It's the Ancient on History Hit.

I'm Tristan Hughes your host.

And in today's episode where we are kicking off

2024 with a Cracker.

Imagine you've been sent back 2,000 years to ancient Rome, the Eternal City, what would you see and what would you

need to do in order to survive?

What to explain everything?

From tombs to transport, from evading pickpockets to emptying chamber pots,

but I was delighted to have the historical fiction bestseller Ben Kane returned to the show.

Now Ben, he is a wonderful speaker who I interviewed about the

Roman Legionary a few months back. It was one of our most popular episodes of

2023 so no surprise we've had him return so quickly to the show. I really do hope you enjoy, and here's Ben.

Ben, always a pleasure having you on the podcast.

Thanks, Tristan. It's great to be here and this is going to be a really fun talk because it's so wide-ranging.

It's going to cover a lot of ground.

What it was like, who were the people who lived there and did they have an easy time but or our time?

Come on Ben, all of our talks are fun anyway, even if it is the Roman military.

We're just doing something a little, little different today.

I mean with Rome, sometimes known as the Eternal City, but sometimes, and from movies and stuff,

we get these portrayals of Rome as this very glamorous place in ancient history, but your experience in Rome, it very much depended on your wealth, where you lived.

Some parts of Rome and for some people of Rome, the life was better than for others.

Yeah, like it was throughout the whole empire.

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