A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
In Ancient Rome all the best stories have one thing in common - murder. Romulus killed Remus to found the city; Caesar was assassinated to save the Republic. Caligula was butchered in the theatre, Claudius was poisoned at dinner and Galba was beheaded in the forum. In one fifty-year period, twenty-six emperors were murdered. But what did killing mean in a city where gladiators fought to the death to sate a crowd? Emma Southon examines real-life homicides from Roman history to explore how perpetrator, victim and the act itself were regarded by ordinary people. Inside Ancient Rome's unique culture of crime and punishment, we see how the Romans viewed life, death, and what it means to be human.
Stats for nerds
1recommend
2mentions
2people
2021years
50% recommend50% neutral
What Hacker News says
- I’m going to name several, as I have odd tastes. I hope there is at least one here that someone will enjoy.
“A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome”, Emma Southon
“How Dante Can Save Your Life: The Life-Changing Wisdom of History's Greatest Poem”, Rod Dreher
“The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age”, Leo Damrosch
“The Year of Dangerous Days: Riots, Refugees, and Cocaine in Miami 1980”, Nicholas Griffin
“The Ingenious Language: Nine Epic Reasons to Love Greek”, Andrea Marcolongo
“One Day: The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary 24 Hours in America”, Gene Weingarten
- I actually question the premise. The NYRB and LRB are alive and well afaik. I read reviews all the time in the Guardian.
At a second tier, honest customer reviews exist in kindle. Sometimes they are dreck, but you can apply critical faculties to what people say.
I agree in principle there is "less" than there used to be but there isn't "none" and I think I have bought at least three books recently purely on the strength of in-depth reviews I read online
(they were Ross King: the Bookseller of Florence, Emma Southon: A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Geraldine Brooks: Year of Wonders And, the first two which I have read, had merits and issues, and the review highlighted both as I recall)
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