By, Daniel, David and Darragh

Most people in Rome rented their homes. Rich people lived in very big villas. It had around 50 or 60 rooms in it. There were mosaics in every room. The poorest families lived on the top floor in a small, one –room flats which were often made of wood. Builders back then could build houses on top each other. Roman homes didn’t have electricity and were lit by oil lamps or wax candles. The houses didn’t have any toilets. FACT: They used sponges instead of toilet paper.

Rich people ate better than poor people. Poor people ate very little amounts of food. Poor people ate fish, bread, olives and sometimes meat. The mother normally cooked the food. A banquet would last for hours and hours. They would eat until they got sick. They would get sick in a vomitarium just to eat more food. At a banquet they would eat disgusting food. FACT: THEY EVEN STUFFED ANIIMALS

Romulus and Remus were twins. They had a evil uncle called Augustus. Augustus put them in the river Tiber. A she –wolf found them in a basket. She looked after them until a shepherd found them. When Romulus and Remus were young men they were building a city when they had a fight. Romulus threw a rock at Remus and killed him. FACT: Rome is named after Romulus.

Warriors in Rome were quite fierce back then. They were the strongest army in the world. They had great armour. They had powerful weapons. They had a javelin, shield, sword and a pickaxe. The army was made of legions. Each legion had 6, 000 legionaries. Every legion was divided in to groups of 100 men. The officer in charge of 100 men was called a centurion.

Pompeii was a great big city. It was very famous city in Italy. One day in 79 AD Mount Vesuvius erupted. The people started to scream and run. Ash, rocks and dust flew out of it. Then suddenly lava started to cover Pompeii. It was frozen for 1, 700 years. It was found by a man digging up his garden.

The romans had lots of gods. They were mostly from the Greeks. Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Janus, Bacchus, Neptune, Minerva and Ceres were the most famous gods and goddesses. Janus had two heads. Mars is the father of Romulus and Remus. Jupiter was the strongest god.

In the amphitheatre gladiators fought lions, bears and each other. If the gladiator was beaten the audience would decide if he would live or die. The baths were a place to chat to their friends. They would bathe and go for a swim in the baths. They would normally kill other people for fun. They raced chariots for fun as well. They also played board games.