Romans called epilepsy by various names, including "morbus caducus" [the falling sickness] and "morbus comitialis" [disease of the assembly hall]. It is still sometimes referred to as the falling sickness, but the idea that it was the disease of the assembly hall seems just bizarre. The explanation for it is that if someone had an epileptic attack in the assembly, it had to be shut down for ritual purification. Read more about the Romans and epilepsy.
Counting on one's fingers seems a natural way to compute numbers, but the Greco-Romans didn't just count "on" their fingers. They counted with their fingers, and not to be quick and accurate with the finger symbols could be embarrassing.
Comparisons Between Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome
Both Greece and Rome are Mediterranean countries, but the terrain of the two is very different. The ancient Greek city-states were separated from each other by hilly countryside and all were near the water. Rome was inland, on one side of the Tiber River, but the Italic tribes (in the boot-shaped peninsula that is now Italy) did not have the natural hilly borders to keep them out of Rome.
Living together, prenuptial agreements, divorce, religious wedding ceremonies, and legal commitments all had a place in ancient Rome.
When the emperor turned his thumb up at the crucial juncture in the fight between gladiators when one gladiator stood poised with his sword at the neck of his opponent who lay prone on the ground, it meant the fallen gladiator should live... or did it?
Thanks to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, archaeologists have been able to learn much about daily life in first century Rome. Located near the Bay of Naples in Campania, Pliny the Elder described the volcano before he himself was killed by it.
The calendar in Rome used notations like "VIII ID FEB" to stand for the 6th of February, or in Roman terms -- 8 days before the Ides of February. In February, a short month, the Ides did not fall on the 15th as they do in the infamous month of March, but the 13th. 13-8=6 in Roman inclusive reckoning. KAL MART refers to days before the 1st (Kalends) of March. Again, the Roman numeral that precedes "KAL" tells how many days before the "kalends of March" it is. Find out what happened on the various "fasti" in February.
Fasti of February
The nomadic Scythians were known for their horse-based lives, but the Romans preferred mules for most purposes. Find out more about the reasons the Romans (and Greeks) relied on the sterile crossbreed.