Ancient Rome is often depicted as a glamorous empire of power, sophistication and wealth. Yet for most people, the reality of daily life was precarious. Host Robin Wigglesworth talks to professor Kim Bowes, uncovering a hidden financial world in which women often ran the household finances, families delivered their own children into debt bondage and shepherds might sell wool futures on rented sheep. A far cry from the Rome of popular imagination, this is the ancient Roman empire as most Romans experienced it. #shorts #shortsviral #shortvideos #rome #ancienthistory #ancientrome #romanhistory ► Enjoying FT content? Get a daily slice of the very best FT journalism with FT Edit. Free for 30 days then just £4.99 a month See if you get the FT for free as a student (http://ft.com/schoolsarefree) or start a £1 trial: https://subs.ft.com/spa3_trial?segmentId=3d4ba81b-96bb-cef0-9ece-29efd6ef2132. ► Check out our Community tab for more stories: https://www.youtube.com/@FinancialTimes/community ► Listen to our podcasts: https://www.ft.com/podcasts ► Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/financialtimes ► Follow us on Instagram: https://www.tiktok.com/@financialtimes