Random Dumbest Things Pop Culture Has Us Believe About Ancient Rome (15 items)

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  (#15) Emperors And Governors Regularly Fed Christians To The Lions

  The Trope: Imperial policy dictated punishment for Christians - individuals who either subversively or openly defied the Roman state - as execution by wild animal (damnatio ad bestias). Lions, most notably, were used to execute Christians while providing entertainment to those who watched.

  Why Is It Inaccurate? Christians were persecuted, scapegoated, and executed in ancient Rome, there's no denying that. Emperor Nero (d. 68 AD) blamed Christians for a massive fire in Rome in 64 AD, and he ordered them to be arrested, "covered with wild beasts' skins and torn to death by dogs." After Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia (in Asia Minor), executed several Christians in 112 AD, he wrote to Emperor Trajan about the decision. Trajan assured him it was the right choice, but also said not to target Christians exclusively.

  Rome was, on the whole, tolerant of most religions. However, Christianity was unique because it proclaimed loyalty to only one god, and this did not include the various gods who were formerly Roman emperors. Considered traitors, Christians were given the opportunity to renounce their faith and accept the pledge of loyalty to the Roman emperor or make a sacrifice to the gods. Many Christians refused, opting to become martyrs instead.

  During the 2nd century AD, Bishop Polycarp resisted threats from authorities to throw him to wild beasts if he did not repent, but was ultimately burned instead. Third-century martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas similarly refused to renounce Christianity and were "condemned to die by the beasts." They were placed in an arena with a leopard and bull before being impaled by gladiators.

  The important take-away from this is that Christians were handled differently by governors, emperors, and other officials tasked with their fate. There was no imperial mandate that Christians be fed to the lions. Rather, it was one of several possible options for punishment. The horrors of the beasts were later emphasized by Christian writers as they praised the heroism of early men and women who were slain for their faith. 

  Notable Offenders: Quo Vadis (1951 and 2001)
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  (#6) Everyone Wore A Toga

  The Trope: Togas, togas everywhere. Togas were the garment of choice throughout the ancient Roman world, worn in public and in private by pretty much everyone. 

  Why Is It Inaccurate? Togas were exclusively worn by men, required at public gatherings as a way to acknowledge citizenship. Women wore a tunic, a stola, and a palla, layered to reflect concerns for modesty and to display social prominence. The togas that men wore had similar function.

  As woolen garments were wrapped around a man's body - no fasteners required - togas were expensive. Togas could be plain, colored, or feature a stripe that indicated social and political status. A bordered toga with a large purple stripe was reserved for Senators, while lower political officials wore togas with smaller lines of the regal color. The emperor's toga, necessarily, featured the most purple of them all - dyed using highly prized Tyrian purple (derived from shellfish).

  Togas also varied in length at various stages of Roman history. During the Republic, togas were shorter than those worn during the Imperial period. They were increasingly heavy and restrictive when it came to movement and comfort but further distinguished wealthy and notable Romans from individuals wearing simple tunics. 

  Contrary to how movies and television shows represent Romans, it was those simple tunics that were more prevalent in society. Free men, servants, and slaves all wore tunics and, due to the continued complexity of the toga, even magistrates wore them less and less often as the Imperial period progressed. 

  Notable Offenders: Gladiator; Rome (TV series); Agora; Pompeii; I, Claudius
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  (#8) Romans Were Exclusively White

  The Trope: Roman citizens throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and into Europe were Caucasian. If they appear at all, members of what we would now call "minority groups" were slaves and servants, excluded from the benefits of citizenship. 

  Why Is It Inaccurate? At one point, the Roman Empire spanned the entire Mediterranean Sea, and west from the Danube Valley into Britain. The vast number of groups under Roman authority ranged in ethnicity and appearance. While popular-culture versions of ancient Rome depict an overwhelmingly white population, archaeological, historical, and DNA evidence indicates the city was much more of a cultural melting pot.

  In 2019, researchers published a study that analyzed remains from 29 sites in and around Rome. According to DNA evidence, large scale migration into the burgeoning city resulted in "overwhelming" genetic diversity through 300 CE, when the population of Rome topped 1 million. Historians continue to debate the extent to which this same type of diversity may have extended throughout the Empire. 

  Romans themselves would not have been as concerned with ethnicity or race as they would have been with cultural and political superiority. Roman citizenship was extended to individuals and groups based on economic and military considerations, a legal award intended to instill a sense of unity among residents in the empire. It was "inferior" peoples, regardless of color, who made up the ranks of slaves in the Roman world (i.e., prisoners of war, criminals, debtors). While this could include individuals with dark skin, there were no indications citizenship was not an option for peoples of various ethnicities and appearance. 

  Notable Offenders: Gladiator, Pompeii, Ben-Hur (1959), The Eagle, The Last Legion
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  (#5) Romans Just Slapped Latin Names On Greek Gods

  The Trope: Roman gods were simply renamed versions of Greek deities, larger-than-life figures like Zeus, Hera, and Ares. Romans just adopted them as Jupiter, Juno, and Mars, with no additional beliefs or influences involved. 

  Why Is It Inaccurate? The Roman pantheon was really complex. Prior to the incorporation of Greek influence, however, Romans had a hierarchy of gods all their own. These merged over time, rather than the former simply replacing or supplanting the latter. The Roman state also associated itself with many gods imported from the Greek world. Honoring these deities - and, by extension, Rome itself - was a requirement. Festivals, rituals, and comparable activities kept gods and goddesses satisfied, offering prosperity and protection to the humans that honored them. Roman piety, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, was why Rome won so many wars and succeeded "in times of danger."

  Romans also had an entire system of beliefs based on lesser deities. Lares, manes, and panes were spirits that oversaw aspects of daily life in Rome. Panes guarded the kitchen, lares protected the home, and manes were the spirits of deceased loved ones.

  The introduction of gods from around the Roman Empire also influenced religious practices and beliefs. Mithras, a Persian god of war, was popular among members of the Roman military, while Christianity and Judaism were practiced with varied levels of acceptance or tolerance in the Roman world. 

  Notable Offenders: Immortals, Clash of the Titans, Hercules, The Twelve Tasks of Asterix
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  (#13) It Was Commonplace For Romans To Have Orgies

  The Trope: Roman celebrations, especially religious festivities, ultimately ended up in drunken, lust-filled orgies. When it came to elaborate Roman feasts, sexual perversions and debauchery knew no limits. 

  Why Is It Inaccurate? The myth of the Roman orgy emerged thanks to speculation by ancient writers and over-active imaginations across the centuries. During the 2nd century BC, the worship of Dionysus, called Bacchus by the Romans, involved a mysterious set of rituals that involved wine, food, and large groups of young men and women. After a report from the Roman Senate prompted persecution of the cult and its members, celebration of Bacchus retreated underground. 

  With a revival of concerns about loyalty to the Roman State came renewed interest in the cult. Roman historian Livy (d. 17 AD) wrote about the multi-day festival honoring the deity, the Bacchanalia of the late 1st century BC. As a staunch supporter of the Roman state, Livy viewed the Bacchus cult as a threat to Rome's very existence. As a non-member, however, his assertions that "men were mingled with women with all the license of nocturnal orgies, there was no crime, no deed of shame, wanting" were based on previous accounts and steeped in bias.  

  Livy's work does reflect a tool of propaganda used in the Roman world, however. Throwing accusations of sexual impropriety was commonly used against emperors and politicians to destroy their images. For example, Suetonius accused Emperor Caligula (d. 41 AD) of incest and of opening "a brothel in his palace."

  Notable Offenders: Heliogabalus, Tyrant of Rome; Caligula; History of the World: Part I; Plebs (TV series)
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  (#11) Roman Battles With Barbarians Were Wild Free-For-Alls

  The Trope: On one side of the battle, you have the well-equipped, disciplined Roman military. On the other, you have a group of barbarians with little training or formal structure. However, when the battle commences, pure chaos ensues.

  Why Is It Inaccurate? The Roman military was incredibly organized and disciplined. There were some changes from the Republic to the Empire, but generally, Roman legions included between 5,000 and 6,000 men. Legions were divided into 10 cohorts, most of which had six centuries or roughly 480 infantrymen (the first cohort was slightly different). Centuries were divided into 10 contubernium of eight men each. There were additional cavalry, scouts, and non-fighting personnel that accompanied the legion. Groups had leaders, notably centurions, and provided a specific function on the battlefield. 

  The regimented and standardized structure of the Roman military streamlined warfare to a degree, allowing men to have uniform training in tactics and strategies that could be applied with greater efficacy. In the heat of battle, Romans were able to employ maneuvers like the tortoise-shell defense, often adapting them to specific circumstances, terrain, or enemy tactics. In Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, he discusses the lengths he and his men went to implement specific offensive and defensive strategies.

  As the Roman military moved through the ever-expanding Empire, it came into contact with hostile groups of all kinds. Each "barbarian" force (barbarians simply because they weren't Roman) had its own type of fighting, weaponry, and tactics. Contrary to common beliefs that barbarian forces were wild men running around the battlefield, groups in Gaul, according to Caesar, were "well-trained (as they were) beyond all others to arms." Basically, they were skilled, just not as skilled as the Romans. When Tacitus wrote about German armies in his 1st-century AD work, Germania, he described a "fixed" number of men in "wedge-shaped formations," indicative of a more organized group of soldiers than commonly believed.

  So, no, Roman armies and their opponents generally didn't run towards - and then smash into - each other with abandon. 

  Notable Offenders: Gladiator, The Last Legion, The Eagle, Total War: Rome (video game)

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