I really enjoyed the film Fellini Satyricon because it shows a couple of regular guys on a crazy adventure after their apartment building in Rome collapses in an earthquake. Most other stuff about Rome/Romans follows leaders, generals, aristocrats, etc. so it was refreshing to see regular people.
And completely not based on reality, I also liked the British comedy series Plebs that also follows regular people living Rome. But it's just a way to show modern issues satirically, not really historical.
nephihaha•May 29, 2026
Plebs felt to me like the Inbetweeners set two thousand years earlier.
vjvjvjvjghv•May 29, 2026
“ Most other stuff about Rome/Romans follows leaders, generals, aristocrats, etc. so it was refreshing to see regular people”
A lot of history focuses too much on leaders and elites. I would like to see much more information about how regular people lived. Or for example, when a some king “built” something, maybe we should know how life was for the workers there.
swatcoder•May 29, 2026
It's not as widely promoted, but if you're genuinely interested, there are more of those histories written then you'll ever have time to read yourself.
There's a classic five volume series "A History of Private Life" that works through a breadth-first survey over time. It can make for a great starting point, and is a bit like an encylopedia in the way you can engage with it as essays on certain times and topics instead of being expected to read it through serially.
Danox•May 29, 2026
The only thing that has changed is the technology and the gods. Humans in particular their behavior in most things are the same unfortunately…
everdrive•May 29, 2026
See how pots strike and dint the sturdy pavement.
There’s death from every window where you move.
You’d be a fool to venture out to dine,
oblivious of what goes on above,
without your having penned that dotted line,
of your last testament.
This feels very modern. "Sure, you might get randomly killed by a pot flying out a window, but there are _walkable_ restaurants!"
Its very much everywhere you have large swaths of people pasding through. I distinctly remember my aunt complaining that in the student dorms back in the day, two students bought a whole pig and roasted it in the iron bathtub
nephihaha•May 29, 2026
They called them insulae meaning "islands". They had no concept of fire escapes, and barely any plumbing (despite this image of Roman engineering). They really were the harris end of Roman architecture.
ableal•May 29, 2026
> the harris end
I guess that's the rear (or arse) end, if anyone else is puzzled and doesn't have a couple of spare minutes to chase it down ...
>> top floors were the least desirable. Poorer residents occupied the upper story.
Some writers placed Julius Caesar's aristocratic but down at the heel family in the lower floors of a Subura tenement, but apparently it really was a house.
vintagedave•May 29, 2026
I can highly recommend Lindsey Davis' Falco series, murder mysteries set in Ancient Rome. She brings the city to life, it's remarkably vivid, and -- I promise this comment is on topic for this thread! -- Roman apartment living is threaded throughout the series and apartment building construction even forms a major plot point in one book.
I can't say more without spoilers. Excellent for "feeling" what Rome was like.
I’m looking for new fiction to add to the queue but my reading time is limited (unless you count children’s books in which case I’m reading 100s of books per year).
Do I need to read the first book in the series, or are they independent? If independent, can you recommend the best one for someone who only has time to read one?
vintagedave•May 29, 2026
It's been several years since I read them, but I think starting with the first book is good. It's not quite as polished as the others, and I think not quite with the same tone, but it introduces the characters that will be throughout the series. My memory is the series is more lighthearted in general than the first book is.
You make me think I should reread, and I will start at the beginning here too.
One of Mary Beard's documentaries ('Meet the Romans' I think) touches on Roman insulae. Literal death traps, and seemingly miserably uncomfortable at the best of times. At least you're out of the rain (except on the top floors).
And someone below mentioned 'Plebs', which is the humorous take on all this. Recommended.
romanzubenko•May 29, 2026
I really really wish, there was a VR game/app where I can transport myself to different places/times in the past and just walk around to get the texture and feel for what it felt like living in that time.
Walking around a Roman town, hearing what people talked like, what they wore, what technology was around, what did they do most of the day.
Someone please make it real.
devnulll•May 29, 2026
The Assassins Creed Odyssey game, set in classical Greece, has this. It's a fantastic teaching tool, and the immersion is excellent. Even now, I find the overall quality of the graphics and game hold up well.
Education Mode:
> The "education mode" in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is officially called Discovery Tour: Ancient Greece. It completely removes all combat, enemies, and time pressures from the game, transforming it into a massive, interactive, open-air virtual museum. https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/game/assassins-creed/discovery...
My kids have used this (outside of my influence) in some of the Middle School history classes.
There's also Story Mode, which let people build their own stories and share them. This can be quite a bit of fun.
7 Comments
And completely not based on reality, I also liked the British comedy series Plebs that also follows regular people living Rome. But it's just a way to show modern issues satirically, not really historical.
A lot of history focuses too much on leaders and elites. I would like to see much more information about how regular people lived. Or for example, when a some king “built” something, maybe we should know how life was for the workers there.
There's a classic five volume series "A History of Private Life" that works through a breadth-first survey over time. It can make for a great starting point, and is a bit like an encylopedia in the way you can engage with it as essays on certain times and topics instead of being expected to read it through serially.
I guess that's the rear (or arse) end, if anyone else is puzzled and doesn't have a couple of spare minutes to chase it down ...
>> top floors were the least desirable. Poorer residents occupied the upper story.
Some writers placed Julius Caesar's aristocratic but down at the heel family in the lower floors of a Subura tenement, but apparently it really was a house.
I can't say more without spoilers. Excellent for "feeling" what Rome was like.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/42173-marcus-didius-falco
Do I need to read the first book in the series, or are they independent? If independent, can you recommend the best one for someone who only has time to read one?
You make me think I should reread, and I will start at the beginning here too.
And someone below mentioned 'Plebs', which is the humorous take on all this. Recommended.
Walking around a Roman town, hearing what people talked like, what they wore, what technology was around, what did they do most of the day.
Someone please make it real.
Education Mode:
> The "education mode" in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is officially called Discovery Tour: Ancient Greece. It completely removes all combat, enemies, and time pressures from the game, transforming it into a massive, interactive, open-air virtual museum. https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/game/assassins-creed/discovery...
My kids have used this (outside of my influence) in some of the Middle School history classes.
There's also Story Mode, which let people build their own stories and share them. This can be quite a bit of fun.
> Story Mode: https://assassinscreed.ubisoft.com/story-creator-mode/en-us