16 Facts About Ancient Rome You Probably Didn't Know

By Deb Street | September 3, 2015

The Roman civilization began as early as the 8th century BC. With an estimated 90 million inhabitants, Rome was one of the ancient world's largest empires.

While we know that the ancient Roman empire left us an incomparable legacy, from political to religion, to literature and architecture, there are startling customs that most of us probably had no idea were practiced by ancient Romans.

Let's take a look at 16 of them:

facts about ancient rome - saturnalia

Source: Wikipedia │ via oodee

facts about ancient rome - atheists

Source: Wikipedia │ via oodee

facts about ancient rome - NERO

Source: Wikipedia │ via oodee

facts about ancient rome - horse senator

Source: BBC │ via oodee

facts about ancient rome - gods and goddesses

Source: Wikipedia │ via oodee

facts about ancient rome - pooping

Source: Mentalfloss│ via oodee

facts about ancient rome - virgins

Source: Random History │ via oodee

facts about ancient rome - crooked nose

Source: books.google.com.py │ via oodee

facts about ancient rome - mortality rate

Source: books.google.com.py │ via oodee

facts about ancient rome - flamingo tongues

Source: Wikipedia │ via oodee

facts about ancient rome - gladiator sweat

Source: Wikipedia │ via oodee

facts about ancient rome - paris

Source: Wikipedia │ via oodee

facts about ancient rome - urine 2

Source: Wikipedia │ via oodee

facts about ancient rome - urine

Source: classics.uwaterloo.ca │ via oodee

facts about ancient rome - slaves

Source: Time │ via oodee

facts about ancient rome - population

Source: The Guardian │ via oodee