making sense of the roman empire

Scott Fitzgerald said ironically that “the rich are not like us”. A fortiori the Roman emperors. Who are these men whose history has retained some terrifying names, like Nero or Caligula, or others less famous, but just as deranged, like Commodus, the sadistic son of Marcus Aurelius, or the ephemeral Didius Julianus, who was said to have bought his way onto the throne in 193 AD? How did they rule the largest empire of Antiquity, stretching from Scotland to the Sahara? What was their lifestyle in this imperial palace, the famous Palatine, where they lived surrounded by their wives, their mistresses, their slaves, their zealous secretaries, not to mention those conspirators who, in the shadow of the famous Arcana of the Empirewere preparing their overthrow? How did one succeed the emperor in this empire where assassination was commonplace?

All these questions, and many more, are answered in this fascinating study by Mary Beard, professor emeritus…