Slavery posed a horrific reality in the Roman world.
A self-described "art history fan girl," Stern freely mixes references to classical Greek and Roman mythologies, reality TV, contemporary drag culture, and her own personal narratives.
In reality, Roman expansion was mostly accomplished under the Republic, though parts of northern Europe were conquered in the 1st century AD, when Roman control in Europe, Africa and Asia was strengthened.
Caravaggio never lets you forget the reality of Roman street life in the 17th century.
But the reality of Roman life revealed by the art of Pompeii reveals that uninhibited sex and unrepressed art were universal in this ancient culture, not the preserve of decadent tyrants.
It soon benefited from an outraged review by Jules Janin, the critic of the Journal des Débats; he condemned the piece for profanity and irreverence (ostensibly to Roman mythology but in reality to Napoleon and his government, generally seen as the targets of its satire).
To the trends weakening institutional faiths across the Western world — the rise of spiritual individualism, the influence of the so-called new atheism, the gap between traditional Christian sexual ethics and present-day realities — the Roman Catholic Church has added scandals, sclerosis and a communications strategy apparently designed to win the news cycles of 1848.
"That's reality hitting the Roman Catholic Church," he added.
An extraordinary woman known only through her long epitaph, offering a glimpse of the messy reality of ancient Roman life.
"At the heart of all of this is the reality that the Roman Church is willing to welcome angry, reactionary, misogynistic, homophobic people," he wrote in a statement.
