By James C. McKeown

The Romans have a reputation as being a very practical society, building impressive aqueducts with really good cement, while maintaining a ruthlessly efficient army that conquered and maintained a vast empire. They may sometimes seem rather dull and unimaginative, but this is not at all the case. They have left us lots of rather bizarre information about themselves, some of which is perhaps not entirely credible. For example:

1. In 173 BC, a large fleet of ships was seen in the sky near Rome.

2. Cobwebs were used to stop bleeding from fractured skulls and shaving cuts.

3. The Romans wondered whether plants enjoy travel in the same way as people do. There was a law against using magic to transfer growing crops from one place to another.

4. Faustina, the wife of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, had a collection of several hundred wigs.

5. The Latin word musculus means both “little mouse” and “muscle”, since muscles rippling under the skin were thought to be like little mice.

6. The emperor Commodus frequently fought as a gladiator, armed with iron weapons, whereas his opponents had lead ones.

7. A person found guilty of parricide was sewn up in a sack with a dog, a rooster, a viper, and a monkey, and thrown into the sea.

8. Kissing a she-mule on the nostrils cures hiccups and sneezing.

9. Even though the Romans had no stirrups, Julius Caesar could ride at a gallop with his hands behind his back.

10. The emperor Maximinus was said to have drunk seven gallons of wine per day and to have been eight feet, six inches tall.

J. C. McKeown, author of A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World’s Greatest Empire, is Professor of Classics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

IMAGE: Communal toilets at Ostia, the port of Rome. Up to eighty people could sit together and socialize in Roman toilets. Photo by Jo Winston.

Congratulations to the following W & M winners of this book:

Gary, librarypat, and Lon!

All Other Nights: A Novel tells the story of Jacob Rapport, a young Jew from Manhattan who runs away from home and joins the Union Army to escape his parents’ choice of fiancée. A New Yorker primed to climb the ranks of his father’s business might not seem the most likely candidate for a successful Civil War soldier, but Jacob displays a knack for doing what he’s told, and is eventually called on for some very high-stakes missions. Such as? Well, when Jacob’s superiors discover that he has relatives in New Orleans, including an uncle involved in a plot to assassinate President Lincoln, Jacob is recruited for his first task as a spy: to cross enemy lines disguised as a Confederate soldier and to murder his own uncle.

Jacob’s success at this heartbreaking mission proves his loyalty to the Union cause, and qualifies him for another challenge—this time to seduce and marry the daughter of one of his father’s Virginia business partners, a suspected Confederate spy. In this novel, author Dana Horn achieves a balance between compelling storytelling and deeper truths surrounding our personal and political identities.

We at Wonders & Marvels have three (3) copies of All Other Nights as our giveaway. To enter, simply answer in response to this question by 11:59 p.m. EST April 4, 2010:

Real or fictional, who is your favorite spy?

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The American metaphor for medical racism, government malfeasance, and physician arrogance that is the 40-year Tuskegee Syphilis Study is analyzed in Examining Tuskegee. The notorious study of untreated syphilis, which took place in and around Tuskegee, Alabama, from the 1930s through the 1970s, involved hundreds of African American men, most of whom were actually told by doctors from the U.S. Public Health Service that they were being treated, not just watched, for their late-stage syphilis.

Author Susan M. Reverby examines the study and its aftermath from multiple perspectives to explain what happened and why the study has such power in our collective memory. She follows the study’s repercussions in facts and fictions, highlighting the many uncertainties that dogged the study during its four decades and explores the newly available medical records.

We at Wonders & Marvels have three (3) copies of Examining Tuskegee available as our giveaway. To enter, simply comment by 11:59 p.m. EST Thursday, March 25, 2010 in response to this question:

What aspect of American health-care today needs to have greater transparency?

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“Beutner has elevated a relatively minor character in Greek mythology to a major player,” writes Booklist of Alcestis. “In this reworking of the classic legend…Beutner spices up this classic tale with a decidedly Sapphic flavor.” Have we gotten your attention now?

In Greek myth, Alcestis is known as the ideal good wife; she loved her husband so much that she died to save his life and was sent to the underworld in his place. Author Katharine Beutner gives voice to the woman behind the ideal, bringing to life the world of Mycenaean Greece, a world peopled by capricious gods, where royal women are confined to the palace grounds and passed as possessions from father to husband. But once in the realm of the dead, Alcestis falls in love with the goddess Persephone and discovers the true horror and beauty of death.

We at Wonders & Marvels have four copies of Alcestis for our giveaway. To enter, simply comment in response to this question by 11:59 PM EST February 28, 2010:

What little-known character in history deserves to be in the spotlight and have his or her story told?

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The 100th anniversary of an epic battle with nature approaches. In the winter of 1910, the great flood of the Seine ravaged Paris and brought widespread destruction to one of the world’s most beloved cities. Historian Jeffrey H. Jackson captures the drama — and the determination of the Parisian survivors — in Paris Under Water: How the City of Light Survived the Great Flood of 1910.

The narrative takes the reader through the entire ordeal, from the first reports of rising water levels that were dismissed by most of the bustling capital, through the torrential rainfall that wreaked havoc on faulty engineering throughout the city. As the sewers, Métro and electricity failed around them and the flood took its toll on everything from streets and homes to businesses and museums, Parisians of all backgrounds rallied to save each other and their city.

We at Wonders & Marvels have three (3) copies of Paris Under Water available for our giveaway. To enter, simply comment by 11:59 midnight EST January 29, 2010 in response to this question:

What is your favorite landmark of Paris?

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