98 Fun Facts About Ancient Rome

Who was the first Roman Emperor, marking the end of the Roman Republic?

Augustus, born Gaius Octavius, became the first Roman Emperor in 27 BC, ushering in the Pax Romana and transforming the Republic into an Empire.

Which Roman god was the equivalent of the Greek god Poseidon, ruling over the sea and freshwater?

Neptune was the Roman god of freshwater and the sea, often depicted with a trident, similar to his Greek counterpart, Poseidon.

Under which Roman Emperor did the construction of the Colosseum begin?

Vespasian began the Colosseum around AD 72 on the site of a drained artificial lake, returning the land to public use; his son Titus inaugurated it in AD 80 with 100 days of games.

Which ancient Roman road was famously known as the 'Regina Viarum' or 'Queen of Roads'?

The Via Appia, or Appian Way, was one of the earliest and most strategically important Roman roads, connecting Rome to Brindisi and earning its nickname for its significance.

Whose calendar reform put a 365-day year with leap days in force from 45 BC?

Julius Caesar enacted the reform in 46 BC with advice from the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria; the 365-day year with a leap day every four years took effect on 1 January 45 BC.

What was the estimated seating capacity of the Roman Colosseum for public spectacles?

Modern estimates put the Colosseum's capacity at 50,000-80,000 spectators, admitted through some 80 numbered entrance arches; the typical crowd is reckoned at around 65,000.

Which Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility is equated with the Greek Aphrodite?

Venus was the Roman goddess whose functions encompassed love, beauty, desire, sex, and fertility, and was considered the ancestor of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas.

Which city, originally Byzantium, became the Roman Empire's new capital in AD 330?

Constantine the Great refounded the ancient city of Byzantium as 'New Rome' or Constantinople in 330 AD, making it the new capital of the Roman Empire.

In the Roman numeral system, which letter represents the number 1000?

M is the largest of the seven standard numeral letters. To go higher the Romans used the apostrophus system, writing 1,000 as CIↃ and adding brackets for each power of ten.

What primary material was extensively used in the construction of the Colosseum's main structure?

Travertine forms the outer walls and piers, with volcanic tuff and brick-faced concrete inside; the pale stone weathered to its present honey colour over nineteen centuries.

According to Roman legend, which twin brothers were the mythical founders of the city of Rome?

The legendary founders of Rome are the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, who were said to have been raised by a she-wolf.

Which silver coin, introduced around 211 BC, was the standard unit of a legionary's pay?

The denarius, a silver coin introduced around 211 BC during the Second Punic War, was the standard unit of Roman pay; a legionary under Augustus earned 225 denarii a year.

What was the name of the earliest codified Roman law, inscribed on bronze tablets?

The Twelve Tables were drawn up around 450 BC by two boards of ten men, the decemviri; the originals probably perished in the Gallic sack of Rome and survive only in later quotations.

What did Romans call the eagle standard that carried a legion's honor?

The aquila, a silver or gold eagle carried by the aquilifer, became the legion's sole standard in 104 BC when, in Pliny's account, Marius retired the wolf, minotaur, horse and boar standards.

What was the main job of the Roman aqueducts?

Public fountains had first claim on the flow, then the baths, and only then fee-paying private households; a free supply could be granted to the very wealthy as a state honour.

Which powerful North African city-state was Rome's primary opponent in the three Punic Wars?

Carthage, a major Phoenician city-state located in modern-day Tunisia, was the formidable rival of Rome during the Punic Wars.

Which Roman emperor wrote the Stoic notebook 'Meditations' to himself?

Marcus Aurelius, emperor from AD 161 to 180, wrote the Meditations in Greek as private notes; its original title, Ta eis heauton, means 'things to oneself'.

Which river flows through the city of Rome?

Rome was founded on its eastern bank. It rises on Mount Fumaiolo in the Apennines and runs 406 km to the sea at Ostia, making it Italy's third-longest river.

What annually elected Republican office, held by two men, carried supreme civil and military power?

Consuls, two elected each year, held supreme civil and military authority; the pairing ensured neither could rule like the expelled kings, and Romans dated years by the consuls' names.

In which naval battle of 31 BC did Octavian's fleet under Agrippa crush Antony and Cleopatra?

Actium, fought on 2 September 31 BC in the Ionian Sea off western Greece, left Octavian master of the Roman world; four years later the Senate gave him the name Augustus.

Which Roman naturalist died at Stabiae in AD 79 while trying to rescue eruption victims?

Pliny the Elder set out from Misenum, where he lived with his sister and nephew; the nephew, Pliny the Younger, wrote the eyewitness account Tacitus later asked him for.

What was the predominant language spoken in the western part of the Roman Empire?

Latin was the original language of the Romans and remained the language of imperial administration, legislation, and the military throughout the classical period in the West.

Which Roman goddess, wife of Jupiter, was queen of the gods?

Juno, Jupiter's wife and sister, was queen of the Roman gods and the counterpart of the Greek Hera; the month of June is traditionally said to take its name from her.

Which Roman emperor declared Nicene Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire?

Emperor Theodosius I issued the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 AD, making Nicene Christianity the official state religion of the Roman Empire.

What was the primary initial purpose of the extensive Roman road network?

Road-building was a military duty under a consul, and the verb for it, viam munire, was the same one used for fortifying. At its peak 29 great military highways radiated from the capital.

Which gladiator of ancient Rome fought like a fisherman, with a weighted net and trident?

The retiarius ('net-man') fought with a weighted net, trident and dagger, protected only by an arm guard and shoulder piece; he was usually paired against the heavily armoured secutor.

Which Roman historian wrote the Annals and the Germania?

Tacitus, the senator-historian, wrote the Germania in AD 98 and later the Histories and the Annals, which cover the emperors from Tiberius to Nero; he was the son-in-law of the general Agricola.

What was the draped woollen garment worn by male Roman citizens on formal occasions?

The toga, a heavy semicircle of wool draped over a tunic, was the formal dress of male Roman citizens; boys put on the plain toga virilis in their mid-teens, and election candidates whitened theirs with chalk.

What is the Colosseum's formal name, after the dynasty of the three emperors who built it?

The Flavian Amphitheatre (Amphitheatrum Flavium) takes its name from the Flavian dynasty of Vespasian, Titus and Domitian; 'Colosseum' comes from a colossal bronze statue that once stood beside it.

Which Roman goddess was associated with Hecate in her crossroads and underworld aspects?

Horace called her diva triformis, the three-form goddess: Diana on earth, Luna in the sky and Hecate below. Her sacred lake at Nemi was Virgil's 'lake of Trivia', the goddess of the three ways.

What was the largest standard unit of the Roman army, made up of citizen heavy infantry?

The legion was the army's largest unit, made up of citizens; it was subdivided into cohorts, and those into centuries of about 80 men.

What was the common name for the large public bath complexes in ancient Rome?

The extensive public bathhouses in ancient Rome, which served as centers for bathing, exercise, and socialization, were known as thermae.

In what year was the Roman Republic traditionally established, replacing the monarchy?

The Roman Republic was traditionally established in 509 BC after the overthrow of the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. This marked a significant shift in Roman governance.

Which Roman deity was the god of war, often depicted with a helmet and spear?

Unusually, Mars was also a guardian of agriculture; the Campus Martius, Rome's military and electoral field, took its name from his altar there.

Roughly how many fighting men made up a full-strength Roman legion in the Imperial period?

5,000-5,500 men in ten cohorts, the first at double strength; with attached auxiliaries a legionary force could approach 15,000, roughly a modern division.

What was the largest chariot-racing stadium in ancient Rome, laid out in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills?

The Circus Maximus held over 150,000 spectators for chariot races, beast hunts and the equestrian Troy Game; the Colosseum managed around 50,000.

How were children of wealthy Roman families primarily educated during the Republic and early Empire?

Wealthy families relied on private tutors at home, often enslaved or freed Greeks; the earliest known, Livius Andronicus, a captive from Tarentum, taught his master's children and translated the Odyssey into Latin verse.

Which Roman historian wrote 'Ab Urbe Condita', a history of Rome from its founding?

Titus Livius, known as Livy, dedicated his life to chronicling the history of Rome in his work 'Ab Urbe Condita' (From the Founding of the City).

Which late Roman siege engine hurled stones with a single torsion-powered throwing arm?

The onager, a late Roman stone-thrower described by Ammianus Marcellinus in the 4th century, used a single arm driven by twisted rope; its name is Greek for 'wild ass', after its kick on firing.

Which Roman god, with winged sandals, was the messenger of the gods and patron of trade?

Mercury, the Roman counterpart of Hermes, was the messenger of the gods and patron of merchants and travellers, shown with winged sandals and a herald's staff; his festival, the Mercuralia, fell on 15 May.

Which sea did the Romans call Mare Nostrum, 'Our Sea'?

Rome called the Mediterranean Mare Nostrum, 'Our Sea', once its conquests ringed the whole basin; after Carthage fell in 146 BC and Egypt in 30 BC, every shore of it was Roman.

What Roman public spectacle had armed combatants fighting each other or wild animals?

The word simply means 'swordsman', from gladius. Fighting or dying well could win a gladiator popular acclaim, and their images turned up on everything from fine art to household lamps.

Which Roman goddess of wisdom, war and handicrafts was the counterpart to Athena?

Minerva formed the Capitoline Triad with Jupiter and Juno; her owl, inherited from Athena, became the lasting emblem of wisdom.

What name was given to the Roman military unit consisting of approximately 8 men who shared a tent?

The contubernium was the smallest unit of the Roman army, typically consisting of 8 men who shared a tent and often messed together.

Which general crossed the Alps with war elephants to invade Italy in the Second Punic War?

Hannibal led some 37 elephants over the Alps in 218 BC and won crushing victories in Italy but never took Rome itself; recalled to Africa, he was finally beaten at Zama in 202 BC.

What did the Romans call the province covering most of modern France?

Gaul (Gallia) covered modern France, Belgium and neighbouring lands; Julius Caesar conquered it in 58-50 BC and described the campaigns in his Gallic War.

What Roman numeral represents the number 100?

C sits between L (50) and D (500). Subtractive pairs built on it, such as XC for 90, only became standard in the Middle Ages.

Which half-man, half-goat deity of Roman mythology was associated with forests, shepherds and nature?

Fauns, followers of the rustic god Faunus, were woodland spirits of shepherds and fertility; the Greek satyr is their rowdier cousin.

The Eastern Roman Empire kept Latin for law though most people spoke which language daily?

After Justinian the surviving eastern state gave up the pretence and made Greek official; Latin lingered mostly in legal formulae.

Which emperor agreed with Licinius in 313 AD to treat Christians benevolently, in what became the Edict of Milan?

Constantine I met Licinius at Milan early in 313 and agreed to tolerate Christians; Galerius had already issued an edict of toleration in 311, and the 'Edict of Milan' survives as Licinius's letter to eastern governors.

The Colosseum stands on the filled-in artificial lake of which emperor's vast Golden House?

Nero's Domus Aurea pleasure grounds were reclaimed for a public arena as a deliberate populist gesture, and his colossal bronze statue nearby probably gave the building its name.

Which Greek god was the equivalent of Jupiter, king of the Roman gods?

Zeus, ruler of Olympus and god of sky and thunder, is the Greek counterpart of Jupiter; both gods share the eagle as their sacred bird.

Which wall, begun in AD 122, ran from the Tyne to the Solway across Britain?

Hadrian's Wall, begun in AD 122, ran about 117 km from the Tyne to the Solway Firth as the province's northern frontier; the Antonine Wall, built further north from AD 142, was held for only about twenty years.

In a Roman bath complex, what was the room with the hot plunge bath called?

Bathers usually moved from the warm tepidarium to the hot caldarium and finished in the cold frigidarium; the boiler that heated the water shared the caldarium's name.

Which volcano buried the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 AD?

In 79 AD Herculaneum vanished under a pyroclastic flow and Pompeii under ash and pumice; both stayed sealed for centuries.

What was the name of the elite bodyguard unit for Roman Emperors?

The Praetorian Guard was a highly privileged and politically influential unit of the Imperial Roman Army that served as bodyguards and intelligence agents for Roman emperors.

What was the Roman term for the common people, distinct from the aristocratic patricians?

Plebeians, the commoners, won the right to their own tribunes and eventually to the consulship after centuries of struggle with the patricians.

Which mid-December Roman festival featured feasting, role reversals and gift-giving?

Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival in honor of the god Saturn, held in mid-December, characterized by feasting, revelry, and a temporary inversion of social roles.

What was the name of the Roman legislative and advisory body, composed of leading citizens?

The Senate, drawn from ex-magistrates and the leading families, advised the consuls, controlled finances and foreign policy, and met in the Curia beside the Forum; under the Empire its decrees carried the force of law.

What Roman building material made large durable structures like the Pantheon's dome possible?

Roman concrete, lime mortar mixed with volcanic ash (pozzolana), set hard even under water and let builders span the Pantheon's 43-metre dome, the largest unreinforced concrete dome of antiquity.

Which Roman emperor divided the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern halves in 285 AD?

Diocletian made Maximian his Caesar in 285 and co-Augustus in 286 to rule the West while he kept the East, the first step toward the four-man Tetrarchy of 293.

What was the primary function of the Roman Forum?

The Forum was Rome's central public square: it began as a marketplace and became the venue for triumphs, elections and trials, and, before purpose-built arenas, for gladiatorial matches.

Under which emperor did the Roman Empire reach its greatest territorial extent?

Under Trajan the empire reached its greatest extent in AD 117, when his eastern campaign carried Roman arms to the Persian Gulf; born at Italica in Spain, he was hailed by the Senate as optimus princeps, 'the best ruler'.

Spartacus, leader of the Third Servile War, was a gladiator from which region?

Spartacus came from Thrace, as Plutarch and Appian record; trained as a gladiator at Capua, he led the slave revolt of 73-71 BC and died in battle against Crassus's army in 71 BC.

Which barbarian general deposed Romulus Augustulus in 476, ending the Western Roman Empire?

Odoacer sent the imperial regalia to Constantinople rather than name a successor; the boy emperor had ruled just ten months as a figurehead for his father Orestes.

Which people, led by King Alaric, sacked Rome in AD 410?

It was the first time in almost 800 years the city had fallen to a foreign enemy, though the western capital had by then moved to Ravenna.

Virgil's Aeneid follows a hero who fled the fall of which city to become the Romans' ancestor?

Troy's refugee Aeneas reaches Italy after a stop in Carthage, where Dido falls for him; the poem, written between 29 and 19 BC, runs to 9,896 lines in twelve books.

The emperor Caligula's nickname, given by his father's soldiers, means what?

Caligula means 'little boot', from the miniature soldier's boots (caligae) the infant Gaius wore when his father Germanicus's troops adopted him as a mascot in the camps of Germania around AD 14-16.

Which river did Caesar cross with a single legion in 49 BC, starting a civil war?

The Rubicon marked the boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and Italy; leading Legio XIII across it in January 49 BC was an act of war, and 'crossing the Rubicon' became a byword for a point of no return.

Caesar was stabbed in 44 BC at a senators' meeting in a hall attached to which building?

The regular Senate house was being rebuilt, so the session met in the Curia of Pompey, a hall within the theatre complex built by Caesar's old rival.

Which 216 BC battle in Apulia was Rome's most crushing defeat of the Second Punic War?

At Cannae Hannibal's double envelopment destroyed the largest army Rome had yet fielded, some 80,000 men, in a single day; the battle became the textbook model of encirclement studied in military academies.

Which Roman general won the Battle of Zama in 202 BC, ending the Second Punic War?

Scipio had first cleared the Carthaginians out of Iberia before carrying the war to North Africa, and took his honorific 'Africanus' from the victory.

Which Roman commander lost three legions to Arminius in the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9?

Publius Quinctilius Varus lost Legions XVII, XVIII and XIX and fell on his sword in the rout; Arminius had served as a Roman auxiliary officer, and the disaster fixed Rome's frontier on the Rhine for centuries.

Boudica led which British tribe in revolt against Roman rule in AD 60 or 61?

Boudica's Iceni lived in what is now Norfolk; after Roman officials flogged her and raped her daughters, the rising burned Camulodunum, Londinium and Verulamium before Suetonius Paulinus crushed it.

A famous spiral-relief column in Rome depicts wars of 101–106 AD against which people?

Trajan's Column, dedicated in AD 113, shows his two wars against the Dacians (101-102 and 105-106) in a spiral frieze winding 23 times around the shaft, one of the best visual records of the Roman army on campaign.

Who was the first of AD 69's four emperors, raised to power after a revolt in Hispania?

Galba, the elderly governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, took power after Nero's suicide in June 68 but lasted only months; adopting Piso as heir instead of Otho turned the Praetorians against him, and he was killed in January 69.

Which emperor, who styled himself as Hercules, performed as a gladiator in the arena?

Commodus fought as a gladiator in the Colosseum, his opponents submitting by arrangement; at the Plebeian Games of November 192 he appeared every afternoon, and he was strangled by the wrestler Narcissus that 31 December.

Which emperor's edict of AD 212 granted citizenship to nearly all free men of the empire?

Caracalla's Constitutio Antoniniana of AD 212 extended Roman citizenship to nearly all free inhabitants of the empire; Cassius Dio claimed his motive was to widen the base for inheritance and manumission taxes.

Which triumvir, said to be Rome's richest man, died fighting Parthia at Carrhae in 53 BC?

Crassus invaded Parthia without the Senate's approval and was lured into the desert by horse archers; legend has it molten gold was poured down the dead man's throat.

For how many years, at minimum, was a Vestal Virgin sworn to serve the goddess Vesta?

Vestals served 30 years, ten learning, ten performing the rites and ten teaching; chosen between six and ten years old, most were nearly forty before they were free to marry, and few did.

What was garum, a condiment found on tables across the Roman world?

Garum was a fermented fish sauce, made by salting fish and their innards in the sun; rich in glutamates, it delivered umami much as soy sauce does, and Campania's colatura di alici descends from it.

'Veni, vidi, vici' followed a rapid win at Zela over Pharnaces, king of which realm?

Pharnaces II of Pontus, son of Mithridates, was routed by Caesar at Zela in 47 BC; Suetonius says the three-word report 'veni, vidi, vici' was carried on a placard in Caesar's Pontic triumph.

Which city at the river mouth about 25 km southwest of Rome served as its ancient seaport?

Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber, was Rome's seaport; by the 2nd century BC its main job was landing the grain that fed the city, and silting later left its ruins about 3 km inland.

Which desert fortress was the last holdout of Jewish rebels, besieged by Rome in AD 73?

At Masada the Romans built a huge earthen ramp up to the plateau; Josephus wrote that 960 defenders chose mass suicide over capture, an account historians have questioned since the excavations of the 1960s.

The Arch of Titus shows a menorah among spoils carried off from the temple of which city?

The spoils came from the Temple in Jerusalem, sacked by Titus in AD 70; that carved menorah became the model for the emblem of the State of Israel, and traces of yellow ochre paint were found on it in 2012.

Who was the first of the so-called Five Good Emperors, taking power in AD 96?

Nerva, an elderly senator chosen after Domitian's murder in September 96, reigned barely 16 months but secured the succession by adopting the general Trajan; the 'Five Good Emperors' ran from 96 to 180.

Which poet was banished in AD 8 to Tomis on the Black Sea, where he died?

Ovid, author of the Metamorphoses, was banished by Augustus's decree without trial, for 'a poem and a mistake' as he put it; Tomis is now Constanța in Romania.

Which Roman was named dictator, won in about two weeks, then went back to his plough?

Cincinnatus, in Livy's account, was found at his plough by the senators who made him dictator in 458 BC; he beat the Aequi and resigned after sixteen days, and Cincinnati, Ohio, is named in his honour.

Who was the legendary seventh and last king of Rome, driven out in a popular uprising?

His expulsion is the traditional start of the Republic; legend also credits him with buying the prophetic Sibylline Books.

Whose costly wins at Heraclea and Asculum gave us a phrase for a ruinous victory?

Pyrrhus of Epirus, hired by the Greek city of Tarentum, beat Rome at Heraclea in 280 BC and Asculum in 279 BC at such cost that he reportedly said one more such victory would finish him, hence 'Pyrrhic victory'.

Which general marched on Rome, ran proscriptions and revived the dormant post of dictator?

Sulla marched on Rome in 88 and 82 BC, posted proscription lists, and took a dictatorship unused since the Second Punic War; after rewriting the constitution he laid it down, served as consul in 80 BC and retired in 79.

Who was the legendary second king of Rome, said to have reigned from 715 to 672 BC?

Numa Pompilius, a Sabine, was chosen after a one-year interregnum following Romulus's death; tradition credits the peaceful king with founding Rome's priesthoods, including the Vestals, and reforming its calendar.

What was the Cloaca Maxima, built in early Rome and renovated by Agrippa?

The Cloaca Maxima was one of the world's earliest sewers, begun as an open canal draining the marshy valley that became the Forum; later vaulted over, it discharged into the Tiber near the Pons Aemilius.

Which Stoic philosopher, tutor to a young emperor, was forced to kill himself in AD 65?

Seneca, tutor and adviser to the young Nero, had earlier spent eight years exiled on Corsica; Nero ordered his death after the Pisonian conspiracy of AD 65, which he may not have joined.

On which date was Lupercalia, the Roman purification and fertility festival, observed?

Lupercalia fell on 15 February: the Luperci ran through the streets striking bystanders with strips of goat hide, thongs called februa, from which the month of February takes its name.

Who lost the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on 28 October 312 and drowned in the river?

Maxentius drowned in the Tiber when his pontoon bridge collapsed; his body was fished out and beheaded, and the head paraded through Rome, leaving Constantine master of the West.

Which emperor was killed when the Goths routed his army at Adrianople in AD 378?

Valens, emperor in the East, had let the Goths settle inside the empire as allies in 376; at Adrianople on 9 August 378 his army was destroyed and he died in the rout, his body never found.

Which people, led by King Gaiseric, looted Rome for two weeks in AD 455?

Gaiseric's Vandals sailed from Carthage and looted Rome for fourteen days in June 455; Pope Leo I persuaded him to spare the inhabitants and the buildings, and the word 'vandalism' remembers the event.