5 Facts About Samhain, the Celtic Festival That Inspired Halloween

Pagan altar decorated for Samhain

Samhain, the ancient Celtic festival that inspired many of our modern-day Halloween traditions, represents the end of the harvest season and the onset of winter. An Irish Gaelic word that’s also used in Scottish Gaelic and Manx, “Samhain” translates to “summer’s end” and is pronounced “sow-in” (rhyming with “cow-in”). Traditionally celebrated on November 1, it marked the time when the harvest had been gathered and stored, cattle were moved to closer pastures, livestock were secured for the winter, and communities were hunkering down for the long, cold months ahead.

Samhain was also believed to be a time when the spirits of those who had died during the year traveled to the otherworld. People believed that during Samhain, the boundary between the living and the dead was at its thinnest, allowing the spirit world to interact with the human world. To protect themselves from restless or malevolent spirits, people would light fires, leave offerings for deceased loved ones, and wear disguises.

Today, much of what we know about Samhain is rooted in Irish mythology, making it difficult to discern truth from lore. But here are five things we do know about this ancient and mysterious holiday.

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It Dates Back to the Iron Age

Observed by the ancient Celts across Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, Samhain dates back to the Iron Age, more than 2,000 years ago. The Celts divided the year into two halves, Samhain (the darkness) and Beltane (the light). Those two halves were further divided by Imbolc (a holiday marking the beginning of the spring season) and Lughnasadh (marking the beginning of the harvest season). These four cross-quarter days, as they were known, were celebrated with fire festivals and were among the eight sacred days in ancient Celtic tradition, along with the spring and fall equinoxes and summer and winter solstices, known as quarter days.

Some historians believe that Samhain, which fell on the day that corresponds to November 1 on the contemporary calendar, marked the beginning of the Celtic new year, while others argue there isn’t enough evidence to support that hypothesis. What we do know for certain is that elements of Samhain influenced the celebration of Halloween as we know it.

Samhain Came Before All Hallows’ Eve

Irish immigrants brought the traditions of Samhain to the United States in the 1800s, but the name “Halloween” traces back to influences of early Christianity as the church sought to incorporate pagan traditions into a Christian narrative in order to woo converts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as All Saints’ Day to honor Christian martyrs and saints. By the 10th century, November 2 was recognized as All Souls’ Day, a time to remember the souls of the dead.

Over time, All Saints’ Day became known as All Hallows’ Day, and the evening before, called All Hallows’ Eve, eventually morphed into Halloween. Celebrated on the night of October 31, Halloween isn’t the same thing as Samhain, but the Celtic holiday inspired several traditions of our modern-day Halloween, including carving vegetables, dressing in costumes, and visiting homes to receive treats.

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Fire Was Central to the Celebration

Marking the midpoint between the fall equinox and winter solstice, Samhain was the most important of the four fire festivals, coming as it did at the end of the harvest and the beginning of the colder, darker days ahead. The festival was observed over several days as a means of celebrating the harvest, appeasing the gods, honoring the dead, and warding off spirits.

Conflicting sources say that people’s hearth fires would either burn out from being left unattended during the gathering of the harvest or were deliberately extinguished at the start of the Samhain festival. In either case, after the harvest had been gathered, a large communal fire was lit by Celtic priests, known as druids. Sacrifices of crops and animals were made, and the animal bones were then tossed into the “bone-fire,” which is where we get the word “bonfire.” Celebrants would light torches from the bonfire to take back to their homes in order to relight their own hearth fires.

People Believed They Could Commune With Spirits

The Celts believed that Samhain was a time when the spirits of the dead could walk the world of the living, and that this temporary “thinning of the veil” between life and death meant it was possible to communicate with the deceased. A tradition known as a “dumb supper” involved setting a place at the head of the table to invite deceased ancestors to visit. The meal was served in absolute silence and celebrants avoided looking at the head of the table because they believed seeing the spirits would bring bad luck. After the supper, the untouched meal of the spirits was taken out and left in the woods.

Divination practices were also popular during Samhain because people believed the heightened spiritual energy of this liminal time was conducive to fortunetelling. Apples and nuts were used to predict the future and answer questions about the unknown. Some of these traditions later evolved into games, such as bobbing for apples.

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Costumes and Carvings Were Meant To Deter Spirits

During the ancient festival of Samhain, people would wear masks, veils, and ghostly disguises to conceal their identity, confuse the spirits, and protect themselves from evil. Costumes were generally made from animal skins, and face coverings might have been an effort to impersonate dead ancestors. Children, meanwhile, would go from house to house showing off their disguises and singing or performing silly tricks in exchange for treats.

The Celts also created lanterns by carving faces into root vegetables that had been gathered during the harvest, including turnips, beets, and potatoes. These lanterns were illuminated with candles and placed in windows and outside of homes to ward off mischievous otherworldly visitors, including demons. This vegetable-carving tradition came to the U.S. with Irish and Scottish immigrants who discovered that pumpkins, which weren’t indigenous to Ireland, were well suited for carving.

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Surprising Grooming Etiquette From the Past

Shaving and wig preparation, 1771

Long before the advent of mechanical showers, nail clippers, and electric razors, people’s personal grooming habits were far different than they are today. Many modern grooming tools weren’t invented until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which left anyone who lived before that with limited options, creating some hygiene habits that seem quite unusual today. Here’s a look at some of the strangest personal grooming etiquette in the history of the Western world.

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Romans Tweezed Their Bodies

Hair removal has been practiced for ages, but some ancient Romans took the practice to a whole new level. In Roman society, body hair was viewed as an unfavorable trait for both genders. Romans believed maintaining a clean-shaven look helped differentiate them from the uncouth “barbarians” elsewhere in the region. Men also removed their body hair for athletic purposes; athletes were admired for their hairless aesthetic at the time, as smooth skin meant less for an opponent to potentially grab onto. Romans used pumice stone to remove stubble and an early razor called a novacila to achieve a closer shave. But tweezers were among the preferred methods when it came to getting rid body hair — from head to toe.

Many people opted to painstakingly remove each strand of hair using a pair of tweezers, which produced a smoother effect than the rudimentary razors and scrubs that were available at the time. In 2023, archaeologists uncovered more than 50 sets of these grooming devices from the ancient Roman city of Wroxeter in modern-day England. Tweezers were a popular tool of choice because they were cheap to make and didn’t pose any risk of serious harm. That said, plucking out body hair with tweezers was a painful process: The Roman politician Seneca once wrote a letter complaining about the loud shrieks coming from the Roman baths where people had their hair pulled out. Rather than tweeze the hair themselves, many Romans often relied on enslaved people to remove their hair for them, especially around the armpit area, where hair was considered particularly undesirable.

One Etiquette Book Suggested Using Bird Dung To Cure Baldness

In a passage in his 17th-century book The Path-Way to Health, British author Peter Levens suggested that chicken droppings could be used to cure baldness. He wrote, “Take the ashes of Culver-dung in Lye, and wash the head therewith” — the term “Culver-dung” referring in this case to bird poop, likely that of a pigeon or dove. This was one of several questionable theories to promote hair growth that Levens proposed in his book, and by far the most unpleasant.

Levens also suggested several solutions for removing hair, and yes, they also required animal droppings. He wrote, “Take hard Cats dung, dry it and beat it to powder, and temper it with strong Vinegar, then wash the place with the same, where you would have no haire to grow.” Today, the idea of mixing cat poop and vinegar together sounds like one of the most unpleasant odors imaginable, and indeed it’s unclear how many contemporary readers, if any, actually tested Levens’ solution.

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People Used “Ear Pickers” To Clean Ears, Fingers, and Teeth

Q-tips weren’t invented until 1923, but earwax was always a major grooming issue. One of the best solutions for tackling clogged ears was the use of “ear pickers” — an ornate, handheld tool that was common throughout Europe and the American colonies during the 16th and 17th centuries. The device was often made of a precious material such as gold, silver, or ivory, and was worn around the neck on a chain as a status symbol.

One end of a traditional ear picker was formed into a scoop shape that could be used to pry wax out of the ear canal. Doctors often advised people to remove earwax, which at the time was thought to cause deafness. The other end of a standard ear picker was pointed, and often used to dislodge food from teeth or clean dirt out from under the fingernails.

Wigs Were Styled Using Animal Fat

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, wigs were considered fashionable for both men and women. Many men used the hairpieces to hide premature balding, which was increasingly common in Western society at the time due to untreated cases of syphilis. These wigs were usually made from real human hair and then slathered with a pomade made of animal fat to style them and maintain their shape, and they were worn so often that they quickly became pretty disgusting.

Not only did the rancid animal fat cause wigs to stink to high heaven, but they also became breeding grounds for fleas and lice. The wigs were delicate and quite difficult to wash, so many wig-wearers simply persevered through the unpleasantness caused by odors or creatures. But the hazards didn’t end there; the animal fat also made wigs highly combustible, putting the wearer at serious risk if they stood near a candle or other open flame.

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Milk Baths Were Popular With Aristocrats

Milk baths were once a popular practice among elite members of society, to keep their skin looking soft and wrinkle-free. One popular legend claims that Cleopatra frequently bathed in sour donkey milk as part of her daily beauty ritual, though the veracity of this claim has long been debated. According to historian Adrian Goldsworthy, that story is likely a myth, and it was actually Poppaea, the wife of Roman Emperor Nero, who helped popularize the practice of bathing in milk. Centuries later, Queen Catherine Parr of England (the sixth and last wife of Henry VIII) was also known to take milk baths, which she enjoyed with “perfumes and scented oils,” according to historian Susan E. James. It’s also said that Queen Elizabeth I bathed in milk to maintain a pale complexion.

Indeed, paleness was such a popular beauty standard in the Western world that women even applied arsenic powder to whiten their faces and hair. This trend was made common in Europe during the 19th century, as doctors promoted “complexion wafers” made of arsenic — a toxic element believed to be harmless at the time — to achieve a fair skin tone, which was associated with the upper-class privilege of not working outdoors.

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The Story of Alexander the Great, in 6 Facts

Mosaic of Alexander the Great

In 356 BCE, in the city of Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia, a baby boy was born to the king of Macedon, Philip II, and his fourth wife, Olympias. Philip celebrated the arrival of his first son and future heir, but not even the proud king could have imagined how far the boy, Alexander, would go.

King Philip II had already overseen the reformation of the Macedonian army, with the establishment of the phalanx infantry formation (a dense line of soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder) and the brutally effective use of long sarissa pikes and siege engines. But it was Alexander, who succeeded to the throne at just 20 years old following his father’s assassination, who took this fearsome force to a whole new level. He engaged in military campaigns against the Greeks and then the Persians, and in little over a decade had conquered most of the known world — all before his sudden death at age 32.

Here are six facts about Alexander III of Macedon, more commonly known as Alexander the Great, a man widely considered the greatest and most successful military commander in history.

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Aristotle Was Alexander’s Teacher

As the son of royalty and heir to the throne, Alexander was expected to receive a fine and princely education. But Alexander’s schooling went above and beyond: His teacher was none other than Aristotle, one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived. The famed scholar was summoned by King Philip II around 343 BCE, when Alexander was 13 years old. Aristotle tutored Alexander on a wide range of subjects, including philosophy, ethics, science, and the arts, in an attempt to create an enlightened monarch who would rule in a fair and just manner — something arguably lost on Alexander in later years, as his military leadership increasingly veered toward megalomania.

Alexander Was Never Defeated in Battle

Alexander succeeded to the throne in 336 BCE, and soon went to war, spending most of his reign engaged in lengthy military campaigns throughout Western Asia, Central Asia, parts of South Asia, and Egypt. Incredibly, Alexander was never defeated in battle, despite often being outnumbered. He won at least 20 major battles against significant military powers, including the Greek city-states, Egypt, and Persia. Not only was Alexander a masterful tactician and general, but he also inspired extreme loyalty among his soldiers, who refused his orders only once during the so-called Hyphasis Mutiny, when his exhausted men refused to march further into the Indian subcontinent.

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Alexander Founded Many Cities

During his reign, Alexander the Great conquered the Greek city-states and the mighty Persian Empire. In doing so, he created an empire that spanned three continents and covered about 2 million square miles. According to the ancient Greek philosopher Plutarch, Alexander also founded more than 70 cities, though modern historians place the number between 10 and 20. Many of these he named after himself, including Alexandria Troas in Turkey, Alexandria Arachosia and Alexandria Ariana in what is now Afghanistan, and, most notably, Alexandria, which is the second largest city in Egypt today.

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Bucephalus Was Alexander’s Faithful Warhorse

Bucephalus is one of the most famous horses from classical antiquity. According to Plutarch, the horse was given as a gift to Alexander's father, Philip II. But the animal was aggressive and unmanageable, and wouldn’t allow anyone to mount him. Seeing this, Alexander, just a boy at the time, asked permission to tame the horse, saying, “What an excellent horse do they lose, for want of address and boldness to manage him!” His elders laughed at him, but Alexander proved them wrong, managing to ride and ultimately tame the wild creature. Bucephalus became Alexander’s mount of choice and was with him throughout his campaigns. He held the horse in such high regard that he even named a city — Bucephala in modern-day Pakistan — in honor of his faithful steed.

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Alexander Took Huge Risks With His Own Life

One of the reasons Alexander inspired such devotion and sacrifice in his soldiers was his willingness to charge into battle on the front lines beside them. This, however, was a huge risk, and Alexander came close to death more than once. At the Battle of Granicus in 334 BCE, for example, Alexander was seconds away from receiving a fatal blow from a Persian soldier, only to be saved in the last moment by one of his companions, Cleitus the Black. Later, during the Indian campaign, Alexander received his most severe wound when an enemy arrow pierced his lung. Word soon spread that he had died, but Alexander survived. When he had fully recovered, he presented himself to his awaiting troops, to the cheers and even tears of his soldiers.

Alexander’s Death Is Shrouded in Mystery

The death of Alexander the Great remains one of history’s greatest mysteries. We know that Alexander, at the age of 32, fell ill during a days-long period of festivities, collapsing and complaining of a searing pain in his back. An intense fever followed, and he died 12 days later. From that moment up until the present day, the exact cause of his death has been a topic of much debate. Numerous theories have been proposed, including alcoholic liver disease, malaria, typhoid fever, and assassination by strychnine poisoning. While we might never know the truth about Alexander’s death, we could one day solve one of archaeology’s other great mysteries: the location of his tomb. Numerous theories exist regarding the tomb’s location, placing it anywhere from Egypt to Greece. It’s possible it was destroyed and will never be found — but that won’t stop archaeologists from searching for the final resting place of history’s greatest general.

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7 Roman Emperors Everyone Should Know

Bust of Augustus

Although Rome reached the pinnacle of its power and influence during the imperial era, which stretched from approximately 27 BCE to 476 CE, it wasn’t always easy for emperors during this period to run a tight ship. Not only did these imperial rulers endure threats from both hostile invaders and supposed allies who secretly plotted to gain power for themselves, but they also faced the myriad challenges of maintaining order among the disparate cultures of an empire that touched three continents and encompassed nearly 1.7 million square miles at its peak.

While some emperors succumbed to the pressures of the job and the temptation of corruption, others proved to have the vision and mettle to adjust as needed and propel the empire forward for the next generation. Here are seven Roman emperors who excelled in the role, helping ensure that the memory of Rome would endure for posterity.

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Augustus (27 BCE-14 CE)

Although Julius Caesar proclaimed himself supreme leader in the dying days of the Roman Republic, it was his grandnephew and adopted son Augustus who marked a new era as Rome’s first emperor. Rich from the spoils of victory over Cleopatra’s Egypt, Augustus embarked on a building program that included necessary projects such as new roads and aqueducts, as well as awe-inspiring marvels including the Temple of Apollo Palatinus and the Theater of Marcellus. He also founded a postal system, installed a police and firefighting force, and secured the ever-expanding empire’s borders by establishing a standing army. While his boast of having transformed Rome from a city of clay to one of marble was hyperbole, it’s no exaggeration to say that Augustus’ impressive 40-year rule kick-started the two-century period of prosperity known as the Pax Romana, or “Roman Peace.”

Vespasian (69-79 CE)

The end of Emperor Nero's controversial reign in 68 CE threatened to plunge the Roman Empire into further chaos, as a string of successors failed to establish stability in what became known as the "Year of the Four Emperors." Into that turbulence stepped Vespasian, who quelled the bloody uprisings that had accompanied him to the top and established the Flavian dynasty that endured for the next three decades. Known for his frugal ways — he once was allegedly pelted with turnips for his stinginess as proconsul of Africa — Vespasian unapologetically raised taxes to replenish the coffers that had been drained during Nero's rule. And while he used the cash to fund massive construction projects such as the Colosseum, the emperor also drew praise for showing restraint when it came to indulging in personal luxuries. Although his reign wasn't a particularly long one, Vespasian left enough of an impression that the Roman senator and historian Tacitus noted he was "the only emperor who had changed for the better."

Trajan (98-117 CE)

The second of the "Five Good Emperors" (along with Nerva, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius) that comprised the Nerva-Antonine dynasty that ruled from 96-180 CE, Trajan stakes a legitimate claim to being the greatest ruler of Rome's heyday. With his treasury bolstered by the conquest of Dacia (modern-day Romania), Trajan funneled the bounty toward the building of new roads, bridges, and aqueducts, as well as a magnificent forum with its towering Trajan's Column in the city of Rome. He also had the common sense to share the wealth with the people, and he was widely beloved for reducing taxes and expanding social welfare programs that included the "alimenta" for poor and orphaned children. Trajan continued his military campaigns through his final years, and by the end of his rule, Rome had expanded to the largest territory the empire ever saw. His accomplishments were of such magnitude that future emperors were inaugurated with the words, "Sis felicior Augusto, melior Traiano," meaning "May you be more fortunate than Augustus, and better than Trajan."

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Hadrian (117-138 CE)

It's tough to follow in the military footsteps of a warrior-king like Trajan, and to his credit, Hadrian didn't make much of an effort to do so. He instead focused on consolidating and strengthening the empire's borders, a strategy underscored by the construction of the 73-mile Hadrian's Wall across modern-day England, which is still standing today. Hadrian also commissioned major structures such as the Pantheon, codified Roman law with the creation of the Perpetual Edict, and was a devoted patron of the arts. Although he rankled some by embracing Greek culture and flouting his companionship with a Greek youth named Antinous, Hadrian's policies unquestionably kept the empire running at full throttle through the glory days of the second century CE.

Marcus Aurelius (161-180 CE)

A devotee of Stoicism, a Hellenistic school of philosophy emphasizing the pursuit of virtue, Marcus Aurelius is best remembered for the collection of self-reflections that comprise his famed work Meditations. Ironically, Rome's philosopher-king had little time to enjoy the inner peace he sought; his two-decade reign was marked by armed conflict with Parthians to the east and invading Germanic tribes from the north, as well as a devastating plague that wiped out millions of Roman citizens. Despite the hardships, Marcus Aurelius was largely successful at maintaining the prosperity forged by his predecessors. However, he also garners criticism from historians for passing the empire to his son Commodus, whose inept reign is considered to have brought an end to the Pax Romana.

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Diocletian (284-305 CE)

How does a floundering empire overcome the half-century of infighting and territorial loss that would later be coined the "Crisis of the Third Century"? By installing an emperor with the confidence to distribute power across its far-flung boundaries. Known as the tetrarchy, this system featured two senior leaders known as augusti and a pair of junior leaders called caesars who ostensibly ruled their respective jurisdictions, though Diocletian clearly held sway above the others. More of an administrative than a battlefield genius, Diocletian increased the size of Rome's army, doubled the number of provinces, separated the powers of civic and military personnel, and established a state budget based on tax revenue. Although the tetrarchy fizzled after his reign ended, the emperor's success at forging two decades of stability was exemplified by his peaceful retirement instead of a forced abdication or murderous coup.

Constantine (306-337 CE)

Amid the jousting for power that resumed with Diocletian's departure, Constantine the Great emerged to become one of the most transformative figures of the empire's lengthy history. Unlike his predecessors, who either barely tolerated Christians or outright persecuted them, Constantine wholeheartedly embraced the growing religion. He claimed to have seen the sign of the cross in the sky before the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 CE, and the following year, he officially granted tolerance to Christians by issuing the Edict of Milan. After claiming sole control of the empire in 324 CE, Constantine moved his capital 850 miles east to the rebuilt city of Constantinople (formerly named Byzantium), and lured new residents with promises of free bread and citizenship. While Rome succumbed to invaders in 476 CE, the city built by its namesake continued to flourish as the Christian-populated seat of the Eastern Roman Empire for another millennium.

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What Did Ancient Romans Eat?

Ancient Roman feast

The mere mention of ancient Rome conjures up a multitude of powerful images: the assassination of Julius Caesar, legionaries marching in perfect unison, the alliance of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, gladiators fighting in the Colosseum. It was a time of power and conquest, of low scheming and high culture. It was also a time of feasting — something the Romans were known for, especially during Bacchanalia festivals, in which food and wine would flow with fervor. But what exactly did the Romans eat? Here are some of the most common foodstuffs that fed the hungry denizens of the Roman Empire.

Bread and Porridge

Cereal grains, particularly wheat and oatmeal, were part of almost every meal in ancient Rome. These grains were typically used to make bread, biscuits, or porridge, and were eaten by the common folk, the upper crust, and soldiers in the Roman army. Roman porridge recipes survive to this day, including one in Cato the Elder’s De Agri Cultura, a treatise on agriculture written around 160 BCE, which happens to be the oldest remaining complete work of prose in Latin. The simple recipe, which isn’t dissimilar to modern counterparts, suggests soaking wheat in boiling water before adding milk to create a thick gruel — a staple dish that anyone in Rome could have prepared.

Vegetables and Beans

Seasonally available and locally sourced vegetables and beans were often served as accompaniments to Roman meals. Common vegetables included lettuce, cabbage, turnips, and leeks, while wealthier Romans could afford asparagus, mushrooms, and artichokes. Legumes such as broad beans, chickpeas, and lentils also played an important role in the Roman diet, providing substantial amounts of calories, protein, calcium, and iron to a diet that wasn’t nearly as meat-heavy as our diets today. A recent study found that Roman gladiators were mostly vegetarian, eating primarily wheat, barley, and beans.

Fruits and Nuts

As the empire expanded, the Romans discovered and embraced many varieties of fruits and nuts. The humble apple tree, for example, was introduced to many parts of the world after the Romans found it growing in Syria. They also cultivated pears, plums, apricots, and figs, as well as nuts — which were considered expensive treats — including chestnuts, walnuts, almonds, pistachios, and hazelnuts. Then, of course, there were grapes, which were eaten fresh, or — more importantly — turned into wine. The Romans loved to drink wine, which they diluted with a little water. Drinking wine neat was considered uncivilized, but not as uncouth as drinking beer, which was seen as simply barbaric.

Milk and Cheese

The Romans did not typically drink milk, and doing so was largely frowned upon. They saw excessive milk drinking as evidence of barbarism, and even considered butter fit only for treating burns. (The Romans believed their ubiquitous olive oil to be far superior for cooking purposes.) They did, however, use goat and sheep milk to make cheese. Many farms produced cheese, and some wealthier homes had dedicated cheese kitchens. Roman soldiers were also familiar with the cheese-making process, including the use of rennet, and could produce the food while deployed abroad. The Roman author Pliny the Elder was indignant when considering the lack of cheese-making in what he saw as lesser civilizations, writing, “It is a remarkable circumstance, that the barbarous nations which subsist on milk have been for so many ages either ignorant of the merits of cheese, or else have totally disregarded it.”

Meat and Fish

Meat and fish were both considered luxuries in ancient Rome, and were primarily reserved for wealthier citizens. Pork was the most common meat, either cooked fresh (stewed or roasted) or turned into bacon. Fresh fish and seafood included tuna, eels, sea urchins, and other shellfish. During feasts, wealthy Romans sometimes ramped up their culinary creations to a whole different level. Dishes served at these extravagant events included pickled sow’s udders, stuffed dormice, bull’s testicles, and hares decorated with wings to resemble Pegasus.

Garum

Special mention has to go to one standout ingredient of ancient Roman cuisine: a fermented fish sauce called garum. Pliny the Elder described garum as “a choice liquor consisting of the guts of fish and the other parts that would otherwise be considered refuse.” Despite this unappetizing appraisal, he nonetheless called it an “exquisite liquid.” The Romans mass-produced garum in dedicated factories. Three common varieties were manufactured: a dark-colored condiment that was high in protein, a cooking sauce similar to Vietnamese fish sauces, and a milder version called muria. Roman diners sprinkled garum on all manner of savory dishes, providing a pungent umami to even the blandest of meals.

Roman Desserts

Sweet-toothed Romans, especially those with money to spend, could indulge in a variety of desserts. Baked goods such as honey cakes and fruit tarts were common, as were homemade sweets known as dulcia domestica, which included stuffed dates. One common dessert eaten throughout Roman society was libum, a type of honey cheesecake. Libum wasn’t only a tasty treat; it was traditionally made as an offering to the household gods, after which it could be enjoyed by all the family.

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5 Inventions You Didn’t Realize Came From Ancient Rome

Codex-style book

In 500 BCE, Rome was nothing more than a minor city-state on the Italian Peninsula. But with its eyes set on expansion, Rome began to conquer its neighbors until it controlled all of Italy. It didn’t stop there. It became an empire in 27 BCE, and at its height — around 100 CE — the vast and immensely powerful Roman Empire stretched from Britain to Egypt.

Rome’s influence on the world was both widespread and long-lasting. The Romans were great innovators and inventors, sometimes appropriating and advancing aspects from other cultures, and other times inventing entirely new technologies and systems. These innovations covered a wide range of fields, including state institutions, cultural practices, and engineering techniques.

The Roman Empire eventually fell in 476 CE, but its legacy and influence carried on — all the way to the present day. Some of Rome’s most famous innovations, such as sanitation systems and road networks, are well known and still very much in evidence; in the United Kingdom, for example, many modern roads still follow the routes laid down by the Romans. Other Roman innovations, however, are more obscure. Here are five inventions that continue to shape our modern world, but that many people don’t realize originated in ancient Rome.

The First Bound Books

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In the ancient world, the first written documents were typically recorded on clay or wax tablets, or on sheets or scrolls of papyrus. The Romans also used scrolls, but during the first and second centuries CE, a new form of storing and accessing information emerged: the codex-style book. These notebooks, known as pugillares membranei (roughly translating to “parchment book”), were formed by stacking pages — typically made of vellum or papyrus — that were then joined along one set of edges, much like modern books. They were mainly used for personal writing, and represent the first true form of the bound book. The codices soon became popular throughout Western Europe and the Middle East, eventually superseding scrolls and tablets.

Precision Medical Instruments

The Romans were great pioneers in the field of surgery. We know from archaeological evidence — including well-preserved artifacts found in the buried remains of Pompeii and Herculaneum — that the Romans used precision medical instruments including bone forceps, catheters, obstetrical hooks, scalpels, and surgical scissors. The level of technology found in some of these tools is not so far from their modern counterparts. The Roman version of the vaginal speculum, for example, did not change significantly until the 20th century. The Romans also had a medical military corps with specialized field surgeons who were tasked with keeping the legions fit, healthy, and alive.

Underfloor Heating

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Heated floors might seem like a modern luxury, but the Romans started using them 2,000 years ago. Ancient Romans used an underfloor heating system known as a hypocaust, which drew in hot air from a wood-burning furnace outside the house and channeled it into a chamber below the floor. This not only warmed the floor itself but radiated heat throughout the home. Many examples of hypocausts can still be found in the foundations of villas and townhouses in Roman centers in Germany and England, where cold winters would have made the toasty floors especially inviting.

The Shopping Mall

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Markets have long been prevalent throughout the world as a gathering place for people to sell and buy all sorts of goods and produce. But the first permanent and covered shopping mall was likely built by the Romans: Trajan's Market (Mercatus Traiani), constructed between 100 and 110 CE. Made of red brick and concrete, it had six levels that housed around 150 different shops, as well as government offices and living accommodations. A street on the upper level, meanwhile, was named Via Biberatica after the Latin word for “drink,” suggesting that even the Romans needed to unwind after a hard day’s shopping.

Our Calendar

Most of the world now uses the Gregorian calendar, first introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. But credit for the modern calendar should really be given to the Romans. The Gregorian calendar is based on the much earlier Julian calendar (which itself owed a lot to the Egyptian solar calendar), introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BCE. The calendars share many similarities, though one of the main differences is the treatment of those pesky leap years. The Gregorian calendar handles them more precisely, resulting in a discrepancy between the two calendars that is currently 13 days, and will become 14 days in 2100.

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These Are the Oldest Recorded Recipes

Cuneiform tablet

Determining the oldest recipe in history seems like it would be tricky right from the outset — anyone who’s ever asked an older relative for a recipe knows that often, the ingredients and instructions for a favorite meal have never even been written down. Yet historians do have a fairly clear answer for what the oldest known written culinary recipes are, and they date back more than 3,700 years.

In 1911, Yale University purchased four clay tablets that had been unearthed from Mesopotamia, the ancient valley between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates (around modern-day Iraq). The tablets were inscribed in the cuneiform Akkadian language, and scholars estimate that three of them date back to around 1730 BCE. Since Akkadian is an extinct language, the actual content of the cuneiform was a mystery at the time the university acquired the tablets. It wasn’t until 1933 that any conclusions were made as to the contents of the script — and even then, the curator of the Yale Babylonian Collection misinterpreted the texts as recipes for medicinal remedies.

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Was the Trojan Horse Real?

Trojan Horse procession

The myths and history handed down from the ancient Greeks still permeate our culture today, from idioms such as “the Midas touch” and “Achilles’ heel” to the name of the world’s largest online retailer. Many of the legends recount the actions of Odysseus, the king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer’s epic poems the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey.” It’s believed these stories originated as oral performances and were committed to parchment in the eighth or mid-seventh century BCE. But there’s much that remains mysterious about Homer’s epics (including the very existence of Homer himself). One of the most iconic stories of the “Iliad” is that of the Trojan Horse, a tale so well known that the term is still used today to describe clever trickery that breaches defenses. Yet the question remains: Did the incident ever really happen?

We Now Know the City of Troy Was Real

Homer’s “Iliad” richly details the story of a decade-long siege against the city of Troy and its king, Priam, led by Menelaus, king of Sparta, and Menelaus’ brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. In the story, the conflict is fought over Menelaus’ wife, Helen (famously described by poet Christopher Marlowe as having a “face that launch’d a thousand ships”), who was given to Priam’s son Paris by the goddess Aphrodite.

Ancient scholars, including Herodotus, the fifth-century BCE Greek historian often called the “father of history,” firmly believed that the Trojan War had occurred some 800 years before classical Greece. But over the years, the common belief became that both the war and the city of Troy itself were the stuff of fiction. That skepticism was finally put to rest in the 19th century, after German amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovered a late Bronze Age mound now known as Hisarlik, in the northwest corner of modern-day Turkey. Excavations uncovered fortifications, pottery, and treasures from the site, which is now generally accepted to be the location of ancient Troy, putting the mythical city back on the map.

The existence of Troy raises the question: What else in Homer’s myth is real? Did the Trojan War actually happen? While proof of that great siege is more difficult to come by, there is evidence to suggest the Trojan War, which is said to have taken place around the 12th century BCE, was also a real conflict. Cuneiform tablets from the Hittite civilization reference a war with details that follow the rough outline of Homer’s battling empires. What’s more, charred arrowheads and unburied skeletons found in later archaeological excavations suggest that a large and violent conflict took place within the city’s walls, though there’s no knowing for certain if it was the 10-year Trojan War described in Homer’s epic.

What Is the Story of the Trojan Horse?

According to accounts by Homer in the “Odyssey” — later expanded on by the Roman poet Virgil in the “Aeneid” — the siege against Troy had been grinding on for nearly 10 years when Odysseus hatched a scheme to construct a giant wooden horse on wheels (the horse being a symbol of Troy) to sneak Greek soldiers behind the city walls. According to the plan, the Greek army would appear to flee, abandoning the equine structure as a peace offering and a symbol of surrender. The hollow structure, however — described in Virgil’s “Aeneid” as “a horse of mountainous size” — would conceal soldiers hidden inside — as Virgil put it, to “secretly hide a picked body of men, chosen by lot, there, in the dark body, filling the belly and the huge cavernous insides with armed warriors.” This trickery would allow Odysseus’ soldiers to get past the gates and sack the fortress, finally defeating their Trojan foes. The ruse worked, according to the legend. The city of Troy fell, and Odysseus sailed away to begin his long journey home.

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So Was the Trojan Horse Real?

The tale of the Trojan Horse has been recounted countless times — including with a giant rabbit in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail — and a wooden replica used in the 2004 film Troy now stands in Çanakkale, Turkey, near the site of ancient Troy. The timely legend even sparked the saying, “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” Yet historians still aren’t certain whether the story is factual or, more likely, an elaborate myth with some roots in reality. Some have theorized that the horse was a metaphor for whatever did destroy the city of Troy, such as a natural disaster or an enemy ship. But the prevailing theory is that the clever structure may have been based on ancient siege engines, such as battering rams, which were often covered with wet horse hides. The damp hides helped protect the wooden siege engines (and the soldiers using them) from flaming arrows, which may have been the inspiration for the legendary ruse.

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5 Bizarre Customs in Ancient Greece and Rome

Ancient Greek showering

It would be an understatement to say that life was very different a couple thousand years ago, be it food or housing or hygiene. In many cases, that was due to a lack of scientific understanding — such as how the human body works, or how to build an oven in a house without setting it on fire. Social norms in ancient times were also a sharp contrast to modern ones, particularly where modesty is concerned. Many of the customs practiced by ancient Greeks and Romans would be considered unusual or even gross today, such as purchasing sweat from famous athletes or washing clothes in urine. Here are five strange ancient habits we’re happy to leave in the past.

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Drinking Gladiator Blood

In Roman gladiatorial combat, athletes were forced to fight in front of a live audience, sometimes to the death. Yet the public’s thirst for blood didn’t stop there. The blood of defeated gladiators was considered a powerful medicine, and was used to treat everything from epilepsy to impotence. Patients were even encouraged to drink directly from the fallen gladiator on the battlefield. Roman scholar Pliny the Elder wrote that “these persons, forsooth, consider it a most effectual cure for their disease, to quaff the warm, breathing, blood from man himself, and, as they apply their mouth to the wound, to draw forth his very life.” Livers from fallen gladiators were also a supposed cure for various ailments, and Roman physician Scribonius Largus wrote of spectators who would “snatch a piece of liver from a gladiator lying gutted in the dust.” Gladiators often died young, powerful, and healthy, which is likely why their blood was so sought-after.

Going to the Bathroom in Close Quarters

Public restrooms in ancient Rome were not for the shy. Some toilet holes were cut close together in long benches with no dividers between them, so people doing their business had very little wiggle room. Togas offered this setup a surprising amount of privacy, however, since the draped garments obscured pretty much everything. Still, the upper classes rarely used these public toilets, understandably preferring their own personal latrines. Even being connected to the same sewer system was considered too close for some wealthy Romans.

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Exercising and Competing Nude

The word “gymnasium” comes from the Greek word gymnasion, meaning “school for naked exercise.” That’s because ancient Greek athletes largely eschewed clothing, instead covering themselves in oil and dust. The first recorded nude athlete was Orsippus of Megara, who competed in the 15th Olympic Games in 720 BCE. According to some ancient scholars, his loincloth fell off during the race and he ran on to victory. A rival story paints a different picture, claiming Orsippus actually tripped over his loincloth and died. Either way, competing nude in the Olympics and other athletic events became a common custom in ancient Greece. At the end of the sixth century BCE, athletes in Athens briefly tried wearing loincloths again, but soon abandoned them and returned to full nudity.

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Literally Scraping Sweat Off the Skin

Ancient Greeks and Romans took cleaning themselves pretty seriously, but they couldn’t exactly hop into the shower and build up a lather. Rather, some people used a hook-shaped instrument called a strigil to wipe moisture off of their skin. Strigils were commonly used by athletes, who would slather their bodies in oil before exercising, sometimes adding sand to increase grip. Afterward, they’d apply fresh oil, scrape all the sweat, oil, and dirt off the skin, and finish with water and a sponge. Fans would sometimes purchase what the strigil left behind. The cleaning instruments were prized possessions, and ancient Romans sometimes paired them with a decorated oil vessel called a balsamarium.

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Stamping Bread

Just before putting bread in the oven, ancient Roman bakers would often place a bronze stamp on top of the dough, which would leave an indent as it baked. The symbol it left behind would identify the baker behind the loaf, similar to a maker’s mark on fine ceramics. Bakers at the time typically shared ovens — in-home ovens were a fire hazard — so using a stamp helped bakers keep track of their products and pick up the right loaf once the bread was done. It was important to keep track of your bread not just for professional reputation, but for legal reasons, too. Bread was strictly regulated in ancient Rome, and government officials would inspect the weight, size, and cost of the finished products to prevent fraud.

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The Most Intriguing Egyptian Hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphs

Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics have long captured the imaginations of scholars and casual observers alike, and efforts to translate them date back to the ninth century CE. Yet hieroglyphics remained mostly indecipherable until the discovery of the Rosetta Stone in 1799. Early progress was made by English polymath Thomas Young in the 1810s, and French linguist Jean-François Champollion completed a breakthrough translation that he presented in Paris on September 27, 1822.

The accuracy of Champollion’s translation was a watershed moment that enabled a greater understanding of hieroglyphs, leading to deeper and wider-ranging study. In 1927, English Egyptologist Alan Gardiner published the reference work Egyptian Grammar, which included an appendix compiling the major hieroglyphs and their meanings, known as Gardiner’s Sign List, a reference standard still used today.

You don’t need to have a complete understanding of exactly how hieroglyphs function amid the rules of grammar in order to find them fascinating, though. Many symbols represent items that in turn provide glimpses into life in ancient Egypt and its advanced state as a civilization. The following hieroglyphs do just that — and we’ll use the names and reference points from Gardiner’s list to help illuminate them.

Y6: Board Game Piece

The hieroglyph numbered Y6 in Gardiner’s Sign List is a simple pointed oblong shape that isn’t especially visually compelling. But it represents a board game piece (in Gardiner’s text, a “draughtman” for a “draught board”), and there’s something undeniably intriguing about a hieroglyph that proves board games existed thousands of years ago. The piece depicted in this hieroglyph was either for a game called senet net hab (usually referred to as senet), or for a game called twenty squares.

Senet was a spiritually significant game, as “senet net hab” translates to “game of passing through.” The game is thought to represent the progression from life to the afterlife. Queen Nefertari’s tomb contains a painting depicting her playing senet against an invisible opponent; King Tutankhamun was buried with at least five senet boards.

U37: Razor

Shaving may not be an activity you’d immediately associate with ancient Egypt, but hieroglyph U37 depicts exactly that: a razor used for grooming. Depictions of shaving indicate that it was primarily undertaken by the upper class, while lower classes wore their hair untrimmed. The razors themselves were not very sharp; they were most commonly made of flint for a majority of ancient Egyptian history.

A59: Man Threatening With a Stick

An illustration of threat and potential violence, hieroglyph A59 is usually defined contextually as “to drive away.” Along with the more militaristic hieroglyphs A10-15, this glyph is reminiscent of ancient Egypt’s tendency toward corporal punishment and intimidation, a relatively little-discussed aspect of the civilization. While we know that Egypt was a punitive society, and its laws were decreed by the pharaoh, we do not know what the actual Egyptian code of law was: Artifacts have been found documenting legal transactions, but no documents describing an overarching legal code remain in existence.

A36: Man Kneading and Straining Into a Vessel

A somewhat cryptic-looking hieroglyph at first glance, the figure leaning over a pot represents a brewer straining beer into a vessel. Beer was an integral part of ancient Egyptian culture, both as a part of the everyday diet, and as a celebratory indulgence during religious festivals. It was also important sustenance for workers — builders of the pyramids of Giza were rationed 1.3 gallons of beer each day, which equates to approximately 10 pints. There’s even clear evidence that beer in ancient Egypt was brewed to industrial-level scale. In 2021, the excavation of a roughly 5,000-year-old brewery was completed, revealing a compound that scientists estimate could produce around 20,000 liters per batch.

The beer of ancient Egypt was much sweeter than we’re accustomed to today. It was made without hops (which didn’t become a standard ingredient until the Middle Ages) and flavored with fruits such as dates, as well as a mix of herbs and spices that seem closely approximated by the modern za'atar spice mix. Of course, flavor is subjective, but those who have attempted to recreate the Egyptian beer have reported that it tastes surprisingly good.

D35: Arms in Gesture of Negation

This is an example of a hieroglyph that can have several different meanings, depending on the context. It can function as a negative modifier in a sentence, or as a preposition. It can also express concepts of unknowingness, such as forgetfulness or ignorance. But in some instances, it can function as a representation of a very specific thing: the spleen. This usage is the most intriguing for its indication that the ancient Egyptians had an advanced understanding of internal anatomy.

The Egyptians, in fact, had an advanced understanding of medicine overall. We know that they practiced surgery, diagnosed and treated diseases (even cancer), and used various plants and minerals for therapeutic measures. As this hieroglyph suggests, they also documented their medical practices, and compiled various disease remedies and findings in a number of different papyrus collections, the most famous of which is known as the Ebers papyrus. Though there was also a distinct element of folk magic mixed in, the legacy of Egyptian medicine lives in modern medical practices.

D64: Hand With Palm Down

There is some disagreement around the interpretation of hieroglyph D64. Some interpret it as simply a hand with the palm down, while others have a more gruesome take: a severed hand. There is evidence that it was an ancient Egyptian war custom to take the hands of vanquished enemy combatants as trophies to present to the pharaoh. This practice served a dual purpose of tallying defeated foes and, on a more spiritual level, preventing them from “raising their hands” against Egypt again in the afterlife.

U13: Plough

The plough hieroglyph also means “seed,” and the overarching symbolism points toward farming. Ancient Egyptians were among the earliest practitioners of agriculture, and there is evidence that suggests farming in the region may have occurred as early as 7,000 years ago. Villages in the Nile valley were raising pigs, sheep, and goats, and cultivating crops such as emmer wheat, barley, cotton, and flax. The ancient Egyptians used the emmer wheat to bake breads that were primarily shaped like flatbreads, or rolled into a conical shape (depicted by hieroglyph X8).

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Augustus (27 BCE-14 CE)

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