$17.95

Hardcover

Published: 01 June 2010

272 Pages | 91 halftones

5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches

ISBN: 9780195393750

Also Available As:

Ebook

This title is available as an ebook. To purchase, visit your preferred ebook provider.

Bookseller Code (02)

Connect with OUP

https://global.oup.com/academic/covers/pop-up/9780195393750

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities

Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire

J. C. McKeown

A delightfully whimsical and amusing collection of Roman trivia
Lavishly illustrated with more than 60 b/w halftones

$17.95

Hardcover

Published: 01 June 2010

272 Pages | 91 halftones

5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches

ISBN: 9780195393750

Also Available As:

Ebook

This title is available as an ebook. To purchase, visit your preferred ebook provider.

Bookseller Code (02)

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities

Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire

J. C. McKeown

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 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.

Also of Interest

A Cabinet of Greek Curiosities

J. C. McKeown
Eclogues' />

A Commentary on Virgil's Eclogues

Andrea Cucchiarelli
Pearl

J. D. Winter
Mingqi Pottery Buildings of Han Dynasty China 206 BC - AD 220

Qinghua Guo
Cicero, Post Reditum Speeches: Introduction, Text, Translation, and Commentary

Gesine Manuwald
Estate Management and Symposium

Xenophon and Emily Baragwanath
The First Chapters

Charles E. Hill
London in the Roman World

Dominic Perring
David Jones and Rome

Jasmine Hunter Evans
Tutankhamun and the Tomb that Changed the World

Bob Brier
Art, Science, and the Natural World in the Ancient Mediterranean, 300 BC to AD 100

Joshua J. Thomas
Narcissus and Pygmalion

Gianpiero Rosati
Education in Late Antiquity

Jan R. Stenger
Coin Hoards and Hoarding in the Roman World

Jerome Mairat, Andrew Wilson, and Chris Howgego
Classics and Irish Politics, 1916-2016

Isabelle Torrance and Donncha O'Rourke
Gymnasia and Greek Identity in Ptolemaic Egypt

Mario C. D. Paganini

Related Categories

Arts & Humanities > Classical Studies > Classical History > Ancient Roman History

Arts & Humanities > Classical Studies > Classical Literature

Arts & Humanities > History > History by Period > Ancient History (Non-Classical to 500 CE)

Arts & Humanities > Classical Studies

https://global.oup.com/academic/covers/pop-up/9780195393750

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities

Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire

J. C. McKeown

A delightfully whimsical and amusing collection of Roman trivia
Lavishly illustrated with more than 60 b/w halftones

$17.95

Hardcover

Published: 01 June 2010

272 Pages | 91 halftones

5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches

ISBN: 9780195393750

Also Available As:

Ebook

This title is available as an ebook. To purchase, visit your preferred ebook provider.

Bookseller Code (02)

Connect with OUP

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities

Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire

J. C. McKeown

Description

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."

Also of Interest

A Cabinet of Greek Curiosities

J. C. McKeown
Eclogues' />

A Commentary on Virgil's Eclogues

Andrea Cucchiarelli
Pearl

J. D. Winter
Mingqi Pottery Buildings of Han Dynasty China 206 BC - AD 220

Qinghua Guo
Cicero, Post Reditum Speeches: Introduction, Text, Translation, and Commentary

Gesine Manuwald
Estate Management and Symposium

Xenophon and Emily Baragwanath
The First Chapters

Charles E. Hill
London in the Roman World

Dominic Perring
David Jones and Rome

Jasmine Hunter Evans
Tutankhamun and the Tomb that Changed the World

Bob Brier
Art, Science, and the Natural World in the Ancient Mediterranean, 300 BC to AD 100

Joshua J. Thomas
Narcissus and Pygmalion

Gianpiero Rosati
Education in Late Antiquity

Jan R. Stenger
Coin Hoards and Hoarding in the Roman World

Jerome Mairat, Andrew Wilson, and Chris Howgego
Classics and Irish Politics, 1916-2016

Isabelle Torrance and Donncha O'Rourke
Gymnasia and Greek Identity in Ptolemaic Egypt

Mario C. D. Paganini

Related Categories

Arts & Humanities > Classical Studies > Classical History > Ancient Roman History

Arts & Humanities > Classical Studies > Classical Literature

Arts & Humanities > History > History by Period > Ancient History (Non-Classical to 500 CE)

Arts & Humanities > Classical Studies

Also Available As:

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities

Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire

J. C. McKeown

Also Available As:

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities

Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire

J. C. McKeown

Description

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities

Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire

J. C. McKeown

Table of Contents

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities

Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire

J. C. McKeown

Author Information

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities

Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire

J. C. McKeown

Reviews and Awards

Also of Interest

Related Categories

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities

Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire

J. C. McKeown

Also Available As:

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities

Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire

J. C. McKeown

Description

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities

Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire

J. C. McKeown

Table of Contents

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities

Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire

J. C. McKeown

Author Information

A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities

Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World's Greatest Empire

J. C. McKeown

Reviews and Awards

Also of Interest

Related Categories