SPQR: A Roman Miscellany

SPQR: A Roman Miscellany by Everitt, Anthony. paperback edition. ISBN: 9781781859414.

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 Livias cure for tonsillitis to the most reliable Roman methods of contraception.