boardom
WHAT IS A MILESTONE IN YOUR LIFE?
MY OPEN OWN STS FLORI
FINISH MY HOUSE Tom Domaille 25, Admin assistant
John Duchemin 26, Florist
THE PERFECT WOMAN
BUYING MY FIRST HOUSE
SEE MY DAUGHTERS AGAIN Parry Wiztenden 54, Builder
Sibhna Wilson 17
HAVING MY CHILDREN
Francais Shapcott 68, Retired
THE LITTLE BOX AT THE BACK
START MY OWN I.T FIRM
Tom Burden 23, I.Q
HAVING A BABY
Josh Baker 22, Electrician
GETTING MY DEGREE Ben Silvester, 23, Graduate
Romans were pretty damn good at roads and milestones... here are some other facts.
1. Gladiator blood was recommended by Roman physicians to aid various ailments, including epilepsy and infertility. 2. Purple clothing was a status symbol and reserved only for emperors or senators. To achieve the color, a dye was made from murex seashells. It was treason for anyone other than the emperor to dress completely in purple. 3. Emperor Claudius’ third wife, Valeria Messalina, was a nymphomaniac. According to ancient historians, she once competed with a prostitute to see who could have the most sexual partners in a night. 4. Phalluses were considered good luck charms. They were worn as charms on necklaces or hung in doorways as wind chimes as a way to ward off evil spirits.
5. Left-handed people were considered unlucky. The word “sinister” was originally the Latin adjective “sinister”/”sinistr a”/”sinistrum” that meant “left” but took on the meanings of “evil” or “unlucky” by the Classical Latin era. 6. Emperor Caligula often appeared in public dressed in women’s clothing. 7. Caligula’s favorite horse, Incitatus, lived in a marble stable, with an ivory manger. Caligula also tried to make him a consul — the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and the most important job in the government. 8 Romans thought the early Christians were practicing cannibalism when they heard about them eating bread and wine as symbolic representations of the body and blood of Christ.
9. People would socialize at communal toilets. Rome had over 140 public toilets. 10. Wealthy Romans would have extravagant and decadent banquets that lasted for hours; in order to continue eating, they would induce vomiting. 11. Not everyone wore togas. Only free-born Roman men as a were allowed to wear togas (as a sign of Roman citizenship), while Roman women wore stolas. Strangely, prostitutes were forbidden to wear the stola, so instead they wore togas. 12. Urine (because of the ammonia it contains) was used to clean clothes. The urine was collected by fullones (the Ancient Roman version of dry cleaners) from around the city.