{"id":4309,"date":"2023-11-07T19:23:28","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T19:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/?p=4309"},"modified":"2023-11-07T19:23:29","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T19:23:29","slug":"the-decadence-of-roman-emperors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/","title":{"rendered":"The decadence of Roman emperors"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Emperors
Emperors of Rome: Ruling Ancient Rome, by Mary Beard<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There\u2019s an old joke: What did the Roman say when his wife was eaten by a lion? Gladiator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The queen classicist, Mary Beard, English scholar and feminist who wrote \u201cSPQR: A History of Ancient Rome,\u201d is back with \u201cEmperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even as she tackles a very serious topic, she leaves room for levity, and plenty of it.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leave it to Ms. Beard to educate and dispel. Take gladiators, for example. Today, one does not kick back to watch criminals executed in brutal and tortuous ways. One does not watch gladiators fight and animals slaughtered. But Roman emperors, along with 50,000 of their best friends, sat where their place in society dictated: no best-in-house seats here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When emperors attended such events, it\u2019s not what you might picture, Ms. Beard notes: \u201cFar from being an uncontrolled crowd baying for blood, as they are often imagined, the people of the amphitheater were aggressively ordered and dressed in their formal best. No movie has ever captured this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Beard artfully walks the line between academic scholar and patient teacher. The book is arranged by topic, so chapters each tackle a societal issue, from \u201cpower dining\u201d to \u201ctime off.\u201d This is helpful because emperors often had the leafiest of family trees, and as the author points out, \u201cTheir qualities, good and bad, were assessed as much in the dining room as in the Senate house.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elagabalus, a Syrian teen, was into what any teen would be pre-cellphones, with a twist of invention: He made the first-ever recorded whoopee cushion. He never wore the same pair of shoes twice. He has sometimes \u201cbeen heralded as a transgender pioneer\u201d after he asked a doctor to give him female private parts. He was also a Roman emperor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But these stories are (possibly, almost certainly) exaggerated, Ms. Beard points out, made up by people who wanted to \u201ccurry favour with his rival and successor on the throne.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book begins with Julius Caesar (assassinated in 44 B.C.) and leaves us after 30 emperors and 300 years, with Alexander Severus (assassinated in A.D. 235). One reason, Ms. Beard writes, she stops there is that after the death of Severus there were as many emperors in the 50 years following as there had been the 300 years before. Also, the world around them changed and many emperors never even actually visited Rome after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Beard makes clear that readers learn through the eyes of friends and enemies of emperors, and how a story was spun was left up to the person who wrote it down, or those that couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women, for example, had no codified power but (as throughout history) they worked behind the scenes to wield what they could. It is notable that emperors\u2019 female family members had some standing, as they appeared on coins, statues and building names. Ms. Beard, who has given lectures and much thought to women in power, takes us to the place where anthropology meets history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As one might expect, Ms. Beard devotes space to the sexual capers of the emperors, which \u2014 and this will be no surprise to anyone \u2014 are at times problematic. Augustus who liked to \u201cdeflower virgins\u201d groomed by his wife, Livia, and many other emperors raped slaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Beard explores physical as well as social structures, walking the reader through some of the palatial homes inhabited by leading Romans. Many places are now mere outlines, but she skillfully reconstructs parties and dinners so readers feel like they are there. The book also contains diagrams and illustrations of the places and people discussed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through all of the historic rigor, Ms. Beard subtly reminds us why she is expert at writing about difficult-to-research topics, even as she sneaks in a joke about Augustus and an (underhanded) campaign he ran to impress citizens. She calls it a \u201cpost-civil war \u2018Make Rome Great Again\u2019 campaign,\u201d and a reader can practically hear Ms. Beard\u2019s sly smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEmperor of Rome\u201d was not built in a day. Readers can be grateful for Ms. Beard\u2019s rigorous, thoughtful work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meredith Cummings is a freelance journalist and teaching assistant professor of journalism at Lehigh University.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an old joke: What did the Roman say when his wife was eaten by a lion? Gladiator. The queen classicist, Mary Beard, English scholar and feminist who wrote \u201cSPQR: A History of Ancient Rome,\u201d is back with \u201cEmperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World.\u201d Even as she tackles a very serious topic, she…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[293],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe decadence of Roman emperors » Meredith Cummings: Journalist, Educator, Nonprofit Director<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The decadence of Roman emperors » Meredith Cummings: Journalist, Educator, Nonprofit Director\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There\u2019s an old joke: What did the Roman say when his wife was eaten by a lion? Gladiator. The queen classicist, Mary Beard, English scholar and feminist who wrote \u201cSPQR: A History of Ancient Rome,\u201d is back with \u201cEmperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World.\u201d Even as she tackles a very serious topic, she...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Meredith Cummings: Journalist, Educator, Nonprofit Director\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-07T19:23:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-07T19:23:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/emperor-of-rome-mosaic.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"765\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"470\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Camilla Monk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Camilla Monk\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Camilla Monk\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/#\/schema\/person\/5adc1896cd153cec3ea1fcbf3baf70c1\"},\"headline\":\"The decadence of Roman emperors\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-07T19:23:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-07T19:23:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/\"},\"wordCount\":705,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/#\/schema\/person\/5adc1896cd153cec3ea1fcbf3baf70c1\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/\",\"name\":\"The decadence of Roman emperors » Meredith Cummings: Journalist, Educator, Nonprofit Director\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-07T19:23:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-07T19:23:29+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The decadence of Roman emperors\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/\",\"name\":\"Meredith Cummings: Journalist, Educator, Nonprofit Director\",\"description\":\"Meredith is a teaching assistant professor and freelance multimedia journalist based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/#\/schema\/person\/5adc1896cd153cec3ea1fcbf3baf70c1\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/#\/schema\/person\/5adc1896cd153cec3ea1fcbf3baf70c1\",\"name\":\"Camilla Monk\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/mini-logo-delaney-diamond.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/mini-logo-delaney-diamond.png\",\"width\":1053,\"height\":618,\"caption\":\"Camilla Monk\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/author\/camille\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The decadence of Roman emperors » Meredith Cummings: Journalist, Educator, Nonprofit Director","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The decadence of Roman emperors » Meredith Cummings: Journalist, Educator, Nonprofit Director","og_description":"There\u2019s an old joke: What did the Roman say when his wife was eaten by a lion? Gladiator. The queen classicist, Mary Beard, English scholar and feminist who wrote \u201cSPQR: A History of Ancient Rome,\u201d is back with \u201cEmperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World.\u201d Even as she tackles a very serious topic, she...","og_url":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/","og_site_name":"Meredith Cummings: Journalist, Educator, Nonprofit Director","article_published_time":"2023-11-07T19:23:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-11-07T19:23:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":765,"height":470,"url":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/emperor-of-rome-mosaic.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Camilla Monk","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Camilla Monk","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/"},"author":{"name":"Camilla Monk","@id":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/#\/schema\/person\/5adc1896cd153cec3ea1fcbf3baf70c1"},"headline":"The decadence of Roman emperors","datePublished":"2023-11-07T19:23:28+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-07T19:23:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/"},"wordCount":705,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/#\/schema\/person\/5adc1896cd153cec3ea1fcbf3baf70c1"},"articleSection":["Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/","url":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/","name":"The decadence of Roman emperors » Meredith Cummings: Journalist, Educator, Nonprofit Director","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-11-07T19:23:28+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-07T19:23:29+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/11\/07\/the-decadence-of-roman-emperors\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The decadence of Roman emperors"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/#website","url":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/","name":"Meredith Cummings: Journalist, Educator, Nonprofit Director","description":"Meredith is a teaching assistant professor and freelance multimedia journalist based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/#\/schema\/person\/5adc1896cd153cec3ea1fcbf3baf70c1"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/#\/schema\/person\/5adc1896cd153cec3ea1fcbf3baf70c1","name":"Camilla Monk","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/mini-logo-delaney-diamond.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/mini-logo-delaney-diamond.png","width":1053,"height":618,"caption":"Camilla Monk"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings"],"url":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/author\/camille\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}