Um, what do we actually know? You've called her Selena, but did we, did we even know that about her?

So first of all, I was just going to say, you know, how moving and fascinating I found it, uh, hearing Adam talk about, um, the inception of his book.

I think the contrast between mass murder and human tragedy on an almost unimaginable scale versus the sort of clinical heartlessness of an insurance case is, is one of the things that makes That iteration of slavery, the transatlantic slavery, particularly appalling.

Um, I think Roman slavery is equally appalling but slightly different in how they conceived of it and, and their justifications for it.

Um, in some ways, their justifications for it were, were not as awful in that they didn't try to claim that enslaved people were, um, less worthy than free people.

You know, you can't categorize people retrospectively as more important or less important either.

As a historian, you need to look at all human lives as being equally interesting, equally valid, and equally important.

Uh, otherwise, you know, lots of people from poorer backgrounds or, or who can't travel for a variety of reasons, uh, will just have their creative lives cramped.

a lot of evidence

that warrior women like Boudicca existed.

We've obviously got the Roman records themselves.

Tacitus, who wrote about Boudicca, His father-in-law actually fought in the campaign against her.

He was a very near contemporary.

His father-in-law, Agricola, was an eyewitness to some of the events he wrote about.

It seems a bit out there that he'd just have invented it, something that's within living memory.

So what do we know about Boudicca that is history? And what do we know about Boudicca that is Roman propaganda and myths?

Interesting

... yeah, so that, that, which is very interesting.

So the idea is that perhaps Boudica was always more warmongering, had, had a more negative feeling about, about Rome.

Prasutagus did not join in the rebellion of Caratacus some years previously against Rome.

That was an earlier rebellion against Roman rule in Britain.

And so it's possible there was some tension within the family, and I chose to portray that as the idea that both of them kind of had a favorite out of the two daughters.

So Prasutagus' favorite in my version is Selena, who is the eldest daughter.

So can you explain Fishbourne Roman Palace and how this aligns with a more pro-Roman Iron Age British chief ruler at that time?

Interesting

... yeah, so th- that, which is very interesting.

So the idea is that perhaps Boudica was always more warmongering, had, had a more negative feeling about, about Rome.

Prasutagus did not join in the rebellion of Caratacus some years previously against Rome.

That was an earlier rebellion against Roman rule in Britain.

And so it's possible there was some tension within the family, and I chose to portray that as the idea that both of them kind of had a favorite out of the two daughters.

So Prasutagus' favorite in my version is Selena, who is the eldest daughter.

So can you explain Fishbourne Roman Palace, and how this aligns with a more pro-Roman Iron Age British chief ruler at that time?

What fueled the decision to write from that perspective?

I guess for me, you know, I'm always drawn to the lesser known stories.

And with The Wolf Den, I really wanted to write about the women of the Lupana.

You know, the brothel of Pompeii is the most visited building in the site, but I felt that the women are still kind of quite voiceless, even though we do have some fragments of graffiti from them in the way that they're portrayed.

You know, you've got the erotic frescoes.

It's kind of seen as a bit of a joke, a bit, you know, Kind of just purely sort of titillating and kind of fascinating, but not very human.

And so in telling the story of Amara, I wanted to give her her dignity, her voice, her agency, her humanity, and to focus on all the aspects of her life that were not to do with the sex work and that aspect of the brothel, but about the survival, the camaraderie, you know, her ambitions, her cunning.

So why was it important for you to include Paulinus's voice?