EMPEROR OF ROME: Ruling the Ancient Roman World, by Mary BeardIf social media is to be believed, men can’t stop thinking about the Roman Empire, particularly its “alpha male” elements. Anyone similarly obsessed would do well to pick up a copy of “Emperor of Rome,” an erudite and entertaining new book by the redoubtable classics scholar and feminist Mary Beard. The “good” emperors are invariably wise, kind, prudent and generous, while the “bad” ones are dim, disgusting, decadent and miserly. Did Elagabalus really arrange to smother his dinner guests to death by dropping rose petals from the ceiling? Beard encourages us to be skeptical of all the “preposterous anecdotes,” even as she maintains that such demonizing can tell us something about how power works.

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Persons: OF, Mary Beard, Emperor of Rome, ”, Beard, Rome ”, Julius Caesar, Alexander Severus, Alexander, Maximinus Thrax, Caligula, Elagabalus Locations: Roman, Roman Republic