A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome

(Hardback)

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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 Romes unique culture of crime and punishment, we see how the Romans viewed life, death, and what it means to be human.

Reviews

A brilliant idea, brilliantly executed.

-- Tom Holland, author of Rubicon, Dynasty and Dominion

Southon brings some great and little-known murder stories to light, revelling in the bizarre and the macabre.

* BBC History Magazine *

She has a rare gift Those left cold by the sober tones of scholarship will find this voice liberating and intoxicating. Its energy is boundless and its range immense At a moment when the study of classics struggles to escape its starchy, imperialist legacy, Ms Southons cheeky enthusiasm feels like the path of salvation.

-- Wall Street Journal

Blood, guts, murder, emperors and a sprinkling of uplifting Latin.A wonderful book on the Roman way of death. Mirabile dictu!

-- Harry Mount, author of Carpe Diem and Amo Amas Amat... and All That

I love this funny, scholarly, erudite, irreverent book; Emma Southon wears her learning lightly but we never for a moment doubt her authority, and the past arrives with total immediacy from the first page. Reading it is like seeing a classical statue not remote and austere on a pedestal, but painted in all its original bright colours.

-- Sarah Perry, author of Melmoth and The Essex Serpent

'The genius of Emma Southons new book,A Fatal Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome, is that it simultaneously humanizes the Romans and alienates us from them, portraying a society thats at once a familiar ancestor and a rabid monster.'

-- Foreign Policy

this very approachable analysis of Classical homicide isnt a dry academic tract conversational and tongue-in-cheek without sacrificing scholarly credibility. A good chance to learn a lot and have fun doing it.

* Herald (Glasgow) *

Author Bio

Emma Southon is a Bookshop Manager at Waterstones and the author of Agrippina: Empress, Exile, Hustler, Whore, a Best Book of the Year for the New Statesman. Armed with a PhD in Ancient History, she also co-hosts the History is Sexy podcast. She lives in Belfast, with her cat Livia, and tweets @NuclearTeeth. www.emmasouthon.com