Poppaea Sabina (Patricia Laffan) and Nero (Peter Ustinov) in 'Quo Vadis

ANCIENT ROME

Castrated and forcibly feminized by Emperor Nero

In his book ‘Pax,’ Tom Holland reviews the period of splendor in Imperial Rome from Nero to Hadrian and tells of the terrible fate of Sporo, mutilated and forced to replace the deceased Empress Poppaea

Jacinto Antón

February 29, 2024

Tom Holland, the great chronicler of the history of Antiquity and especially of the ancient Romans, has returned. After a period of illness, he crossed a personal Rubicon with Pax (published July 2023), an exciting fresco about the era of splendor of Imperial Rome that lasted from Nero to Hadrian. And despite the book’s title, the period also included great military emperors such as Vespasian and Trajan.