Fake News of Ancient Rome

Two thousand years of swindles, propaganda, and lies.

Is it possible Nero didn’t burn down Rome? That Livia didn’t plan the murder of all the heirs to the throne, even her own husband’s? That the Romans didn’t vomit during meals?

History is alive and changes constantly as it moves from hand to hand. The person writing it has the power to travel in time and change the past, shifting events according to their own point of view.

And so often, the history we’ve been told doesn’t correspond exactly to reality. In this book, we will try to uncover the fake news of the Roman world: the deceit, lies, and distortions we’ve been told about the history of ancient Rome. Those made up by historians themselves, often without their wanting to, because of the heavy veil that grows over history with the passage of time––the stories immortalized in films, series, and novels, and even those the Romans told about themselves.

From the emperors’ political propaganda to the reality of day-to-day people forgotten in the Roman slums, including some of the classical world’s greatest victims, women, who suffered the scorn of a history created for and by men alone. All these hidden stories will now come to light.