A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

'A brilliant idea, brilliantly executed.' -- Tom Holland, author of <i>Rubicon</i>, <i>Dynasty</i> and <i>Dominion</i> 'Southon brings some great and little-known murder stories to light, revelling in the bizarre and the macabre.' * <i>BBC History Magazine</i> * 'She has a rare gift... Those left cold by the sober tones of scholarship will find this voice liberating and intoxicating. Its energy is boundless and its range immense... At a moment when the study of classics struggles to escape its starchy, imperialist legacy, Ms Southon's cheeky enthusiasm feels like the path of salvation.' -- <i>Wall Street Journal</i> 'Blood, guts, murder, emperors and a sprinkling of uplifting Latin. A wonderful book on the Roman way of death. Mirabile dictu!' -- Harry Mount, author of <i>Carpe Diem</i> and <i>Amo Amas Amat... and All That</i> 'I love this funny, scholarly, erudite, irreverent book; Emma Southon wears her learning lightly but we never for a moment doubt her authority, and the past arrives with total immediacy from the first page. Reading it is like seeing a classical statue not remote and austere on a pedestal, but painted in all its original bright colours.' -- Sarah Perry, author of <i>Melmoth</i> and <i>The Essex Serpent</i> 'The genius of Emma Southon's new book, A Fatal Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome, is that it simultaneously humanizes the Romans and alienates us from them, portraying a society that's at once a familiar ancestor and a rabid monster.' -- Foreign Policy 'this very approachable analysis of Classical homicide isn't a dry academic tract... conversational and tongue-in-cheek without sacrificing scholarly credibility. A good chance to learn a lot and have fun doing it.' * Herald (Glasgow) *