Food
6 A Roman called Trimalchio had a feast with a roasted boar. When it was sliced down the belly, what came out?
a maggots
b songbirds
c a dancing girl
6b There were thrushes stuffed inside the roast boar. (Were they bored in there?) Trimalchio also served wine that was 100 years old at that feast.
Augustus Caesar (31 BC–AD 14) caught Brutus, the murderer of Julius Caesar, and had his _____ thrown at the feet of Caesar’s statue.
mother, head, chicken, horse, corpse, cobweb, cheese, wife, wrinkly, leg.
1 head. Nice present for Jules!
Vitellius (AD 69) had his _____ thrown in the River Tiber at Rome
mother, head, chicken, horse, corpse, cobweb, cheese, wife, wrinkly, leg.
corpse. He was murdered in the centre of Rome but not given a nice emperor’s burial.
At posh Roman feasts guests sometimes ate more than their stomachs could hold. How?
a They emptied their stomachs by vomiting every now and then.
b They stretched their stomachs with special exercises.
c They stuck a pin in their stomach to let out trapped air and let in more food.
2a They used a stick with a feather to tickle their tonsils and vomited into a bowl. When their stomach was empty they went back and ate more. Scoff-vomit, scoff- vomit, scoff-vomit all night long.
Tiberius (AD 14–37) said that he would smash the _____ of anyone who disobeyed him.
mother, head, chicken, horse, corpse, cobweb, cheese, wife, wrinkly, leg.
2 leg. Tiberius died at the age of 78, probably suffocated by his chief helper.
Hadrian (AD 117–138) forced a _____ to commit suicide.
mother, head, chicken, horse, corpse, cobweb, cheese, wife, wrinkly, leg.
wrinkly. Hadrian accused Servianus of treason and forced him to kill himself. But Servianus was 90 years old and hardly a big threat.
3 Snails were fattened up before they were killed. They were kept in a bowl of what?
a chopped cabbage
b brains
c blood
3c The snails supped the blood till they were too fat to get in their shells. The blood diet made them taste nice. If they wanted creamy snails, the Romans fed them on milk before eating them.
Caligula (AD 37–41) wanted someone to help him to rule so he gave the job to his _____.
horse. Cruel Caligula liked to feed criminals to wild animals. He was stabbed to death by one of his guards
Antonius (AD 138–161) died of eating too much _____.
head, chicken, horse, corpse, cobweb, cheese, wife, wrinkly, leg.
cheese. At least that’s what a Roman historian blamed his death on. Guess it was just hard cheese.
The Romans didn’t have tomato ketchup but they did have sauce made from what?
a sheep eyeballs
b fish guts
c elephant’s tail
1b The guts were soaked in salt water and left to stew in the sun for a few days. Then the fish-gut sauce was poured over the food as a tasty treat. Oh my cod
Claudius (AD 41–54) had his _____ executed.
mother, head, chicken, horse, corpse, cobweb, cheese, wife, wrinkly, leg.
wife. She was a bit of a flirt. But he also had 300 of her party friends chopped too! His third wife, and niece, had him poisoned with mushrooms.
Eliogabalus (AD 218–222) had the curious hobby of collecting every _____ he could find.
mother, head, chicken, horse, corpse, cobweb, cheese, wife, wrinkly, leg.
cobweb. Maybe he was planning to build the world’s first web-site?
9 The Romans did not eat animals’ what?
a teeth
b brains
c lungs
9a They ate all sorts of other things though. As well as sheep and goat lungs or brains, they ate gulls, peacocks, swans and jackdaws.They stuffed the birds just by pushing stuffing straight down their throats. They didn’t clean the insides out the way you do with your Christmas turkey. Yeuch!
Nero (AD 54–68) tried to drown his_____
mother, head, chicken, horse, corpse, cobweb, cheese, wife, wrinkly, leg.
mother. When the plot failed he sent soldiers to give her the chop. Nero stabbed himself to death before his enemies got to him.
Honorius (AD 395–423) had a _____ called ‘Rome’.
mother, head, chicken, horse, corpse, cobweb, cheese, wife, wrinkly, leg.
chicken. Trouble is he loved the chicken Rome more than he loved the city Rome, and the city was neglected.