In the past, Ancient Rome was a leading civilization, and Roman law is still studied in all modern law schools.
However, despite the obvious virtues of the legislation of the ancient empire, in any set of rules there will be several absurd and non-logical laws. And for a modern person, some of them may even seem barbaric.
10. Do not wear purple clothes
The clothes of the ancient Roman consisted only of a piece of woolen, rough fabric called toga. The toga was tied around the human body, it was usually beige in color, and for the funeral it was allowed to change the toga to black or gray.
Purple dye was obtained by killing mollusks. And to impregnate the color of one toga, it was necessary to crush as many as 10,000 soft-bodied animals. Therefore, they introduced the law that only the emperor can wear purple robes, and they brought the dye to Rome by his special order.
9. Law prohibiting feasts
In antiquity, a law was passed prohibiting extensive feasts, as well as excessive luxury in food, clothing or in the home interior. In 181 BC, Emperor Guy Orkhodiy introduced a ban on mass feasts. In the future, the law underwent changes and became even stricter. It got to the point that people were forbidden to receive more than three guests at a time.
Restrictions were also introduced on the waste of talent (monetary units in antiquity). For example, the inhabitants of Rome were forbidden to spend more than 15 talents per month on the purchase of smoked meat.
8. Law prohibiting crying at a funeral
The law originates from the time when the funeral of noble people was accompanied by representations. The deceased was brought to a general roar and groaning, buffoons played scenes from the life of the deceased, artists sang, musicians accompanied the procession with compositions. Paintings, masks of ancestors, dear family heirlooms - everything that a person was rich during his lifetime was on display, singing the successes and achievements of the deceased.
The problem in the funeral procession was only in wailing women who needed to win back the unearthly sorrow, scream and hysterically tear their hair out. The hired actresses were supposed to create the impression that the deceased person was the closest one for them during life, although most often they were not even familiar with the deceased.
In the end, it was decided to completely prohibit crying at the funeral, just to eradicate the activities of actors of this genre.
7. Father could kill unmarried daughter's lover
In antiquity, male adultery was not criticized, but for a woman sex with her lover was an indelible disgrace. After all, if the husband forced his wife with another, then he was obliged to bring the incident to the attention of the public. That is, to convene neighbors and acquaintances so that they appear as witnesses in the divorce proceedings. And the marriage after what happened was mandatory terminated.
As a bonus, a man could kill his wife’s lover if he was not a slave, that is, was not anyone’s property.
If the father forced his unmarried daughter with a man, then he had the right to kill him. And in this case, the status of a lover did not matter - even if he belonged to a noble man, the girl’s father could kill him with impunity.
6. Execution for killing a relative
If a person killed a member of his family, then execution awaited him through drowning. The offender, along with a snake, a dog or a monkey, was thrust into a leather bag and drowned in a deep barrel of water.
According to the Romans, the listed animals did not respect their parents, therefore they were symbolically also drowned.
5. Law controlling the color of hair of ancient Roman prostitutes
During military attacks on the states of Central Europe, Roman troops often came out victorious. Men of the conquered states were killed or taken into slavery, but the fate of concubines or prostitutes in brothels awaited women.
Soon, the brothels of Rome were filled with captive girls whose hair color burned with fire or shone with a wheat color. Therefore, all blondes and redheads began to be associated with prostitution, and dark-haired girls with decency and cleanliness.
Soon, a decree was issued, forcing even the "indigenous" Roman muddlers to dye their hair in red or blond color.
4. Senate permission to commit suicide
In ancient Rome, suicide was prohibited by law. To commit suicide, a person had to submit an official petition to the Senate so that the state would give him permission to commit a suicide attempt. To approve the request, a person had to tell the authorities in detail about the reasons that caused him to think about suicide.
And if representatives of the Senate determined the reasons to be satisfactory, then the person received approval of the suicide request.
3. The father could send the child into slavery
In ancient times, the father was considered the most important and wise person in the family, so his decisions were not challenged and doubted. The head of the family had the right to send his children into slavery. And as you know from sources that have reached our contemporaries, the father also decided how long to give the child to the slave owner.
Historians do not know the specific terms of the contract and the timing of the transfer, but it is known that the law allowed the child to be enslaved no more than three times. If the father gave the child into slavery for the third time, then he forever lost power over the child and all the will of his son or daughter passed into the hands of the slave owner.
2. The possibility of living together before marriage
In antiquity, there was a kind of marriage, which allowed a man and a woman to live together for a year without obligation before marriage. During such a “trial period”, young people could understand whether they fit together and whether they should become husband and wife.
During this year, a woman could leave her husband for a period of not more than three days. If the period spent separately from the "groom" was exceeded, then the countdown of the annual "trial period" began anew.
1. The father had the right to kill his own family
A few points ago we wrote that for the murder of a family member, a man was executed. But this law did not apply to the senior member of the dynasty, that is, the father of the whole family.
His opinion and voice were considered the only true ones, and from that the eldest in the family acted both as a fate resolver, and as a judge, and as an executioner.
All blood relatives, even the wives of sons and husbands of daughters, acted as a family. If one of the family members did things objectionable to the head of the dynasty, then he could issue an order to kill his relative.