the Roman Forum. Because it was located in the central point of Rome, where the most important roads crossed, it was considered to be the beginning of all roads, and distances in the Roman Empire were measured from it. According to historians, the expression “all roads lead to Rome” refers to the Milliarium Aureum. 8)