6 Interesting Facts about Ancient Rome
In historiography, ancient Rome is Roman civilization from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, encompassing the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, and Roman Empire (27 BC–476 AD) until the fall of the western empire. In this article, we will tell you about the 6 most interesting facts about rome.
The Roman Republic
The roman republic was originally supposed to have no ruler. Instead, they had two consuls that ruled together, making the biggest decisions together. The Senate, a group of men elected from important families, made laws. The general assembly, a large group of people also from important families are the ones that elect the senate. Sometimes Rome had dictators, rulers that had absolute power.
Creation of Rome
Romulus and Remus were twins, the sons of a princess and the Roman God Mars. They were left to die by their grandfather in a basket on the river Tiber, but instead were found and rescued by a she-wolf and later adopted by a shepherd. When they discovered with their parents were, they killed their grandfather, king Amulius, and planned to build a new city. They argued, Romulus killed his brother and named Rome after himself.
Saturnalia
Saturnalia was the most popular Roman holiday. It celebrated the God Saturn, God of time and agriculture. This holiday started from December 17th to the 23rd. The Christmas holiday many celebrate today is actually Saturnalia. On this holiday, people had lots of fun, got drunk, had parties, school, and business closed. Everyone decorated their homes, sang, gave gifts, and even swapped roles so the slaves were masters for a day.
Plebs
The citizens of Rome who were not from families descended from the original senate from the time of Romulus were called Plebs and were, unfortunately, not allowed to join the general assembly, work for the government, or make decisions.
Roman Inventions
The first newspaper
The first bound book
The modern calendar
Apartments
The postal service
Grid-based city layouts
Roman numeral
Plumbing & sewage systems
The first home heating system
Concrete
Battlefield surgery
Arches in architecture
Roads that last forever
Aqueducts
Roman Colonies
Rome took over many lands over the years. At its most powerful, Rome included all of Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Turkey, England, Wales, Sardinia, and parts of Libya and Egypt. A lot of these, Rome inherited when they conquered Greece and fought off most of the Celts!
Roman Food
Like most Mediterraneans, Romans ate bread, cheese, meat, fruits, vegetables, and wine. The whitest bread was for the rich and the darkest was for the peasants. They usually ate with their hands, sometimes used spoons, and never used forks or knives.
The rich liked to eat exotic foods like roasted parrot and flamingo tongue.