Topic: I'm going to post one interesting fact about the Romans in this thread every day for a year
Killer Lettuce🌹 !HonkUK.BIE started this discussion 9 hours ago #132,749
Hello, plebs! Minichan is quiet these days and I am overflowing with useless trivia about a dead civilization. So, just for fun, let's have another mega thread.Some ground rules: The facts can be about about any period in Roman history, from the Roman Kingdom right up until Constantine XI. I'll also throw in a few facts about the "historical afterlife" of the Romans, interesting ways in which people remembered the Romans after they were gone. Also, the "facts" might be anything from neat self-contained facts, to short posts about broader topics, or specific people or artefacts, etc.
Most importantly- "Interesting" means interesting to I, Killer Lettuce. I will try to make the facts accessible and of interest to anyone, but no guarantees!
Overall, the aim is for 365 posts, one per day. Yes I have too much time on my hands. No, I've never been diagnosed.
Oh, and if you have any ideas or something you want to know about, feel free to suggest stuff and I'll try to look into it.
Edit: that transparecy did not work, but it's funny so I'll leave it in.
(Edited 9 minutes later.)
Killer Lettuce🌹 !HonkUK.BIE (OP) double-posted this 9 hours ago, 2 minutes later[^] [v] #1,416,457
(#1) Okay, let's start with a good one. In the early Roman Empire, during trials, the prosecution would sometimes commission and bring in a painting of the defendant committing the crime they were being accused of. It was meant as an emotional appeal to try and influence the judge.
We know this happened because we have a surviving text where a Roman rhetorician, named Quintilian, complains about it:
Still IÂ would not for this reason go so far as to approve a practice of which IÂ have read, and which indeed IÂ have occasionally witnessed, of bringing into court a picture of the crime painted on wood or canvas, that the judge might be stirred to fury by the horror of the sight. For the pleader who prefers a voiceless picture to speak for him in place of his own eloquence must be singularly incompetent.Â
Quintilian, Oratoria, Book VI, circa 95 AD
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Quintilian/Institutio_Oratoria/6A*.html
This one makes me laugh. It's like an ancient version of the "I've already depicted you as the soyjak!" meme, except it's taking place in a serious law court and could well contribute to someone being seriously punished.
Just for fun, here's also a silly AI mock-up of this happening.