Dirty Rome

Rome - the Dirty Truth
In his new book, bestselling author Michael Sommer reveals not how Rome shone, but how and why it functioned – and the price many paid for it. The dirty side of Rome was certainly not an accident of antiquity, but rather the flip side of its greatness. It was not on the periphery, but deeply embedded within: in the air one breathed, in the bread one ate, in the houses one lived in, in the bodies that fell ill, and in the rumors that destroyed entire lives. This book not only sheds light on the dark sides of the Roman elite, the senators and empresses, but also takes us right into the loud, dirty, and dangerous lives of ordinary people.

Rome was undoubtedly both: a glorious metropolis that rightly earned the title "Head of the World," and a garbage heap that reeked to high heaven – not just in the literal sense. For beyond sewers and filth, there were many other things in the Roman Empire that were scandalous. Living conditions, medical care, and food supply were meager by modern standards. Women, slaves, and people on the fringes of society were treated like the lowest of the low. And those in power abused it. Corruption, nepotism, and election manipulation ran rampant, while a poorly informed public was constantly engulfed in rumors and fake news.