A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome by Emma Southon

4.12 AVERAGE

mothman012's profile picture

mothman012's review against another edition

4.0
dark funny informative sad slow-paced
hauntedacademia's profile picture

hauntedacademia's review against another edition

3.0
weird tangents
laurapalmur's profile picture

laurapalmur's review against another edition

4.0
I’ve always struggled to get myself to read history books outside of academia, mainly because I wasn’t always a fan of how it was introduced to me / it was a lot to digest outside of having a built curriculum that made decisions for me (what to read, which areas to focus on). This book was such a fun time because of how casually it read like a friend gossiping to you (much like the Romans would gossip I’m sure about judicial murders, female killers, etc.) about the obscure ideologies of Romans like what would merit a murder vs. a private family killing. The Romans were guided by social recognition, as we all know, but it’s not until reading this that I realized how bizarre their rationale could be around life and death with this social lens (enslaved deaths vs. killing your daughter vs. murdering someone in the middle of their defense case). Many specific examples with current cultural references made for a fun time for a rather heavier topic.

cholcombe's review against another edition

5.0
funny informative fast-paced
sannemeier's profile picture

sannemeier's review

4.0
challenging funny informative medium-paced

kindofafungi's review against another edition

3.0
challenging dark emotional funny informative
jmander's profile picture

jmander's review against another edition

4.0
challenging dark funny informative medium-paced

figgstop's review against another edition

4.0
funny informative medium-paced
noreimerreason's profile picture

noreimerreason's review against another edition

4.0
funny informative lighthearted fast-paced
A lot of people are thinking about the Roman Empire a LOT of the time, and until this book I managed not to include myself amongst them. But after reading this book, I find myself returning to this magical, mythical, and deeply murderous time period again and again. Southton's delightful review of all the different why's and ways people killed each other in ancient Rome was deeply educational and deeply funny. Especially as she digs into the many people us modern folks don't usually consider when thinking about death in the ancient world. Thoroughly researched and genuine joy to read!

hlee44's review against another edition

4.5
challenging funny informative fast-paced