Populus

A Time Travellers Guide to Ancient Rome - by one of the best historians of the ancient world

Living in ancient Rome was superbly and vividly recorded by Romes historians, philosophers, and poets who were acutely aware of the seething and voluptuous nature of a city that ruled the known world. Through the words of Tacitus, Seneca, Martial, and a host of others including ordinary Romans, Guy de la Bédoyère takes the reader into a world of violent politics, civil disorder, unspeakably brutal entertainments, extravagance, decadence, eroticism, exotica, and staggering inequality, participated in daily by the Roman people from the hyper-rich elite to the lowliest slaves. Populus places those who experienced Rome in person at the forefront of their story, from the rabble-rousing senator Clodius Pulcher to Pliny the Elder and Hortensia who defended the rights of women in court to the ex-slave and celebrity baker Eurysaces.

A superb combination of wit, first-rate research and panache. Highly recommended!TONY ROBINSON

A rollicking new book... de la Bédoyères command of these disparate sources is masterful, and his curation of them forms the backbone of the bookHONOR CARGILL-MARTIN, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH