This is a special Collector's Edition Preview of book four, "Kid Beowulf: The Tarpeian Rock." Twin brothers Beowulf and Grendel are lost in Italia, trapped as slaves who must fight for their freedom in the gladiatorial games. There in the arena the brothers will discover a part of themselves neither knew existed: the fighter and the monster will emerge...which one survives is the question. Meanwhile in the Tiber River Valley among the Seven Hills of Italia, two tribes are at odds: the high-born Sabines who have made the land their own and the poor Latin farmers who are forced to till it. Compelled toward change, a young Latin girl named Tarpeia incites a revolution no one is ready for, particularly the pair chosen to lead it: twin brothers, Romulus and Remus!

Demonstrates how ancient thinkers used Tarpeia's myth to highlight matters of ethics, gender, ethnicity, political authority, language, conquest, and tradition.

A study of the history of filth, disease, purity and cleanliness in one of Europe's oldest and most influential cities.

DANGEROUS DAYS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE is the first in a new adult series by Terry Deary, the author of the hugely bestselling Horrible Histories, popular among children for their disgusting details, gory information and sharp wit, and among adults for engaging children (and themselves) with history. The Romans have long been held up as one of the first 'civilised' societies, and yet in fact they were capable of immense cruelty. Not only that, but they made the killing of humans into a sport. The spoiled emperors were the perpetrators (and sometimes the victims) of some imaginative murders. DANGEROUS DAYS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE will include some of the violent ways to visit the Elysian Fields (i.e. death) including: animal attack in the Coliseum; being thrown from the Tarpeian Rock - 370 deserters in 214 AD alone (or if the emperor didn't like your poetry); by volcanic eruption from Vesuvius; by kicking (Nero's fatal quarrel with the Empress Poppea); from poison mushrooms (Claudius); by great fires; torturous tarring; flogging to death; boiling lead (the invention of 'kind' Emperor Constantine); or being skinned alive by invading barbarians. DANGEROUS DAYS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE looks at the back-story leading up to the victims' deaths, and in doing so gives the general reader a concise history of a frequently misunderstood era.

This book presents the legislation that formed the basis of Roman law - The Laws of the Twelve Tables. These laws, formally promulgated in 449 BC, consolidated earlier traditions and established enduring rights and duties of Roman citizens. The Tables were created in response to agitation by the plebeian class, who had previously been excluded from the higher benefits of the Republic. Despite previously being unwritten and exclusively interpreted by upper-class priests, the Tables became highly regarded and formed the basis of Roman law for a thousand years. This comprehensive sequence of definitions of private rights and procedures, although highly specific and diverse, provided a foundation for the enduring legal system of the Roman Empire.