Naked Statues, Fat Gladiators, and War Elephants

This is neither exhaustive nor focused, but that's kind of the point. This is a pleasant read if you need something to kind of settle into and you want it to be about the classical period. Unlike a lot of pop history of this type, it cites sources very directly and hides as little in footnotes as possible – I find personally find it helpful to read a book and see ‘according to Plutarch' rather than a citation at the end that I'm much less likely to remember. Unfortunately, like a lot of pop history of this type, it mashes hundreds of years of culture together indiscriminately, and we're never entirely sure what period of antiquity we're talking about unless it's immediately relevant to the answer. That said, the good is greater than the mediocre, and I plan to read the ‘sequel' the next time I need some background listening (I highly recommend the audiobook) that's still educational and not a podcast.