Nero kicked his first wife to death after she criticized him for returning late from a chariot race. He then found that a slave called Sporus looked something like his dead wife, and so had him castrated and dressed as a girl.
Nero's palace had a circular dining room with panels in the walls that could squirt perfume and shower diners with rose petals. The ceiling was painted with the constellations and all of the known planets and was mechanized so it could revolve.
Cleopatra, in order to seduce Julius Caesar, hid herself naked in a Persian rug which was then carried into his tent. When the carpet was unfurled, out she came.
The emperor Hadrian, in order to cover up his acne, grew a beard.
Beans were not allowed in Pythagoras' colony.
The film 300 is wrong. There WERE some 300 Spartans at Thermopylae, but they were also backed up with 1000 soldiers of other Greek states behind them.
At gladitorial games, trained elephants were brought out that could trace Latin words in the sand and also bow on command in front of the emperor.
The myth that the thumbs-down sign meant 'kill him' and thumbs-up for mercy in gladitorial shows is wrong.
The ancient Greeks had the first mechanical puppets in the known world, having some altars in temples equipped with statues of the gods which could move their arms and legs.
Ancient Greek and Roman music was based on the same music theory which is used today in the West, including the first known sheet music.
Nero's palace had a circular dining room with panels in the walls that could squirt perfume and shower diners with rose petals. The ceiling was painted with the constellations and all of the known planets and was mechanized so it could revolve.
Cleopatra, in order to seduce Julius Caesar, hid herself naked in a Persian rug which was then carried into his tent. When the carpet was unfurled, out she came.
The emperor Hadrian, in order to cover up his acne, grew a beard.
Beans were not allowed in Pythagoras' colony.
The film 300 is wrong. There WERE some 300 Spartans at Thermopylae, but they were also backed up with 1000 soldiers of other Greek states behind them.
At gladitorial games, trained elephants were brought out that could trace Latin words in the sand and also bow on command in front of the emperor.
The myth that the thumbs-down sign meant 'kill him' and thumbs-up for mercy in gladitorial shows is wrong.
The ancient Greeks had the first mechanical puppets in the known world, having some altars in temples equipped with statues of the gods which could move their arms and legs.
Ancient Greek and Roman music was based on the same music theory which is used today in the West, including the first known sheet music.
