Episodes
Meet the Romans with Mary Beard: Behind Closed Doors (BBC Four Wednesday 30 August 2023)
Meet the Romans with Mary Beard: Behind Closed Doors airs Wednesday 30 August 2023 on BBC Four.
What is this episode about
Ancient Rome casts a long shadow over modern Western civilization; it was the nerve centre of an empire that stretched from Scotland to Afghanistan and ruled the Western world for more than seven hundred years. To get to know the real Romans who existed at the centre of it all, Professor Mary Beard sets aside the tales of emperors and armies, guts and gore.
In this penultimate episode, Mary goes behind the doors of Roman homes to learn even more about everyday life in the empire. She paints a more vibrant, lusty picture of Roman family life by interacting with an extraordinary cast of characters, including drunken housewives, teenage brides, bullied children, and runaway slaves.
Mary explores their homes, trying on Roman wedding rings and meeting eccentric wives like Glyconis, who was praised by her husband for liking a drink or two, and Allia Potestas, who lived in a Roman ménage à trois.
Mary investigates Roman parenthood, childbirth, and children like Sulpicius Maximus, a young schoolboy who was worked to death by his demanding parents when he was 11, and Geminia Mater, a young tomboy who was only five at the time.
Mary concludes by painting a more nuanced picture of Roman slavery, asking why, if it was such a brutal institution, many Romans chose to be buried with their servants, living cheek by jowl in death, as they did in life.
Series 1 Episode 3 of 3
When can we see the episode
Meet the Romans with Mary Beard: Behind Closed Doors airs Wednesday 30 August 2023 at 8.00pm on BBC Four
Featured Image Credit: BBC Four
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