Babble
Rome was the largest - and loudest city in the ancient world. David Hendy listens to its babble and reveals where rich Romans went to get some peace.
As the Roman empire grew, the city at its heart sucked in exotic goods, tastes, smells, colours, and - of course - sounds from all around the world. Professor David Hendy of the University of Sussex asks what we would have heard if we'd visited the city in its heyday and walked its streets - passageways so narrow it was possible for upstairs dwellers to reach out and touch their neighbour opposite.
Bellowing animals, street-hawkers, the babble of a dozen languages, many now dead. Some inhabitants loved this sensory overload, but others ran from it. Where could a rich Roman go to get some peace?
30-part series made in collaboration with the British Library Sound Archive.
Producer: Matt Thompson.
A Rockethouse production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2013.
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Rome and European Civilization
Melvyn Bragg and guests assess the role that Rome has played in European civilization.
Broadcasts
Wed 27 Mar 201313:45BBC Radio 4- Wed 28 Oct 201514:15BBC Radio 4 Extra
- Thu 29 Oct 201502:15BBC Radio 4 Extra
- Wed 29 May 201914:15BBC Radio 4 Extra
- Thu 30 May 201902:15BBC Radio 4 Extra
Noise retold by Matthew Herbert
The head of the New Radiophonic Workshop retells the Noise series using only the sounds.
