Populus Audiobook By Guy de la Bédoyère cover art

Populus

Living and Dying in Ancient Rome

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Populus

By: Guy de la Bédoyère
Narrated by: Mark Meadows
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This revealing look at life in ancient Rome offers a compelling journey through the vivid landscape of politics, domestic life, entertainment, and inequality experienced daily by Romans of all social strata.

Frenzied crowds, talking ravens, the stench of the Tiber River: life in ancient Rome was stimulating, dynamic, and often downright dangerous. The Romans relaxed and gossiped in baths, stole precious water from aqueducts, and partied and dined to excess. Everyone from senators to the enslaved crowded into theaters and circuses to watch their favorite singers, pantomime, and comedies and scream their approval at charioteers. The lucky celebrated their accomplishments with elaborate tombs. Amid pervasive inequality and brutality, beauty also flourished through architecture, poetry, and art.

From the smells of fragrant cookshops and religious sacrifices to the cries of public executions and murderous electoral mobs, Guy de la Bedoyere's Populus draws on a host of historical and literary sources to transport us into the intensity of daily life at the height of ancient Rome.

©2024 Guy de la Bedoyere (P)2024 Tantor Ancient Rome Europe Ancient History Ancient Rome Anthropology
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A lot of history books are dry and tough to get through. This book is full of facts, but an easy read, and gives a good, broad base of Roman culture to someone new to the study or someone who has spent years studying it.

Well cited, informative but not boring

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A fascinating topic written in a clear and concise style, anyone contemplating going to Rome will benefit from this book. Most enjoyable!

Narration is excellent!

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A good effort to compile Roman lifestyles into a single volume, but a little too ambitious. There simply isn't the source material for such a collection. Quite a bit of repetition, although that is understandable considering the scope. Unfortunately, listening to the audiobook was entertaining but not recommended, as no maps or citations were available. The narration by Mark Meadows was excellent.

Entertaining

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