Monte Testaccio
Beard takes the Via Appia to Rome to show the lives of ordinary citizens in imperial times, those citizens who would be in the top seats of the Colosseum. She takes a boat to Rome's port Ostia, where imported goods come from all over the Mediterranean, and she takes us into the bowels of Monte Testaccio. She features extraordinary Romans such as Eurysaces, a baker who made a fortune in the grain trade and built his tomb in the shape of a giant bread oven; Pupius Amicus, the purple dye seller making imperial dye from shellfish imported from Tunisia; and Baricha, Zabda and Achiba, three prisoners of war who became Roman citizens.