All Roads Lead to Rome: Belfast Book Launch for Dr Emma Southon’s Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire.  

By Ana Lazarut 

On the fourteenth of May, Waterstones Belfast hosted the first stop for Dr Emma Southon’s book tour for her new work, Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire (hereafter Servus), released on the twenty-first of May. The event was strangely filled with laughter despite the brutal theme of the text, and I left the book launch with my signed copy of the book, excited to delve into the world of the Roman Empire. Dr Southon’s passion and humour had rubbed off on me within those two hours, and this feeling was, and still is, welcomed.  

Living in Belfast, where she co-hosts her podcast History Is Sexy with Janina Matthewson, answering “the history questions you don’t have time to answer yourself” [1], Southon works as a bookseller in Waterstones, where the event took place to begin her book tour. She has also published several other critically acclaimed texts, such as A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome and A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women, to name a few. Whatever form Dr Emma Southon’s teachings take, her depth of knowledge is perfectly balanced with her honest humour, a distinct mark of her work left unnoticed by anyone who comes across it, with Servus’ front and back being littered in reviews praising this ability of hers:  

“It is razor sharp, riveting and treads an exceptionally well-balanced line between humorous and harrowing” – Elodie Harper [2]. 

“Emma Southon turns her unique combination of unflinching academic gaze and irrepressible sharp humour to that darkest and most depressing of subjects, Roman slavery, providing a much-needed corrective to centuries of obfuscations and misunderstandings” – Jane Draycott [2].  

The book launch was then the perfect stage to showcase this talent, which it executed with much success.  

Before the event began, I got myself a complimentary glass of wine alongside my purchase of Servus and took my seat. The space then quickly filled, exceeding the reserved seating as rows of standing attendees circled the chairs neatly placed in rounded rows encircling the chair reserved for the author and host. I must be honest and confess that going into this event, I knew little to nothing about Ancient Rome and had never read a book about the subject, unless you’re counting secondary school history books. Regardless of the fact that I felt like a poser sitting there next to the fan (my friend) who brought me along with them, I became transfixed within the opening moments of the event, which occurred as a Q&A between Dr Southon and Dr Holly Shipton.  

Dr Southon discussed her reasoning for focusing on slavery in the Roman Empire, which she stated came about almost accidentally as her focus was on a different topic and through her research for this other subject Servus was born due to the centrality of slavery to the Roman Empire, or as Dr Southon herself put it during the Q&A, slavery was as much a part of the Roman Empire as the Colosseum. This emphasis on how Rome was not built in a day, but it was built by slaves, with this fact being neglected by other historians, was a key theme of the discussion, something which I was trying to wrap my head around throughout the event’s entirety. One third of Ancient Rome’s population were slaves, with Dr Emma Southon explaining that slavery was what capitalism is to our societal structure, to the Romans. Who knew? Not me, anyway.  

During this part of the event, Dr Southon also spoke of her mission for this project, which is to embody the largely forgotten and neglected millions of people which were enslaved by the Roman Empire. She lamented that she’d like us to remember each enslaved person stubbed their toe, laughed, cried, felt pain, sighed, yawned, gave birth, and experienced love; they were not merely workers invisible to both Romans and historians alike, and they not only should, but must be remembered through the remnants they left behind. 

Although enslaved people were not given a proper space to be remembered as people by historians, Dr Southon shows how their remains cover the Ancient Roman Empire, with their mark being left on walls, latters, and epitaphs honouring one another when the law left them powerless and without any rights. Dr Emma Southon brought to our attention how similar these acts were to our (human living in the west in the 21st century), and yet historians treat them as any other structure of the Roman Empire, something given and necessary for the infrastructure of the settlement. As she explained to a giggling room, despite the severe topic of discussion, if you step into the back room of any service job, you’ll be met by graffiti and markings of tired workers covering every surface available to highlight their torment, even lending her own experience working in Waterstones as the perfect example!  

When the book-signing part of the launch took place, Dr Southon took the time to listen to each person and answer any question they may have, regardless of how lengthy or unscholarly their question may be. Here, I am referring to my own question about The Hunger Games and the role Seneca played in the novel, as he was based on the Roman figure of the same name. In other words, Dr Southon took time to explain and lend her knowledge to my frivolous question, and I was left beyond excited to engage even further with the material. 

Overall, without knowing the details of how many people were present and how many books were sold, from the perspective of an attendee who went in completely blind, it was a success, which was conveniently right on my doorstep in the heart of Belfast City Centre.  

[1]. https://www.emmasouthon.com/podcast  

[2] Southon, Emma. Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire (2026). London: Hodder Press.