This week marked the launch of Stephanie Storey's delightful new novel Raphael, Painter of Rome.
I had the extreme pleasure of reading and blurbing this novel, and...
As a result of my research a knew a lot of this great information already but it's great to see how History.com and the design firm Column 5 put it all into such an easily digestible visual.
Allow me a tiny bit of commentary before you dig in below.
1. Apartments in ancient Rome were calledinsulae and mostly built from wood. Fires were terribly common and there were fire codes which included being forbidden to have cooking fires in your home. That's why they had so many popinae, or taverns that sold fast food.
2. The cover photo for this blog post is actually a slice of the Monte Testaccio and all the layers of terra cotta amphorae in ancient Rome's trash heap.
3. The phrase "bread and circuses" came about because it was the duty of the city of Rome to both help feed the lower classes by giving them a grain allowance, and to entertain them with chariot races, gladiator games and more.
