Transition words: Interesting facts about the Romans

For centuries, Rome ruled the world. That being the case, the ultimate superpower, the Roman Empire united the world in ways never seen before or since. However, while we know about the excessive lives led by its upper class and its rulers, the nuances of day-to-day life by the different Roman people are less well known. Various discoveries give as a picture of the different classes and types who lived at the time.

For starters, Rome had impressive sanitation systems compared to other civilizations, but this did little more than help people smell better. In other words, based on 2,000-year-old fecal matter found at several historical sights, it was determined that parasites were even worse in those alive in the Roman period compared to earlier, supposedly less sanitary, periods of history like the Bronze Age or the Iron Age. Even though most Romans had access to clean food and drink, it was their bath water which was at fault for parasitic infestations: The water was kept lukewarm and rarely changed, which would have been a perfect breeding ground for parasites of all kinds. This, along with human faeces used as fertilizer, would have led to massive breakouts.

Secondly, while Ancient Rome is pictured as an era of extreme gluttony of all sorts, the massive feasts of exotic delicacies were, unfortunately, only for the upper class. Consequently, the remaining populations of Rome would have eaten a diet consisting of foods like millet: a cheap grain that was looked down upon as fit only for livestock, which means most Romans literally ate like animals. Despite living near the seas, lower-class Romans would have eaten very little fish but would have depended on wheat and the aforementioned millet. This could have led to a variety of issues, including anaemia and poor dental hygiene. As a result, most city dwellers ate well, but the farther outward a Roman dwelled, the worse their diet became.

Thirdly, energy drinks are very common among modern athletes because of their alleged performance-enhancing abilities. These drinks are also common among other in the world of physical fitness, but this is not a modern phenomenon. In a like manner, Gladiator energy drinks existed centuries before the first Gatorade. The drinks were said to have consisted of plant ash, a rich source of calcium that is known to help improve bone growth. In fact, heightened calcium levels are common in excavated gladiators, so this idea is not too farfetched. What would the drink have tasted like? Considering it was nothing but ash and water, it would have been incredibly bitter, but adding vinegar would have given it a much more pleasant taste.

Lastly, by testing ice cores in Greenland, climatologists are capable of measuring the amount of methane in the atmosphere going back centuries. For example, methane was at natural levels until 100 BC, when it shot up and remained sky high until AD 1600. This hike in methane coincides with the rise of the Roman Empire, and when the empire was at its zenith, so were its methane emissions. During this period, methane emissions worldwide measured at around 31 million tons per year, just 5 million short of the current emissions of the whole of the United States. To feed an empire, massive amounts of livestock like cattle, sheep, and goats were needed. This, along with growing populations in the Roman Empire in the West and the Chinese empire and the East, contributed to pollution during the time.