Being Roman

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Being Roman with Mary Beard

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Factual: History

From a slave to an emperor, Mary Beard reveals the real people of the Roman Empire.

Beneath the starched togas and the pungent fug of gladiator sweat there are real Romans waiting to be discovered. Mary Beard uncovers fascinating untold stories from the Empire.

8. Death on the Nile

BBC Radio 4 LW

Being Roman with Mary Beard: 8. Death on the Nile

BBC Radio 4 - Being Roman with Mary Beard, 8. Death on the Nile

Join Hadrian and his court poet for one of the strangest voyages in the history of Rome.

Mary Beard joins the Emperor Hadrian, his wife Sabina, his young male lover Antinous and his court poet, Julia Balbilla on one of the strangest cruises in the history of Rome.

Julia Balbilla is an accomplished poet and close friend of the wife of one of Rome’s mightiest emperors. Hadrian loves to travel and takes Julia and an entourage of thousands on the ultimate elite tourist trip- a leisurely Nile cruise to the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Colossus of Memnon, a statue that will sing for anyone blessed by the gods.  Julia inscribes her poems on the giant foot of the statue, praising the power of Hadrian and the beauty of his wife, Sabina. 

It’s a charming scene, darkened only by the fact that Hadrian’s male lover, Antinous has only just drowned in the Nile.  Was he murdered by jealous rivals, killed in a lover’s tiff or did he drunkenly slip from the deck?  Hadrian is publicly bereft, founding a new city in the name of Antinous, but seems happy to continue his luxury cruise.  Mary Beard hops aboard Ancient Rome's most intriguing cruise with historian T. Corey Brennan and archaeologist Elizabeth Fentress. 

Producer: Alasdair Cross

Expert Contributors: Corey Brennan, Rutgers University and Lisa Fentress 

Cast: Julia Balbilla played by Juliana Lisk

Special thanks to Andrea Bruciati, Villa Adriana

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Being Roman with Mary Beard

8. Death on the Nile

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