A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities: Strange Tales & Surprising Facts from the World’s Greatest Empire by JC McKeown sounds like it’s a book right up my alley so I thought I’d share it with all of you. This review made me laugh.
I’m not sure how putting copper in a lion’s mouth would better your chances in the arena–it seems like a good way to earn the lion’s special animosity. But because I’m currently writing about Juba II’s fascination with now-extinct North African elephants, which were reportedly much more clever than the ones we have now, I think I actually believe this story:
The section on animals is also probably best left alone by anyone with a tender heart, although Plutarch records a memorable incidence of a performing elephant who couldn’t learn a particular trick and which was later spotted practising by itself in the moonlight.