If there's one thing ancient Rome did well, it was its parades. So why not organize another one to celebrate the city's birthday? That's just what citizens of the Eternal City did on Sunday.

Thrilled crowds looked on as more than 2,000 gladiators, dancers, soldiers, senators, and priestesses marched through cobbled streets and past ancient monuments, in a spectacle organized by the Roman Historical Group.

The procession started at the Circus Maximus after a fire-lighting ceremony by the vestals - the priestesses of Vesta, Goddess of the Hearth. "Natale di Roma", as the locals call it, stages re-enactments of the city as it was in 753 BC, and is an annual event.