A fatal thing happened on the way to the forum Murder in ancient Rome

Emma Southon

Book - 2021

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 50-year period, 26 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, death, and what ...it means to be human.

Saved in:

2nd Floor Show me where

937.06/Southon
1 / 1 copies available
Location Call Number   Status
2nd Floor 937.06/Southon Checked In
Subjects
Genres
True crime stories
Published
New York : Abrams Press 2021.
Language
English
Main Author
Emma Southon (author)
Physical Description
xii, 339 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 307-329) and index.
ISBN
9781419753053
  • Prologue
  • Introduction
  • What is murder?
  • 1. Murder on the Senate Floor
  • Tiberius Gracchus
  • Publius Clodius Pulcher
  • Julius Caesar
  • 2. Murder in Roman Law
  • The Twelve Tables
  • The Republic
  • The Empire
  • 3. Murder in the Family
  • Roscius
  • Pontius Aufidianus
  • The Woman of Smyrna
  • 4. Murder in Marriage
  • Apronia
  • Regilla
  • Gaius Calpurnius Piso
  • 5. Murder in the Slave State
  • Lucius Pedanius Secundus
  • Panurgus
  • Spiculus
  • 6. Murder by Magic
  • Locusta
  • Martina
  • Iucundus
  • 7. Murder in the Imperial House
  • Livia
  • Aulus Cremutius Cordus
  • Regulus
  • 8. Murdering an Emperor
  • Gains Caligula
  • Aulus Vitellius
  • Domitian
  • 9. Judicial Murder
  • Pasiphae
  • Cornelia, Vestalis Maxima
  • Two Greeks and Two Gauls
  • A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: The End
  • Glossary
  • Bibliographical Note
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Index
Review by Booklist Review

Southon illuminates the violent side of Roman life in her latest (after Agrippina, 2019). From politics to gladiators to poison, magic, and execution, death was a constant presence in the Republic and the Empire. Despite the vicious and sometimes tortuous events described, the tone of the book is friendly and conversational. Southon talks about fighty bastard Romans and shares opinions on the accuracy of scholiasts as though the reader were a casual colleague with whom to trade the most bizarre and horrible parts of history. This narrative style provides not only humor but a sense of relevance to today's world, whether it touches on watching violent media, debating the death penalty, or wanting someone to blame when a child dies young. Even the story of Caesar resonates, as he refuses to give up his political position, invades the capital, and, building golden statues of himself, ends up dead at the hands of those who'd fawned over him. Brutal, graphic, amusing, and enthralling, this work is a must-read for true crime fans as well as history lovers.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Historian Southon (Agrippina: The Most Extraordinary Woman of the Roman World) returns with a spirited look at ancient Roman history through a true crime lens. "Few other societies have revelled in and revered the deliberate and purposeful killing of men and women as much as the Romans," Southon writes. The beating death of populist politician Tiberius Gracchus over his proposed land reforms in 133 BCE set off a century's worth of political murders that culminated in the assassination of Julius Caesar and the end of the Roman Republic, according to Southon. Other case histories include Emperor Tiberius's investigation into the death of a military commander's daughter in 24 CE (her husband claimed she'd thrown herself out of their bedroom window, but Tiberius discovered signs of a struggle) and Locusta, who mixed the poisons that Emperor Nero used to kill his stepbrother and possibly his aunt (he had to kill his mother by sword because she took multiple antidotes every day). Along the way, Southon works in intriguing history lessons about Roman law, politics, marriage, and sport, and makes breezy yet enlightening analogies (obscene epigrams ridiculing elite Romans were like a "much ruder Daily Show"). This colorful chronicle of ancient Rome has an appealingly modern sensibility. (Mar.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved