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Sign up todayA Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Murder in Ancient Rome
Narrator
Sophie Ward
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Length
11 hours 12 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“A FATAL THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM was a read that I was not expecting to find funny, dark, and deeply informative all at the same time. Southon takes us on a deep dive into what murder meant in Ancient Rome, and frames it in such a way that we as readers can understand and relate to some of these stories. This book completely made me resee the Romans. I laughed out loud, I cringed, and I learned a lot. A fantastic read for true crime and history fans alike.”
— Frances • Country Bookshelf
Bookseller recommendation
“A brilliantly written and carefully researched guide to all things murder in ancient Rome and how the Romans felt about it, Emma Southon approaches history with a delightfully British tongue in cheek humor that will appeal to everyone. Sophie Ward's dry reading will have you wondering if you heard what you think you heard (you did). I recommend not driving while listening to this, sections may have you laughing too hard to be responsible for oncoming traffic.”
— Anne • Theodore's Bookshop
An entertaining and informative look at the unique culture of crime, punishment, and killing in ancient Rome
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 theater, 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? In A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Emma Southon examines a trove of real-life homicides from Roman history to explore Roman culture, including how perpetrator, victim, and the act itself were regarded by ordinary people. Inside ancient Rome’s darkly fascinating history, we see how the Romans viewed life and death and what it means to be human.
Dr. Emma Southon holds a PhD in ancient history from the University of Birmingham. Her thesis on the family in Western Europe after the “fall” of Rome was published as Marriage, Sex, and Death: The Family and the Fall of the Roman West by Amsterdam University Press in 2017, and she has published academic articles and chapters on historical reception, ancient Rome in the modern imagination, and the family in the postclassical West. Agrippina: Empress, Exile, Hustler, Whore was her first book for nonacademic audiences. She cohosts a history podcast with writer Janina Matthewson called History Is Sexy and works full-time as an expert fiction bookseller at Waterstones in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Sophie Ward is an English actor, known for Book of Blood, Young Sherlock Holmes, and Jane Eyre. Her acting career also includes recurring roles in Heartbeat and The Nanny.
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Reviews
“Her writing gives the impression that she’s having the time of her life and wants to bring us, her besties, along for the ride.”
“Southon brings some great and little-known murder stories to light, reveling in the bizarre and the macabre.”
“Southon’s highly entertaining saga of murder and mayhem in ancient Rome is a guide to a society with a completely different concept of killing than our own.”
“Provides not only humor but a sense of relevance to today’s world…Brutal, graphic, amusing, and enthralling, this work is a must-read for true crime fans as well as history lovers.”
“A brilliant idea, brilliantly executed.”
“Blood, guts, murder, emperors, and a sprinkling of uplifting Latin. A wonderful book on the Roman way of death. Mirabile dictu!”
“I love this funny, scholarly, erudite, irreverent book…Reading it is like seeing a classical statue not remote and austere on a pedestal, but painted in all its original bright colors.”
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