Populus

Living and Dying in the Wealth, Smoke and Din of Ancient Rome

By: Guy de la Bedoyere

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Paperback | 7 October 2025 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
480 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
19.7 x 12.7 x 3.2

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A Time Travellers Guide to Ancient Rome - by one of the best historians of the ancient world

Living in ancient Rome was superbly and vividly recorded by Rome's historians, philosophers, and poets who were acutely aware of the seething and voluptuous nature of a city that ruled the known world. Through the words of Tacitus, Seneca, Martial, and a host of others including ordinary Romans, Guy de la Bedoyere takes the reader into a world of violent politics, civil disorder, unspeakably brutal entertainments, extravagance, decadence, eroticism, exotica, and staggering inequality, participated in daily by the Roman people from the hyper-rich elite to the lowliest slaves. Populus places those who experienced Rome in person at the forefront of their story, from the rabble-rousing senator Clodius Pulcher to Pliny the Elder and Hortensia who defended the rights of women in court to the ex-slave and celebrity baker Eurysaces.

'A superb combination of wit, first-rate research and panache. Highly recommended!' TONY ROBINSON

'A rollicking new book... de la Bedoyere's command of these disparate sources is masterful, and his curation of them forms the backbone of the book' HONOR CARGILL-MARTIN, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Industry Reviews

A superb combination of wit, first-rate research and panache. Highly recommended! - Tony Robinson

[A] rollicking new book... Drawing on letters, inscriptions, plays, poems, architecture, coinage and the preserved contents of Herculaneum's sewers, de la Bedoyere sets out to reconstruct how people of all stations lived... De la Bedoyere's command of these disparate sources is masterful, and his curation of them forms the backbone of the book - Sunday Telegraph

A comprehensive and very well referenced appraisal of city life... Where the archaeological record in Rome is patchy, he extrapolates on how life must have been from discoveries at sites such as Pompeii and Ostia as well as the vast written evidence, including letters and inscriptions - The Times

Populus draws on such archives of the quotidian to make ancient Rome seem both wonderfully weird and convincingly real. . . . With his wide array of sources, his eye for compelling details and his engaging prose style, de la Bedoyere keeps the reader eager for more-and wondering what strange facet of Roman life will be served up next - Wall Street Journal

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