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Babble

Episode 8 of 30

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 Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 first broadcast in 2013.

15 minutes

Last on

Thu 30 May 2019 02:15
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra

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Persuasion

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The Roaring Crowd

See all episodes from Noise: A Human History

Broadcasts

  • Wed 27 Mar 2013 13:45
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Wed 28 Oct 2015 14:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra
  • Thu 29 Oct 2015 02:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra
  • Wed 29 May 2019 14:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra
  • Thu 30 May 2019 02:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra

Noise retold by Matthew Herbert

Noise retold by Matthew Herbert

The head of the New Radiophonic Workshop retells the Noise series using only the sounds.