The votes are in, and the community has spoken! We'll be reading A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum by Emma Southon for our October group read.

As always, all group read discussions take place in our community Discord. If you're not currently a member, you'll need to upgrade your membership to access the private Discord server.

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A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to The Forum by Emma Southon

In Ancient Rome, the best stories share one ingredient. Murder. Romulus kills Remus to found the city. Senators stab Caesar to save the Republic. Caligula dies in the theater, Claudius dies at dinner, and Galba loses his head in the Forum. In one fifty-year stretch, 26 emperors die at the hands of others.

So what did killing mean in a city where crowds cheered gladiators to their deaths? Emma Southon answers this question through real Roman homicides. She defines murder broadly, with chapters on murder by magic, murder of and by enslaved people, murder in the family, and the murder of emperors. Each chapter then zooms in on individual victims and killers. You see how ordinary Romans judged the killer, the victim, and the act itself, and what those judgments reveal about how Rome understood life, death, and being human.

Get your copy of A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to The Forum here.

Who Is Emma Southon?

Emma Southon is a historian, writer and podcast host. She earned her PhD in ancient history from the University of Birmingham. She has worked as a bookshop manager at Waterstones.

Her first book, Agrippina: Empress, Exile, Hustler, Whore, made the New Statesman's Best Books of the Year list. She also wrote A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women. Southon's latest release Not Built In A Day: How Slavery Made The Roman Empire has received early praise.

Readers praise Southon's approach for pairing true scholarship with a witty, irreverent voice and sharp comparisons to modern life.

Emma Southon on True Crime In Ancient Times --> Watch Here

October Reading Schedule (Kicks Off October 5th)

Week 1: Chapter 1 & Chapter 2 (through page 70)

Week 2: Chapter 3 & Chapter 4 (through page 134)

Week 3: Chapter 5 & Chapter 6 (through page 210)

Week 4: Chapter 7, Chapter 8 & Chapter 9 (through page 298)

The goal is for us to have a monthly check in call as well as a monthly wrap up call. We will also discuss the book regularly during the month in the group discussion channel on Discord.

Group Read Discussion Questions

1. Southon opens by separating homicide from murder. Where do you draw your own line between killing and murder? Did Rome's version shift your thinking?

2. In Roman law, the outcome of a case depended on who died and who held the knife. Which case surprised you most? What does the verdict tell you about whose lives Rome valued?

3. Southon reminds you again and again how biased and incomplete the surviving sources are. How did this shape your trust in the stories she tells? Where do you see the same problem in how we read history or true crime today?

4. Roman fathers held the legal power of life and death over their children. How did the chapters on family and marriage change your picture of the Roman household?

5. Southon writes with humor and modern references, even when describing crucifixion and the arena. Did her voice bring you closer to the Romans or put distance between you and the violence? Point to one moment where the humor worked for you and one where the humor fell flat.