A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire

by J.C. McKeown

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 themes--The Army, Women, Religion and Superstition, Family Life, Medicine, Slaves, Spectacles--allowing for quick browsing or more deliberate consumption.

For anyone seeking an inglorious glimpse at the underside of the greatest empire in history, A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities offers endless delights.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Science, Italy, Reference, Trivia

272 pages, Hardcover

First published April 26, 2010

About the author

J. C. McKeown is Professor of Classics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the author of Ovid's Amores.

Reviews

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Info: Genre: Non-fiction, historical anecdotes
Reading Level: Any who can read it can learn some fun facts about Rome
Recommended for: Anyone interested in learning fun and interesting facts about the Romans

My Thoughts: There are a number of quotes from the book in the synopsis, but I just have to add a few of my own that I found funny, such as:

Romans on Dealing with Children:
Pliny states, in “Natural History”, “Putting goat dung in their diapers soothes hyperactive children, especially girls.” [pg. 5]

Romans on Solving Marital Discord:
Livy reports that about 170 women from leading families were convicted in 331 B.C. of poisoning their husbands. Other sources give even larger numbers. [pg. 8]

Romans' Preferred Animal to keep Watch:
Marcus Manlius Capitolinus saved the Capitol from the Gauls in the early 4th century B.C. when he was alerted to their approach by the cackling of Juno's sacred geese. [pg. 19]

Romans Naming Themselves:
Caracalla [ruled A.D. 211—217] called himself Germanicus after victories over the Germans, and it was said that he was mad enough and stupid enough to say that, had he conquered Lucania [a region in southern Italy], he would have claimed the title Lucanicus [which means not only “Lucanian” but also “sausage”]. (Historia Augusta Life of Caracalla 5). [pg. 21]

Romans on Successful Grape Cultivation:
“Vines should be freed for a few days from the trees to which they were attached, and allowed to wander and spread themselves, and lie on the ground they have gazed at for the whole year. Just as cattle released from the yoke and the dogs after a hunt enjoy rolling about, so vines also like to stretch their lumbar regions.” (Pliny Natural History 17.209) [p. 60]

Romans on Useful Medical Treatments:
“Touching the nostrils of a she-mule with one's lips is said to stop sneezing and hiccups” (Pliny Natural History 28.57).
“Sexual intercourse is good for lower back pain, for weakness of the eyes, for derangement, and for depression” (Pliny Natural History 28.58). [p. 73]

Romans on Proper Disposition of Criminals:
A justification for vivisection: “It is not cruel, as most people maintain, that remedies for innocent people's ailments in all future ages should be sought through the sufferings of just a few criminals” (Celsus On Medicine Proem 26). [p. 77]

Romans on Making Friends Through Diplomacy:
Cats were regarded as sacred in Egypt. In the mid-1st century B.C., the historian Diodorus Siculus was an eyewitness when an Egyptian mob lynched a member of a Roman embassy who had accidentally killed a cat (The Library 1.83). [p. 121]

Romans on Treating Alcoholism:
“People who drink wine in which eels have been drowned lose their appetite for drinking wine” (St. Isidore Etymologies 12.6.41). [p. 151]

Roman Graffiti:
“Apollinaris medicus Titi Imp. hic cacavit bene” (“Apollinaris, physician to the emperor Titus, had a fine shit here”) (Corpus of Latin Inscriptions 4.10619, a graffito in the Casa della Gemma in Herculaneum). [pg 186]

Romans on being Scrooge McDuck:
By the end, Caligula had developed a passion for handling money; he would often walk barefoot over huge heaps of gold coin poured out in a large open space, and sometimes he even lay down and wallowed in them (Suetonius, Life of Caligula 42). [pg. 217]

If that isn't enough to pique your interest in this very entertaining book, then just consider the sorts of interesting things you might learn! Because this book is filled with stuff like I've given above, and the author has provided below. I highly recommend this book, and plan to seek out his other book about the Greeks.

Disclosure: This book was a gift from a friend. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: 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 themes—The Army, Women, Religion and Superstition, Family Life, Medicine, Slaves, Spectacles—allowing for quick browsing or more deliberate consumption. Among the book's many gems are:

Romans on urban living: 
The satirist Juvenal lists "fires, falling buildings, and poets reciting in August as hazards to life in Rome." 

On enhanced interrogation: 
"If we are obliged to take evidence from an arena-fighter or some other such person, his testimony is not to be believed unless given under torture." (Justinian) 

On dreams: 
Dreaming of eating books "foretells advantage to teachers, lecturers, and anyone who earns his livelihood from books, but for everyone else it means sudden death" 

On food: 
"When people unwittingly eat human flesh, served by unscrupulous restaurant owners and other such people, the similarity to pork is often noted." (Galen) 

On marriage: 
In ancient Rome a marriage could be arranged even when the parties were absent, so long as they knew of the arrangement, "or agreed to it subsequently." 

On health care: 
Pliny caustically described medical bills as a "down payment on death," and Martial quipped that "Diaulus used to be a doctor, now he's a mortician. He does as a mortician what he did as a doctor."

For anyone seeking an inglorious glimpse at the underside of the greatest empire in history, A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities offers endless delights.

[Amanda Cockrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating look at the minutiae of the daily life as well as the politics of ancient Rome. The author is a scholar who is clearly having a great deal of fun here.

[So Hakim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute book, sometimes outright hilarious, about things that happened in Ancient Rome. In this book the writer acted more as impresario: presenting historical quotes related to the topic at hand.

To be noted, this is a reference book, not prosaic run-down. Think of it like jar of candies: you take one, then move on, then another one... (And suddenly they're all gone. But I digress)

Some examples:

The elder Cato praised a young man when he saw him leaving a brothel, since he felt that this would mean he would leave other men’s wives alone. But, when he saw him leaving the brothel on other occasions also, he said to him, “Young man, I praised you for coming here from time to time, not for living here”. (ancient commentators on Horace's Satires 1.2.31)

Do you not see how differently fathers and mothers treat their children? Fathers order them to be roused early to start their chores; even on holidays, they do not allow them to be idle, and draw sweat and sometimes tears from them. Mothers, however, cuddle their children in their lap, and try to keep them in the shade, away from sadness, tears, and hard work. (Seneca, On Providence: 2)

Pouring vinegar over ships gives them some slight protection against cyclones. (Pliny, Natural History 2.132)

Cats were regarded as sacred in Egypt. In the mid-1st century b.c. , the historian Diodorus Siculus was an eyewitness when an Egyptian mob lynched a member of a Roman embassy who had accidentally killed a cat. (The Library 1.83)

A judge would not rule against an obvious impossibility if there was no law about it. A woman’s claim to have given birth after a thirteen-month pregnancy was allowed because there was no statute determining the limit to a pregnancy. (Pliny, Natural History 7.40)

TL; DR: Romans said the darndest things.

[Rob Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice little miscellany of odd facts about the ancient Romans, delivered individually as citations or paraphrases from their contemporary authors, orators, satirists, moralists and historians. Many of these facts will be familiar to lay historians familiar with the basics of Roman political, military, and especially social history, but there are quite a few surprises even for those well-read in the subject. The quotations, anecdotes, etc. are organized by subject under appropriate chapter headings, allowing one to zero in on particular areas of interest; one can either read the book from start to finish, or dip in at any point, as it has no chronological structure or thematic progression. While not a substantive read, it would make a nice and amusing gift book for anyone interested in ancient history, or who is actually planning a trip to Rome.

[Brian Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun mix of quotes from Roman literature about Roman life - sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, always entertaining. :)

[Gilles Demaneuf · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice little book.
Some well-known anecdotes and some much less know ones in a nice semi-structured format.

[Shelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

actually a 3.5

I enjoyed reading so many different beliefs, superstitions, facts, and snippets of history, many of which were so funny.
"...dreaming that one is dead or is being crucified foretells marriage for a bachelor"
--Pliny describes the paying of medical bills as a "down payment on death"
"Dials used to be a doctor, now he's a mortician. He does as a mortician what he did as a doctor"
"Most laws are passed when the state is most corrupt"- Tacitus Annals
--As a young man, Caesar was captured by pirates who demanded a ransom of twenty talents for his release. He felt he was worth more, so he had the demand increased to fifty talents.
--Being an agricultural people, the Romans originally fought their wars only in the summer, between sowing and harvest.
"Isn't it true that no one has ever given thanks to the gods for making him a good man?"-Cicero

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

How strange and curious these tales will be to any reader is dependent on how little they have or even how few History Channel documentaries they have seen. It is not a bad book, it is fun, but not original or deep. It is a perfectly good stepping stone from which to embark on learning more, so should not be disparaged - good basic popular history is as important as more serious works.

[Jenny Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly entertaining, but I would hesitate to recommend it to someone who hasn't already read more serious books about Ancient Rome, because of its Ripley's Believe it or Not format which tends to trivialize the subject matter by focussing on extremes and oddities.

The first half had quite a few tidbits I'd never encountered, but as the book went on, it became more of a rehash of things that you'd know if you'd read recent popular books on the subject.

[Barbara T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read! The Romans were different

[Jessalopod · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't a book where you're going to learn about the might of the Roman Empire. You're not going to learn about the political transition from the Roman Republic to Imperium Romanum. You won't learn about the Eastern / Western divide, or anything typically regarded as important to history.

You should absolutely read this book though, because instead of telling you the same factual statistics, with the same recounting of the grandeur, the culture, and the importance of Rome as every other book -- this book lets you see the hints of the real, less pretty, ordinary people and their understanding of their world.

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities isn't chronological, instead chapters are clustered according to loosely tied together topics. Each of these topics are less of a true chapter, and are instead a list of assorted facts (usually in the form of a quote) and their source, occasionally with a comment from McKeown adding context or an interesting tidbit on the same subject.

As an example of what you'll find in this book, here's an entry from the chapter "Animals:"

"India produces one-horned horses and donkeys. Drinking vessels are made out of their horns. If anyone drinks fatal poison from one of these, the attempt on his life does him no harm at all, for the horn of both the horse and the donkey seems to be an antidote to the poison (Aelian On Animals 3.410. This passage foreshadows the myth of the unicorn, as does Pliny's description of the rhinoceros as a one-horned Indian animal with the head of a deer, the body of a horse, the feet of an elephant, and the tail of a wild boar (Natural History 8.76)."

This book makes an ideal "coffee table" or nightstand book. Each entry is a tasty amuse-bouche instead of the usual heavy load of information history books give. There is no plot. You don't need any previous knowledge of Roman history to be entertained by what you find inside. You can open it at random and start anywhere.

[Krisley Freitas · Rating 4 out of 5]

O livro é basicamente uma coletânea de anedotas e citações traduzidas de documentos históricos, não havendo textos introdutórios ou uma grande contextualização.

Além do prefácio, o autor (que é um professor de latim, não um historiador) só aparece no texto para complementar alguma informação ou contextualizar o leitor através de algumas palavras ou linhas, dizendo o tempo de governo de algum imperador, o local e data de alguma batalha etc.

A citações possibilitam uma visão mais ampla das crenças e superstições romanas, uma vez que essas passagens mais bizarras não são normalmente mencionadas em livros de história romana. Também é interessante poder ler a tradução mais direta desses textos, já que muitos autores discutem as fontes originais sem apresentar o texto “bruto”.

Há alguns erros no texto (por exemplo: é falado que a guerra entre Roma e Alba Longa foi no início do período imperial, na verdade foi no século VII a.c., além do uso indiscriminado e despadronizado do termo “imperador”), mas nada que comprometa a leitura.

O livro é dividido em 23 capítulos, separados por temas (educação, direito, medicina, religião, exército, construções, entre outros). Há dezenas de imagens ilustrando os capítulos.

[Bogdan · Rating 4 out of 5]

De la Roma la Imperiul Roman totul este despre romani. Cuceritori, stăpânitori, logisticieni, constructori și uneori artiști. Majoritatea îi cunosc pe romanii antici pentru că i-au persecutat pe creștini, din filmele italiene cu gladiatori și din nebunia diverșilor lor împărați.
Evident, prea multe nu se pot spune despre această operă decât că este o colecție interesantă, amuzantă, nu prea utilă de "diverse maxime ascuțite, informații aleatoriu interesante și știați-că-uri pe care, cel mai probabil, amatorii de istorie clasică o vor aprecia". Este bună de citit însă sub formă de mici pilule zilnice (sau la alte intervale regulate). De asemenea, trebuie remarcată și munca depusă de "editare, clasare, indexare și organizare a micilor fragmente din alți autori/izvoare" a autorului american, profesor la Universitatea din Wisconsin.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of rather trite anecdata about ancient Rome (though many are from Greek sources, as expected), gifted by a well-meaning relative. The chief problem here is that one gets the notion that this is meant as a coffee-table book for light reading: but without any source criticism (a limitation of the format that McKeown acknowledges in the introduction...but who reads those?) it ceases to be worthwhile history in any sense. Some of these 'facts' might make for entertaining reading, but McKeown runs the risk of a layperson taking something from, say, the Historia Augusta or Suetonius entirely at face value.

I'm sure there are people--other classicists, even--who delighted in this book, but I wasn't one of them.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fiel ao que promete, este é um livro de curiosidades. Repleto de pequenas notas e anedotas, traz-nos os usos e costumes, a história, os hábitos, as vidas da Roma antiga. O livro é fragmentário, feito de elementos dispersos, tal como um antigo gabinete de curiosidades. Permite aprender e recordar um pouco mais sobre a história de um império que, desaparecido, permanece vivo na nossa memória e herança cultural.

[Renee Yancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of little known Roman facts and oddities, with chapters with names such as: Women, Slaves, Decadence, Tempus Fugit, and Food & Drink. There's many more.

Anyone who'd like to know more about the Romans would enjoy this book.

[Summer · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a fact book. Little snippets, not much context. The things in it are fun and sometimes fascinating and disturbing, but none of it goes into detail or with much to back it up. Fun for what it is, but overall, just meh from me.

[Jacqueline Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting facts for history buffs. The author's humor brings the pages to life.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not know Roman’s ate flamingos.

[Mahfer · Rating 1 out of 5]

0⭐️ A cabinet of boredom with few “curiosities.” Definitely not my type of book

[Noah Goats · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities has some pretty serious flaws. This book is simply a collection of scraps of information, most of them cut and pasted out of the ancient source material, and then presented to the reader with no context. I think if you came to this book with no background in Roman history you would be confused or misled by much of what you read in it. I wish the book's author had spend a little more time providing context or background on the sources. He should say things like "Juvenal is a satirist, writing for comic effect, and you should be cautious before taking everything he says as being literally true." But he doesn't, he just cuts and pastes from the sources. Still, this book is undeniably fascinating, and the author has picked out lots of juicy nuggets for readers. Despite the book's weaknesses, it's not ever boring.

[Yaaresse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unless someone is a serious Romanphile (or whatever the correct word would be), it's hard to imagine reading this book for more than a few minutes at a time. Tidbits and trivia, grouped by topic, from various historical sources, the material is interesting, but it would be like sitting down and reading The Guinness Book of World Records. It's what I call a "stop and start" book, the kind I like to have loaded on my phone so I can read a few entries while on queue or in a waiting room without getting too engrossed in the material.

This book would likely be a goldmine for someone writing historical fiction about Rome. For the more casual reader, it's still fascinating.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short book of snippets from Roman documents and inscriptions, giving hints of how Romans thought and how they lived, chosen mostly for entertainment value. Material is sorted into chapters according to its topic: "Family Life," "Women," "The Army," "Religion and Superstition," and so on. Most entires are quite short. This book might be used as bathroom reading.

Much of the interest in this collection is in observing how often the Romans seem just like us, and equally often, how vastly and often shockingly different they were.

[Burt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alicia Carr Mitsch tagged me and asked me whether I had read this or not. I've read bits and pieces of it. The work is fascinating! Little bits and squiggles of Roman life all thrown into this work. It's almost like a bathroom book. I think very highly of it and if you are one of those who went to DisneyWorld and drank the Kool Aid about how it's a small world after all, you should read this book. The Romans were a very different kind of people.

[Holly Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry is maybe all about knowing a lot of dumb trivia and understanding as little of it as possible. Maybe that's why I go crazy about books like this, a frenzied miscellany of hastily organized facts and anecdotes and indices. I love that sort of thing, and this is really a pretty top-shelf example of the 'genre.'

[Rikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not too impressed with this. Most of the stuff you have either heard before or is used without giving a source.
The source for the chapter on the Caesars is mostly the gossip Suetonius. Everyone even slightly interested in ancient Rome has read his book on the twelve Caesars already.
I expected much more from this. I was disappointed.

[Mimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not really a "sit and read this" book, it's more of a "every once in a while pick it up and annoy your husband with the new things you learn" lol. Still, it's got pretty interesting stuff in it and it's a fun way to sort of learn for the most part.

[Nicole Yovanoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting with many first accounts of ancient Roman life. There was a great deal of different information, however there needed to be more author involvement in perspective when it came to questionable perspectives on politicizes events.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bitesize chunks of history. The author imparts various facts relating to a variety of subjects, all no more than a line or two. This was a book that was easy to dip in and out of and was interesting in its own little way.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nifty! A cool little book containing a wide-ranging miscellany of Roman stuff! Highly recommended for casual reading!