A SCANDALOUS HISTORY OF THE ROMAN EMPERORS

A loose collection of anecdotes about ancient Roman life centered on the emperors from Julius Caesar to Nero.

Publisher and novelist Blond (Family Business, 1978) opens his chronicle with an assertion that it contains no original material. As its title suggests, it is a series of meditations by an enthusiastic amateur observer of ancient Rome, not a formal history. This format allows the author to transform anecdotes about the leaders and culture of ancient Rome into material that would seem right at home alongside the most garish tabloid headlines. His reflections on Roman society highlight the more lurid aspects of ancient sexual habits, slavery, dealings with Jews, the Roman army, and the gladiatorial games. Upon establishing this foundational knowledge, Blond profiles both the public and private lives of Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, lingering over their most outrageous quirks for the reader's entertainment. He completes this casual history with a series of essays that examines the cityscape, religion, food, and mores of Rome under the Caesars. At his best (as in the chapter on food), Blond renders Rome both exotic and familiar, inspiring amusing comparisons between the contemporary and ancient worlds. More often, however, his text relies sophomorically on shock effect rather than humor to achieve its laughs. This technique, at its lowest point, robs the chapter on Roman sex of most of its potential humor through artless baseness. Obviously, Blond's intent is not to engage academia in a scholarly argument about classical Rome—instead he wishes to entertain and amuse his audience. As light entertainment, however, his account is remarkably erratic and even offensive to some readers’ sensibilities.

Occasionally amusing, Blond's study is ideal for general history readers who tend to sneak peeks into tabloids while standing in supermarket lines. (map, 13 photos)