A cabinet of Roman curiosities: strange tales and surprising facts from the world's greatest empire

Description

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 theme.;Family life -- Women -- Names -- Education -- The army -- Romans at sea -- The law -- Farming -- Medicine -- Religion and superstition -- The life of the mind -- Foreigners -- Slaves -- Animals -- Spectacles -- Food and drink -- Decadence -- buildings -- Pompeii and Herculaneum -- Toilets -- Not for the puritanical -- Tempus fugit -- Kings, consuls and emperors.