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Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics Podcast
Suetonius

Suetonius

Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics vor 6 Jahren

Natalie stands up for Roman biographer Suetonius, with Llewelyn Morgan and Anita Anand.

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28:34

Natalie tells the story of Suetonius, biographer of the Caesars
and friend of Pliny the Younger. She's joined by guests Professor
Llewelyn Morgan and biographer and journalist Anita Anand.
Classical knowledge is fragile: so much is lost. We don't know,
for example, when Julius Caesar was born. What we do know about
the Caesars is largely because of Suetonius. And some of it is
quite strange. Who knew that experts in Latin grammar were once
the coolest of the cool? That Domitian wrote a treatise on hair
care? That Augustus kept a bust of Hadrian in his office and used
hot nuts to soften the hair on his thighs? (Please don't try this
at home).

Fellow biographer Anita Anand knows - like Suetonius - that
writing about the long-dead is probably sensible if you want to
stay out of trouble, but she still found herself in international
hot water after her book on the Koh-i-Noor diamond (co-written
with William Dalrymple) was published. It's amazing how Suetonius
managed to stay in imperial good books despite writing the first
warts and all biographies of all time.

Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery