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

by **J. C. McKeown** (Author)

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.  

### Author Biography

  
**J. C. McKeown** is Professor of Classics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the author of _Ovid's_ _Amores_.  

**Number of Pages:** 272

**Dimensions:** 1.2 x 8.3 x 5.7 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** June 01, 2010

## Details

- **Price:** 21.99 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 21.99 USD | In stock |

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

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