Populus: Living and Dying in Ancient Rome

"Living in ancient Rome was one of the most intense experiences in human history. It was also superbly and vividly recorded by Rome's historians and poets, who were acutely aware of the seething and voluptuous nature of the city that ruled the known world. Populus takes the reader on a compelling journey through the landscape of politics, crime, domestic life, faith, sex, entertainment, cuisine, disease, and inequality experienced daily by Roman people of all social strata. Revealing what it meant to eke out an existence in servitude, live in luxury in the imperial palaces, enjoy a day at the races, riot in the streets, make do in a tenement block, plot to assassinate an emperor, worship any one of a multitude of gods, witness an imperial triumph, and commemorate the dead, this powerful story of the people of ancient Rome is Guy de la Bédoyère's homage to a civilization that has fascinated him for half a century"--