Roman submarine technology
- The first group of professional divers was created by the Romans, formed by the urinators. The mission of this special service of the Navy was to sabotage enemy ships in times of war (release anchors and chicots, place obstacles under the water...).
In peacetime, they were responsible for recovering the remains of the vessel and other assets. Apnea contests were also held. It was essential to see it better underwater and, in the absence of glasses, used a curious invention: they wore a sponge wet with oil in their mouths. From time to time, the sponge was bitten to release the oil and a screen was formed to improve visibility, as the refractive index of the oil is very similar to that of the human eye.
A group of interdisciplinary researchers from the Free University of Berlin and the Zuse Institute have developed a complex mathematical model to better understand how Romanization spread in North Africa.
According to a study published in the journal Plos One, the model has... [+]
Although it was thought that in most of the cities of the Roman Empire there were jails, little remains have been found of the prisons of the time in the fields.
Recently, however, the archaeologist at the University of Copenhagen, Matthew Larsen, has identified the Roman... [+]
Rome, towards the year 100 d. C. The poet Juvenal received the X. In Satira: “For a long time, particularly since we have to sell the vote, this people has lost interest in politics. Before, the head, the lots, the legions and, after all, they gave it all, but now they let it... [+]
This winter the archaeologists of the INRAP (National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research) have found a special necropolis in the historic centre of Auxerre (French State), a Roman cemetery for newborn babies or stillbirths. - Oh, good! The necropolis used between... [+]
Rome, a.C. 443. Censors were elected for the first time. Two centuries later it would be the most important magistrature of the Republic. Every five years, they chose two censors among consular senators.
It was a position of great responsibility: they were primarily responsible... [+]
It has been considered that the wine drank by the ancient Romans was a poorly made wine, without body and with an unpleasant taste. But the work that researchers at the universities of Ghent and Warsaw have published in Antiquity has provoked the withdrawal of this belief.
The... [+]
To analyse the political situation in today ' s world we often do not use the history of the Roman era. I guess it will be because it seems too old and too far away. Moreover, among such different things, we find it difficult to empathize with the history there... [+]
