5 FACTS almost no one knows about Ancient Rome (Romans, empire, France)

[censusdata]

1. Over 99% of Romans lived in Apartment buildings. Only 1% lived in private homes.
Roman Insulae (Apartments) - History for Kids!


2. Very few single family Roman homes had exterior windows. Most had a large opening in the ceiling which let in light and rain water
A Roman House

3. The mortality rate among wealthy Romans was high due to the fact that their water came in via Lead Pipes
Lead Poisoning and Rome

4. Julius Caesar was NOT an emperor - he was a dictator but not an emperor
List of Roman Emperors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

5. During the height of the Roman Empire life expectancy only averaged 25 years
Thought Bullets--November 2004

[Prince of Lombards]

Originally Posted by censusdata

4. Julius Caesar was NOT an emperor - he was a dictator but not an emperor
List of Roman Emperors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think a lot of people know that one, since it's mentioned in many, if not most history books about Rome.

[LordBalfor]

Interesting post.
2,3 and 4 were old news to me - though still interesting to read.
I was well aware of 1 - though not the specific percentage.
5 is a bit mis-leading since infant mortality (which was high) almost certainly skews the average length of life downward. While lives were short by current standards, once you reached adulthood you chances of living reasonably long (at least by the standards of the time) were considerable greater. That's my guess anyway.

Good post.

Ken

[censusdata]

Here is another interesting tidbit about Roman Apartments: rent got lower and average apartment sq footage got smaller for each floor you went UP - which is totally opposite of today, where the rich live on upper floors. This is because Romans didn't like climbing steps.

I must be part Roman, because I much prefer living in the basement or first floor of a building.

-----

Fact #6: The building of the Coliseum (aka the Flavian Ampitheatre) was funded entirely from gold and other costly objects taken during the sacking of Jerusalem. A victory arch outside the Coliseum depicts a Roman victory march parading the Menora candle taken from the temple.

[RMoore007]

Clock faces that are labeled using Roman numerals conventionally show IIII for four o'clock and IX for nine o'clock, using the subtractive principle in one case and not the other. There are many suggested explanations for this, several of which may be true.



-The four-character form IIII creates a visual symmetry with the VIII on the other side

-With IIII, the number of symbols on the clock totals twenty I's, four V's, and four X's, so clock makers need only a single mold with a V, five I's, and an X in order to make the correct number of numerals for their clocks: VIIIIIX

-IIII was the preferred way for the ancient Romans to write four, since they to a large extent avoided subtraction

-Since IV is the first two letters of IVPITER(Jupiter), the main god of the Romans, it was not appropriate to use

-Only the I symbol would be seen in the first four hours of the clock, the V symbol would only appear in the next four hours, and the X symbol only in the last four hours. This would add to the clock's radial symmetry

-IV is difficult to read upside down and on an angle, particularly at that location on the clock

-Louis XIV, king of France, who preferred IIII over IV, ordered his clockmakers to produce clocks with IIII and not IV, and thus it has remained

-Louis XIV just got ticked off one day and had a big hand in every minute detail until the queen got him to wind down for the evening..ok, I made that one up.

[ParkTwain]

According to the following web page, the easternmost Roman-built building is the now-ruined bridge over the Karoun River at Shushtar in present-day southwestern Iran. It was built around 260 A.D. by Romans captured after a battle lost by the emperor Valerian to the Sasanian king Shapur I.

Livius Picture Archive: Šurkutir (Shushtar)

Where is Shushtar?
Shushtar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What was the Sasanid Empire?
Sassanid Empire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[nebulous1]

I've heard about the lead...
I read the Roman women would paint their faces with a makeup, sometimes had lead in it.

I don't know if that is true or not, but it seems the lead pipe water makes sense.

The rich went nuts.

[MICoastieMom]

I knew about the first four, plus the tidbit about the costliest apts being on the ground floor. Gleaned that from high school Latin classes and reading a historical novel, The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough. It is an excellent book, if you are into historical novels.

You know what that says about me? I am not almost no one!

[oh2az2id]

Originally Posted by RMoore007

Clock faces that are labeled using Roman numerals conventionally show IIII for four o'clock and IX for nine o'clock, using the subtractive principle in one case and not the other. There are many suggested explanations for this, several of which may be true.



-The four-character form IIII creates a visual symmetry with the VIII on the other side

-With IIII, the number of symbols on the clock totals twenty I's, four V's, and four X's, so clock makers need only a single mold with a V, five I's, and an X in order to make the correct number of numerals for their clocks: VIIIIIX

-IIII was the preferred way for the ancient Romans to write four, since they to a large extent avoided subtraction

-Since IV is the first two letters of IVPITER(Jupiter), the main god of the Romans, it was not appropriate to use

-Only the I symbol would be seen in the first four hours of the clock, the V symbol would only appear in the next four hours, and the X symbol only in the last four hours. This would add to the clock's radial symmetry

-IV is difficult to read upside down and on an angle, particularly at that location on the clock

-Louis XIV, king of France, who preferred IIII over IV, ordered his clockmakers to produce clocks with IIII and not IV, and thus it has remained

-Louis XIV just got ticked off one day and had a big hand in every minute detail until the queen got him to wind down for the evening..ok, I made that one up.

What powered that clock?

[jtur88]

I have always wondered what life was like for ordinary citizens in Rome. A Google search fails to turn up any really useful information about that. There were presumably a very large number of slaves in Rome, but probably not a majority of the populace, and it seems doubtful if they could do all the work that needed to be done. So what kinds of jobs did free Roman citizens have? Was everybody self-employed as craftsman or tradesman, or perhaps as an apprentice to one? Did slaves work only for their owners, or did they do public works? These questions would apply to just about anywhere, Carthage, Athens, Jerusalem.