Frances Wilson

The horrors of dining with a Roman emperor

Elagabalus’s suffocating party tricks may have been exaggerated, but Domitian’s sinister, death-themed feasts could be seen as a dictator’s flamboyant threat

The Roses of Heliogabalus’ by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1888. The Emperor Elagabalus was said to have ended his dinner parties by suffocating his guests in a deluge of flower petals. [Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images]

  • Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World

    Mary Beard

    Profile, pp. 493, £30

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