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.

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Being Roman with Mary Beard: 11. Three Lovers and a Funeral

11. Three Lovers and a Funeral

BBC Radio 4 - Being Roman with Mary Beard, 11. Three Lovers and a Funeral

Two men, one woman. All three seem devoted to each other. Love story or exploitation?

Two men, one woman. All three hopelessly devoted to each other.  Apparently. Mary digs into an unconventional love story from ancient Rome.

Allia Potestas is a woman remembered in one of the most intriguing and affecting funeral orations of the ancient world.  Her lover remembers her diligent application to housework before praising to the skies her beauty and her erotic skills.  But he didn’t have Allia to himself.  She was shared in a ménage à trois with his male friend.  It’s an unusual domestic arrangement and a surprising one to advertise on a tombstone.  The lines themselves reveal an enormous amount about Roman morality and the sexual politics of the time, but the story between the lines is even more fascinating.  Can we dig beneath the emotional turmoil of the man and guess what Allia herself thought about the arrangement? Mary Beard is joined in Rome by Allison Emmerson of Tulane University to examine this extraordinary funerary monument at the Baths of Diocletian.

Producer: Alasdair Cross

Expert contributors: Allison Emmerson, Tulane University; Helen King, Open University; Mairead McAuley, University College London

Cast: Tyler Cameron as Allius

Special thanks to Museo Nazionale Romano

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Being Roman with Mary Beard

11. Three Lovers and a Funeral

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