L.J. Trafford studied Ancient History at the University of Reading after which she took a job as a Tour Guide in the Lake District. This proved the perfect introduction to writing, involving as it did the need for entertainment and hefty amount of invention (it’s how she got tips).

Moving to London in 2000 to do whizzy things with databases she began writing ‘The Four Emperors’ series. The series comprises four books – Palatine, Galba’s Men, Otho’s Regret and Vitellius’ Feast – which cover the dramatic fall of Nero and the chaotic year of the four emperors that followed. Palatine, published in 2015 received an Editor’s Choice Mark from the Historical Novel Society. She has recently moved into writing non-fiction with How to Survive in Ancient Rome and Sex and Sexuality in Ancient Rome.

She is a regular writer on The History Girls blog site, where she has contributed features on such diverse subjects as Nero’s favourite eunuch, how an alabaster penis found it’s way from Pompeii to Euston Road and a detailed statistical analysis (with graphs!) as to your chances of being brutally murdered should you happen to become a Roman emperor. Her proudest moment remains creating #phallusthursday a popular Twitter hashtag dedicated to depictions of male appendages in antiquity.