Wednesday 10 December 2014

FACTUAL REVIEW: SPQR: A Roman Miscellany - Anthony Everitt


Release Date: 01/10/14
Publisher:  Head of Zeus

SYNOPSIS:

SPQR: Senatus Populusque Romanus. A moreishly entertaining and richly informative miscellany of facts about Rome and the Roman world. Do you know to what use the Romans put the excrement of the kingfisher? Or why a dinner party invitation from the emperor Domitian was such a terrifying prospect? Or why Roman women smelt so odd? The answers to these questions can be found in SPQR, a compendium of extraordinary facts and anecdotes about ancient Rome and its Empire. Its 500-odd entries range across every area of Roman life and society, from the Empress Livia's cure for tonsillitis to the most reliable Roman methods of contraception.


REVIEW:

OK, I am aware of the books that this series is based on and whilst I haven’t read them, I jumped into this having seen the adverts for series two being advertised (Ed note: the TV series has been cancelled after the conclusion of the second season with multiple threads lest open.)

Whilst I wasn’t sure what to expect the first episode took me back to watching the original series of Charmed and whilst it was only the witchcraft that was the same theme throughout the two the supernatural characters in this one felt more than a little out of sink with the others sharing their screen time.

Don’t get me wrong, it was definitely something that after a few more episodes that I got into however if I’d just watched the first and left it at that I may well have thought not much to it. It does get more interesting and gripping the further into it that you get. All round something a little different and whilst it has a familiarity that supernatural fans can get into.

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