Dangerous Days in the Roman Empire, Terry Deary
Dangerous Days in the Roman Empire, Terry Deary
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Dangerous Days in the Roman Empire
Terrors and Torments, Diseases and Deaths

Author: Terry Deary

Narrator: Mitch Benn

Unabridged: 6 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/07/2013


Synopsis

DANGEROUS DAYS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE is the first in a new adult series by Terry Deary, the author of the hugely bestselling Horrible Histories, popular among children for their disgusting details, gory information and sharp wit, and among adults for engaging children (and themselves) with history.

The Romans have long been held up as one of the first 'civilised' societies, and yet in fact they were capable of immense cruelty. Not only that, but they made the killing of humans into a sport. The spoiled emperors were the perpetrators (and sometimes the victims) of some imaginative murders. DANGEROUS DAYS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE will include some of the violent ways to visit the Elysian Fields (i.e. death) including: animal attack in the Coliseum; being thrown from the Tarpeian Rock - 370 deserters in 214 AD alone (or if the emperor didn't like your poetry); by volcanic eruption from Vesuvius; by kicking (Nero's fatal quarrel with the Empress Poppea); from poison mushrooms (Claudius); by great fires; torturous tarring; flogging to death; boiling lead (the invention of 'kind' Emperor Constantine); or being skinned alive by invading barbarians.

DANGEROUS DAYS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE looks at the back-story leading up to the victims' deaths, and in doing so gives the general reader a concise history of a frequently misunderstood era.

Read by Mitch Benn. Mitch Benn found fame as the singer of spectacularly angry, clever and funny songs on the Now Show before writing (and narrating) his debut novel TERRA. He used to be a big, angry, clever and funny man. Now he is just angry, clever and funny. He tours regularly and is in pretty much permanent residence with his band at the Phoenix theatre in Bloomsbury. He is married and has a young daughter. He also has over 20,000 followers on Twitter.

(p) 2013 Orion Publishing Group

About Terry Deary

Terry Deary was born in Sunderland in 1946 and now lives in County Durham, where the Marsden family of the Tudor Chronicles live. Once an actor and a teacher of English and drama, he is one of Britain's bestselling children's authors, with over 140 books to his credit, including the phenomenally successful Horrible Histories.

About Mitch Benn

Mitch Benn found fame as the singer of spectacularly angry, clever and funny songs on the Now Show. He tours regularly both on his own and his band. His song 'I'm proud of the BBC was hugely popular and won him the Media Blog Hero of the Year Award. He is also a regular on the Now Show. He is married and has two daughters. He has over 40,000 followers on twitter.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Dan on March 12, 2017

This is the second book in this series of 'Horrible Histories' for adults by the HH author. Deary gives us his Horrible Histories take on the Romans, giving us the basic facts but also putting in all the gross stuff too, like the violent deaths. There's also a fair bit about the Emperors sex lives t......more

Goodreads review by Liz on January 31, 2014

As a HUGE fan of "Horrible Histories" books in my teens, I was disappointed in this "adult" history book by the same author. (Yes, not for the kids, this one) Still witty and interesting - but sometimes it just felt like the author was trying to push his own views on the reader a tad too much. This b......more

Goodreads review by Bridget on January 01, 2021

This is history presented in bite size pieces which makes for interesting and easy reading. The “Dad jokes” riddled throughout are not particularly funny and a bit unnecessary though.......more

Goodreads review by Lisa on July 16, 2019

Dangerous Days in the Roman Empire is the second of my Terry Deary haul and proved to be far more information packed than the one I read on Ancient Egypt, covering three centuries of Roman history from the rule of Augustus to Rome’s fall. While lip service is given to some aspects of plebeian life, s......more

Goodreads review by Tri on February 13, 2022

This book is like if someone took one of the horrible histories books- which are great for kids- took out all the pictures, added talk about sex and incest, started to use some 100 dollar words, and did nothing else. I’ve never read a book that is so confusing in regard to what age it’s meant for! O......more