Top 10 ancient Rome facts

Milan. In 286 Diocletian moved the capital of the Western Roman Empire from Rome to Mediolanum. It was from Milan that the Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, granting tolerance to all religions within the Empire, thus paving the way for Christianity to become the dominant religion of the Empire. After the city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, the imperial residence was moved to Ravenna.

Boarding. Since the Romans were primarily a land-based army, they lost several sea battles due to lack of naval skills. The corvus, a boarding ramp with two steel spikes, was the Roman answer to this problem. It secured Roman naval dominance in the Mediterranean Sea for several centuries.

All the gods. It is widely accepted that Pantheon was dedicated to all the gods, as its name suggests (from the Ancient Greek Pan "all" + Theon "gods"). However, the concept of a temple dedicated to all the gods is highly unusual and thus questionable. Some sources suggest that the name "pantheon" was only a nickname for the building during the Roman times, and its original name and purpose was lost.

Pumice. The porous light stone was used in the concrete of the dome to reduce its weight. Scientists estimated that, if normal weight concrete had been used throughout, the stresses in the arch would have been some 80% greater. The same technique was for the ceilings of the Colosseum.

Decebalus, the last king of Dacia. The rock sculpture of Decebalus is a 42.9 m in height carving in rock on a rocky outcrop on the river Danube. It was commissioned by Romanian businessman Iosif Constantin Drăgan and it took 10 years, from 1994 to 2004, for twelve sculptors to finish it. The carving was placed opposite an ancient memorial plaque, known as the Tabula Traiana, which commemorates the final defeat of Decebalus by Trajan in 105.

Name of Etruscans. The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian people, identified since the 6th century BCE with the Etruscans of Italy.

50,000 - 80,000 spectators. The Colosseum could hold, it is estimated, between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators, having an average audience of some 65,000. It was similar in capacity to the largest of modern football stadiums.

Southern Apennine Peninsula with Sicily. Magna Graecia ("Great Greece") was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day regions of Campania, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily that were extensively populated by Greek settlers.

Byzantium. In 660 BC, the city was founded as the colony of Megara and named to honour its king Byzas. In 324 AD, Constantine the Great made it an eastern capital of Roman Empire. The city was then renamed Nea Roma; however, most simply called it Constantinople.

Flavian Amphiteatre. The Colosseum was built by the three emperors known as the Flavian dynasty (Vespasian, Titus, Domitian). During the Ancient times, it was known in Latin as Amphitheatrum Flavium. The name "Colosseum" had been coined to refer to the amphitheatre around year 1000 AD.