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AS SEEN ON TV

Professor Alice Roberts travels 1,300 miles by train across Italy, France and Spain in search of a greater understanding of the Roman Empire for Channel 4's popular TV series Roman Empire by Train with Alice Roberts.

Visiting sites often off the beaten track with experts in each location sharing their insights and revealing up-to-date discoveries, this book delivers more depth and context than the TV series.

Alice explores what everyday life was like for ordinary citizens of the Roman Empire and reveals the extraordinary developments in technology, law, lifestyle, politics, health and education that remain to this day and how these fed into the birth, expansion and collapse of the empire. She also shares her experiences from the journey itself, including her drawings and personal anecdotes.

Roman Empire by Train with Alice Roberts tells the extraordinary backstory of one of the world’s greatest expansionist empires and enables readers to follow Alice's journey themselves or simply enjoy the ride from the comfort of home.

© Alice Roberts 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026