‘Hunchbacks smothered in mustard and served on a silver platter’
9 March 2012
Last update: 15/03/12 10:06
‘Hunchbacks smothered in mustard and served on a silver platter’ and ‘the mangling of a Fisherman’s face with a live Lobster’. These are just two examples of the use of deformed individuals for the amusement of successive Emperors in Lisa Trentin’s article ‘Deformity in the Roman Imperial Court’ published in Greece & Rome. Trentin’s article features in the latest BBC History Magazine (Vol 13, no 2 Feb 2012, page 14), where comparisons are also drawn between the popularity of ‘Freakshows’ in the first half of the 20th Century and the antics of Roman Emperors. Read the full article here.
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