Ancient Rome's Bloodiest Murders
After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal
History Hit
4.7 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 26 May 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today we're delving back to an early episode of After Dark, where Anthony and Maddy explore the goriest murders of Ancient Rome.
From flesh-eating fish and humiliating deaths inside sacks, to a deadly re-enactment of the Icarus myth. For a culture that is seen as an emblem of civilisation (whatever that means), the Romans expended a lot of creative energy on inventing new ways to kill people. And our guest today knows them all!
Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling are joined by the one and only Emma Southon author of A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Her new book is A History of Rome in 21 Women.
Mixed by Tom Delargy. Producer is Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi there, it's Maddie. I'm just jumping in to let you know that this episode contains some |
| 0:04.3 | sensitive content. So if that's not for you, check out our back catalogue of amazing episodes. |
| 0:09.8 | And if you're sticking with us, enjoy. |
| 0:18.0 | Hello and welcome to After Dark, Myths, Mist deeds and the Paranormal, the podcast that takes you to the shadier corners of the past, |
| 0:26.3 | unpicking history's spookiest, strangest, and most sinister stories. |
| 0:30.3 | Indeed. I'm Anthony. |
| 0:31.8 | And I'm Maddie. And today we're shining a light on murder in ancient Rome. |
| 0:36.8 | Because that's what we do here on After Dark. |
| 0:39.5 | It was a really interesting conversation that we had with Emma Southen, right? Like, it was one of |
| 0:44.0 | those ones where there was a couple of times where you and I just looked at each other going, |
| 0:47.5 | is this actually being said out loud? She, I mean, she's just the most fantastic guest. She is so |
| 0:53.3 | incredibly knowledgeable and so generous with that knowledge. And she's great fun as well. And we talked about possibly some of the most gruesome things we've ever talked about. For me, it's the flesh-eating fish that stand out more on that to come. What about you, Anthony? What was your favourite gruesome part of our discussion with Emma? |
| 1:11.2 | I had never thought of the fact that if you were going to be killing somebody, which wasn't crime, apparently, but if you were going to be killing somebody, what you should do is tie them in a sack with a dog, a snake, and a plethora of other animals as well, just to make the death a little bit more chaotic and a little bit more intense. |
| 1:29.0 | It's so imaginative. |
| 1:30.2 | I'm sorry, there's a sack of animals and you're tying a human person into the thing as well. |
| 1:34.6 | This is just the most intense. |
| 1:36.4 | Not to mention, of course, flinging people across coliseums and all the, like, there is every type of death in this episode. |
| 1:42.8 | That truly is. |
| 1:43.9 | Yeah, I mean, Emma has uncovered some truly remarkable ingenuity in human killing. |
| 1:49.8 | It's grim, it's, dare we say, funny in places. |
| 1:53.6 | You're going to laugh at death, guys. |
| 1:54.9 | Yeah, it's interesting. |
... |
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