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This book takes the reader on a journey through some lesser-known, but no less significant, aspects of Roman culture. These aspects include: the way in which Romans imagined the founding of their city, likening it to an act of cosmogony; the openness that characterized their religion, allowing them to identify foreign gods with their own; the rituals seen at the funerals of the elite, which combined epic solemnity with the derision of the deceased; the surprising background of the Lar, the god most closely associated with Roman family life; the origin and significance of the concept of auctoritas; and finally, the remarkable position held by those born through Caesarean section, a practice with its roots not only in technical advancements in surgery, but also in myth and belief.