A thoughtful and revealing guide to how the Romans confronted their own mortality, with particular emphasis on how the old dealt with the certainty of death.
A thoughtful and revealing guide to how the Romans confronted their own mortality, with particular emphasis on how the old dealt with the certainty of death.
Romans inhabited a world where man, knowing nothing about hygiene let alone disease, had no defences against nature. Death was everywhere. Half of all Roman children were dead by the age of five. Only eight per cent of the population made it over sixty. One bizarre result was that half the population consisted of teenagers.
From the elites' philosophical take on the brevity of life to the epitaphs left by butchers, bakers and buffoons, Memento Mori ('Remember you are mortal') shows how the Romans faced up to this world and attempted to take the sting out of death.
Fascinating... It is learned but an easy read, a rare combination. -- Christopher Howse Daily Telegraph
An often amusing, always illuminating, guide which offers an intriguing vantage point at which to examine Roman life. All About History
An enjoyable, engaging and educational book that makes ancient attitudes on mortality accessible to us all. Lucia Marchini, Minerva
Peter Jones was educated at Cambridge University and taught Classics at Cambridge and at Newcastle University, before retiring in 1997. He has written a regular column, 'Ancient & Modern', in the Spectator for many years and is the author of various books on the Classics, including the bestselling Learn Latin and Learn Ancient Greek, as well as Reading Virgil's Aeneid I and II, Vote for Caesar, Veni, Vidi, Vici, Eureka! and Quid Pro Quo.
A thoughtful and revealing guide to how the Romans confronted their own mortality, with particular emphasis on how the old dealt with the certainty of death. Romans inhabited a world where man, knowing nothing about hygiene let alone disease, had no defences against nature. Death was everywhere. Half of all Roman children were dead by the age of five. Only eight per cent of the population made it over sixty. One bizarre result was that half the population consisted of teenagers. From the elites' philosophical take on the brevity of life to the epitaphs left by butchers, bakers and buffoons, Memento Mori ('Remember you are mortal') shows how the Romans faced up to this world and attempted to take the sting out of death.
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