“The ascendant right wing loves ancient Rome. Its adherents love its glories. They love its ideals of hard, unbending masculinity. And they love the idea that Rome pulled its own greatness apart from within…” Read more.

“The meddler, the schemer, the veiled power behind the throne, the poisoner, the witch. The image of sinister female power hiding in the dark permeates our cultural consciousness. It is a trope that stretches back to the ancient world…” Read more.

“To the Romans, masculinity was about control. Control of the self, control of the country, control of your women. Femininity was the opposite. Intrinsically uncontrolled, emotional, illogical, visceral even…" Read more.

“In a satire of his own imperial predecessors, the fourth-century Roman emperor Julian described the first, Augustus, as a “chameleon”. It was an apt metaphor. An emperor had no written job-description, and much of his success lay in his ability to adapt – or deceive…” Read more.

“Harper’s is not a Rome of stoical emperors and well-ordered legionaries. What matters here are personal ties, petty hierarchies, the porous line between enslavement and freedom, and the question of whether there’ll be enough money tomorrow for bread…” Read more.

“For all the glory of their empire, the Romans knew the significance of the mundane. The Greeks gave us tragedy, lyric, elegy; the only literary form born in Rome was satire. While Greek choruses addressed the immortal gods, Roman writers trained their focus on the neighbours…” Read more.