Discover What Living in Ancient Rome Was Really Like

The Roman Empire was known for its military, political, roads, and social institutions, and conquered vast amounts of land in Britain, Italy, Northern Africa, Greece, Spain, and much of the Middle East.

In Western cultures, the Roman Empire’s effects can still be felt. The Romans spread their ideas about art, literature, philosophy, and religion throughout the world, and many of the greatest works of Western civilization. Ancient Rome wasn’t too different from the modern age as it establish many common practices.

While the Romans had chamber pots in their rooms, and wealthier Romans used private restrooms, they often used Roman public latrines, which were large communal rooms with rows of seats with holes in them, positioned over a sewer. Because there was no toilet paper, Romans would clean themselves with an xylospongium, a sponge on a stick, which was shared by everyone.

The sitting waste allowed dangerous gasses, like methane, to build up in the sewers. When ignited, the gas would cause an explosion. The Romans were aware of this, and took steps to mitigate it.

Bath houses were also important in ancient Rome because they were a symbol of the city’s wealth and power. The Romans built some of the largest and most elaborate bath houses in the world, and they were a source of great pride for the Roman people.

The baths had everything someone could need. The Baths of Caracalla were some of the largest and most elaborate bath complexes in the Roman world, and they could accommodate up to 1,600 bathers at a time. The Baths of Caracalla had a gym, library, and two 19-foot fountains, as well as a gentlemen’s establishment, marble statues, artwork, and mosaics.

Lower-class Romans would cover themselves in oil and rub their backs on stone walls to exfoliate. Emperors, however, had people to do everything for them from rubbing olive oil over their skin to scraping it all off with a tool called a strigil.

Among the fans of chariot racing was Julius Caesar, who expanded Circus Maximus around 50 BCE, a chariot racing ring in Rome, to hold 150,000 to 200,000 people.

Ten-horse chariot races were very dangerous as the horses would often get entangled with each other, and the chariots would often crash. The races were also very competitive, and the aurigas would often use dirty tricks to win.

For example, Roman art is full of images of dogs, and many Roman writers praise the virtues of dogs. Additionally, archaeologists have found a number of dog graves in ancient Rome, which suggests that dogs were often treated as members of the family.

The most famous collar of them all is the Zoninus collar, which reads, “I have run away,” and someone will “receive a gold coin” when returned to Zoninus, but people are unsure if it belonged to a dog or slave.

The apartments were packed together, with the worst apartments being the top floors. Due to the cramped, dark, poorly insulated space, these apartments welcomed certain death to the common fires.

These clubs had monthly meetings and events. Members of the club would also have their funerals paid for when the time came as long as the membership was up-to-date. To make matters even more enticing, the funeral club would pay to have someone’s body returned to Rome if they died elsewhere.

Loyal canine companions and public bathrooms, albeit less explosive, have been commonplace for centuries. We are not so different from those who existed long before us.