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 Rome's 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 Bedoyere 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... Drawing on letters, inscriptions, plays, poems, architecture, coinage and the preserved contents of Herculaneum's sewers, de la Bédoyère sets out to reconstruct how people of all stations lived... De la Bédoyère's command of these disparate sources is masterful, and his curation of them forms the backbone of the book -- Honor Cargill-Martin Sunday Telegraph

Guy de la Bedoyere has written extensively on the ancient world over the last thirty years, most recently Gladius: Living, Fighting and Dying in the Roman Army (which was described by the Sunday Times as 'highly enjoyable') and Pharaohs of the Sun: How Egypt's Despots and Dreamers drove the Rise and Fall of Tutankhamun's Dynasty. He was part of Channel 4's archaeology series Time Team for fifteen years. He has degrees from Durham, London and University College, and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

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