The ancient Romans indulged in lavish, hours-long banquet feasts that served to broadcast their wealth and status in ways that eclipse our notions of a resplendent meal.
Here's a fun fact for the next time you're thinking about the Roman Empire: To wash their clothes, they used a combination of water and urine instead of soap.
Jesuit’s rich portrait of 17th century China, as told to a Florentine scientist, intrigued a fragmented Europe Florentine writer Lorenzo Magalotti published Relazione della China after a colourful evening’s chat in 1665 with Austrian Jesuit priest Father Johann Grueber, who had spent several years in China. Photo: Wellcome Library, London.
Marco Polo wasn t the only adventurer who returned from China with a treasure trove of tales and mesmerising accounts of the Orient. For centuries, missionaries and traders were the savvy travellers who unlocked the mysteries of the Far East, relating them to avid European scholars and readers hungry for all things exotic.
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Lying Down and Vomiting Between Courses: This is How Ancient Romans Would Feast
Members of the Roman upper classes regularly indulged in lavish, hours-long feasts that served to broadcast their wealth and status in ways that eclipse our notions of a resplendent meal.
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Imagine, if you will, the most glorious festive feast, with an oversize turkey, stuffing two ways, holiday ham, the requisite fixings and at least half a dozen pies and cakes. That may all sound grand that is, until you consider the extravagant displays of the ancient Roman banquet.
Members of the Roman upper classes regularly indulged in lavish, hours-long feasts that served to broadcast their wealth and status in ways that eclipse our notions of a resplendent meal. Eating was the supreme act of civilisation and celebration of life, said Alberto Jori, professor of ancient philosophy at the University of Ferrara in Italy.