Interesting Fact of Rome (7)

 31. in 695, Leontius, the leader of the rebellious Constantinipolitans, seized emperor Justinian II and had his nose cut off, in the belief that Justinian II would not try for the throne again. three years later, Leontius was overthrown by General Tiberius, who had Leontius' nose cut off. Seven years after that, Justinian II retook the throne and had Leontius and Tiberius publicly humiliated and executed.
32. In the ninth century, Vikings were raiding Constantinople at the mouth of the Black Sea.
33. in 1014, Emperor Basil II wished to end the 40 year long war with the Bulgarians. He blinded all but 150 out of 15,00 prisoners, the 150 were blinded in only one eye, and sent them home with a one-eyed leader to Ohrid, whose ruler Samuel, had received word that his army was returning. He rushed to meet them, and at the sight of his thousands of blind men, Samuel suffered a stroke and died. Basil II received the title Baroktonis, meaning "slayer of Bulgarians."

P.S. Merry Christmas!!!

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Interesting Facts of Rome (6)

 26. The plague that swept through much of the civilized world in 542-543 AD was said by Procopius to have killed 10,000 people daily in Constantinople at its height. Emperor Justinian caught the plague but recovered.
27. In 554, Narses destroyed the Ostrogoths and took back Roman control of Italy. He was 90 years old.
28. Emperor Justinian bribed two Persian monks to take silkworm eggs and bring them back to Constantinople. Silk production began in 550 AD.
29. Since 5622, the Hagia Sophia cathedral at Constantinople has held the largest self-supporting dome, in an acting seismic region.
30. An authentic "lost weapon" is Greek fire, used in Constantinople against the Muslims in the seventh and ninth centuries.

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Interesting Facts of Rome (5)

 21. Cyprus was an important mining center, but for unknown reasons, was shut down by the Romans. Later in the 20th century, an American rediscovered them, and Cyprus is important in mining again.
22. The Byzantines never called themselves the Byzantines, the name came from Byzantium, the former name of the city Constantinople.
23. The Roman Empire and Persia signed "the Endless Peace" treaty in 533, and were at war seven years later.
24. In 534, Dennis the Little created the system of counting years still used today by starting with the birth of Christ.
25. In 537, Emperor Jutsinian held a banquet for which 6,000 sheep, 1,000 oxen, 1,000 pigs, 1,000 chickens, and 500 deer were slaughtered.

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Interesting Facts of Rome (4)

16.  When the Roman Empire "fell" in the fifth century, it was only the Eastern half of the continent.
17. The Italian city Ravenna was on the coast of the Adriatic. Honorius made this city the capital of the Western Roman Empire.
18. Roman Emperor Theosdosius built a triple wall from the Golden Horn to the Sea of Marmara. 
19. The word "mile" comes form the Roman milia meaning "thousands."
20. The Romans used poisonous led as a sweetening agent.

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Interesting Facts of Rome (3)

11.  When the Romans built Hadrian's wall, they included a moat inside and outside the wall. The purpose of this, is to be determined, but soon after the wall was built, the Romans filled the inner moat in.
12. Emperor Commodus fought and won 11 battles in the gladiatorial arena.
13. One of the worst Roman emperors was Heliogabulus. He replaced the gods of Syrian Gods.
14.  Dependence on slave labor was one of the downfalls of the Roman Empire.
15. In the fourth century, twenty great families in six large clans owned most of the land in Gaul

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Interesting Facts of Rome (2)

 6. Emperor Nero's last words were "Qualis artifex pereo", meaning "what an artist dies within me."
7. In the first hundred days of the Colosseum in Rome in 80 AD, over 5,000 animals were killed, including: elephants, tigers, lions, elks, hyenas, hippopotamuses, and giraffes.
8. The amount of people able to fit in the Colosseum is to be debated, but 45,000 is generally the accepted figure.
9. At the peak of the Roman Empire, the size of Rome was about the size that the US is now.
10. The empire was know together by 18,000 of roads.

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Interesting Facts of Rome (1)

1. After its rebuilding by Caesar, the Circus Maximus housed 250,000 people.
2. Virgil's quest for perfection almost lead posterity not to inherit the Aeneid, as he did not wish for it to be published, but burned, as it was "not polished." Augustus stepped in and countermanded this request, and published the Aenied.
3. Gauis Caesar was so hated he was killed by one of his own gaurds.
4. Caligula had a favorite horse with a golden goblet for wine.
5. The first volume of recipes was first published in 62 AD by Apicius. It was titled De Re Coquinaria.

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